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EnergyAustralia wins $100m smart grid deal

EnergyAustralia has cause for celebration, announcing today that it has been selected to run the Federal Government's Smart Grid, Smart Cities project, due for completion in 2013.
Written by Colin Ho, Contributor

EnergyAustralia has cause for celebration, announcing today that it has been selected to run the Federal Government's Smart Grid, Smart Cities project, due for completion in 2013.

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(Credit: EnergyAustralia)

EnergyAustralia has won funding to roll out a commercial-scale smart grid to five sites in Sydney and the Hunter in NSW. The 12,000 smart sensors across EnergyAustralia's electricity network will be fast-tracked to allow earlier fault detection and repair during the roll-out.

Through the initiative, selected homes will be able to track their energy usage in real time.

"New generation smart meters will be rolled out to 50,000 homes at five sites in Newcastle, Scone, the Sydney CBD, Ku-ring-gai and Newington. Around 15,000 households will become 'smart homes' to trial a new breed of in-house displays and websites that track electricity and water use, costs and CO2 emissions," said EnergyAustralia's managing director George Maltabarow in a media announcement.

"Building a smart grid on such a large scale will keep Australia at the forefront of energy technology," said Maltabarow, adding that the roll-out will include a trial of new technology to help test the implementation of the National Broadband Network.

The utility will be trialling renewable energy, smart charging stations and battery storage in Sydney's CBD using two fleets of electric vehicle to test multiple charging stations.

EnergyAustralia spokesperson Kylie Yates told ZDNet Australia that the utility is currently entering funding negotiations with the government for the $100 million program.

Yates also added that participants in the smart grid households could volunteer to provide feedback through a variety of methods including website portals during the three-year program.

Representing NSW, EnergyAustralia beat three other bidders: Country Energy from regional NSW, a consortium of United Energy, Jemena, AGL and Accenture from Victoria, and TEL in Townsville. The project is now on track after tender selection delays.

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