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Obama Offers $250 Million for Smart Grid DeploymentThe Obama administration unveiled a new campaign today to accelerate deployment of smart grid technologies.

The administration’s “Plan for a 21st Century Electric Grid,” which includes a new commitment of $250 million in loans from the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utility Service, will seek to show the results of 141 smart grid technology projects funded by the Recovery Act and create a stable of case studies from “first-mover” states to gain support from utilities, state regulators and consumers in other states that have not embraced or implemented smart grid programs.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, were among the high-level administration officials at today’s conference.

Unlike in 2009, when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funded $4.5 billion in smart grid and clean energy grants nationwide, matched by $5.5 billion in private funding, the new program is not backed by a federal checkbook. A new commitment of $250 million in loans from the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utility Service, is the only significant new funding in the campaign, according to people familiar with the plan.
http://blogs.forbes.com/williampentland/2011/06/13/obama-offers-250-million-for-smart-grid-deployment/?partner=yahootix