SAN JOSE, CA — In a partnership with IBM, Cisco and Pacific Gas & Electric, the City of San Jose has launched a project to add smart meters to 75,000 businesses and homes, while also expanding the amount of solar energy generated on buildings within the city.
The city is seeking more than $42 million in federal funding to help implement to project, which will also give PG&E access to more solar installations to enhance the supply of renewable energy for customers on its grid. The city is also working with PG&E, Cisco and IBM on incorporating the hardware and software needed to connect smart buildings to the grid.
Similar to but narrower in scope than Miami's recent $200 million "Energy Smart Miami" plan, San Jose aims to add more flexibility to its electrical grid, both by incorporating energy-generating buildings into the supply side of electrical generation, and allowing buildings to be responsive when PG&E needs to trim demand on the grid.
In addition to San Jose's plan, IBM today released its Solution Architecture for Energy and Utilities Framework (SAFE), a software platform aimed at helping utilities like PG&E more easily implement smart grid projects, from generation to transmission and distribution to customer use.
SAFE is part of IBM's larger Smarter Planet strategy, which aims to help companies integrate the growing ability of information technology (IT) to improve efficiency, reduce waste and cut environmental impact across all areas of operation.
Photo CC-licensed by Flickr user kanonn.