Project Overview

Idaho Power’s application for the Department of Energy’s Stimulus Funding Opportunity Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) program focused on the need to strengthen and modernize the nation’s electricity delivery system.

The proposal directly supported the core purposes of the stimulus funds: to accelerate the deployment of Smart Grid technologies and to stimulate the state, regional and national economy by quickly providing new and accelerated opportunities for businesses and significant new jobs for workers.

The proposal also supported the program’s environmental goals by empowering consumers, fostering behavior change, and supporting the integration of renewable resources thereby reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The application requested half of the $94 million project cost.

At the heart of our Smart Grid initiative is the ability to empower customers to proactively manage their energy usage and costs by providing them with time variant pricing options enabled through smart meters and other related technologies.

Among other benefits, we believe that community participation through this Smart Grid initiative will help Idaho Power lead the way and achieve measurable results towards:

• Reduced electricity consumption
• Lower peak demand
• Continuation of some of the lowest electric rates in the nation
• Reduced costs of power interruptions
• More reliability and resiliency in operating the grid
• Reliable and efficient integration of renewable generation resources.