Reported by Art Mass

Xcel Energy’s much publicized “SmartGridCity” project in Boulder is ready to flip the switch, according to Monday’s announcement from the power company.

Xcel has finished building the infrastructure and launched the software required to run the $100 million program which has been funded by the utility and its partners. Clearly it has been a darling of new media reporters, judging by all the online news and energy blogging coverage. Technical kinks in the in the roll-out have occurred, but that’s to be expected with a local energy project so ambitous. In the end, all that publicity will be well-deserved if the new technologies being incorporated into the pilot program benefit not only Boulder folks, but one day the nation’s electrical grid.

Boulder represents only a small slice of Xcel’s 1.6 million customers in the state, but what Xcel has been building, with the help of its technology partners, is noteworthy on a variety of levels. The company says the equipment and software systems involved with the program raise power reliability, provide customers with more information about their energy use, and enable customers and the utility to remotely control energy use in the home.

“As measurable results continue to be achieved in the coming months, we look forward to continued improvements in operating efficiencies, as well as new and improved services for the citizens of Boulder,” said Tim Taylor, president and CEO of Public Service Co. of Colorado, Xcel’s local subsidiary, in a statement.

The various stages of the SmartGridCity build-up have provided a plethora of knowledge for Xcel’s engineers. “We have learned a tremendous amount from our installation of SmartGridCity and anticipate additional benefits for us and all of our customers,” Taylor added.

Program features include a several automated systems for switching power through substations, re-routing power around bottlenecked lines, identifying outage risks and detecting power outages.

SmartGridCity has a national and even international face when it comes to the partners involved in Xcel’s Smart Grid Consortium, including Bermuda-based Accenture plc; Current Group, from Germantown, Md.; Arlington, Va.-based GridPoint Inc.; California’s OSIsoft Inc., Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc.,in Pullman, Wa; SmartSynch Inc., headquartered in Jackson, Ms.; and Atlanta’s Ventyx Inc.

Already a key objective is being achieved, according to Xcel: Early results of the smart-grid systems are helping the company predict what equipment will fail and fix it before the power goes out.

Grid monitoring software from Current helped the utility avoid four long-term outages when the software spotted transformers that were about to fail. Repair work was scheduled without any significant disruption to customer service, according to Xcel.

Additional features will be added in coming months, including an in-home energy management website to be unveiled in the fourth quarter. The digital resource being provided by GridPoint will give all Boulder customers with one of the nearly 16,000 new, “smart” meters the ability to review energy use in the home. The website also will allow customers to design and personalize their energy use, Xcel said.

In addition, the power company said it is seeking additional Boulder customers willing to test in-home energy management devices as part of the pilot project. There you go, Boulderites! Here is a chance for some of you to be part of the real “wired” community.