Terry Boston, president and CEO of PJM Interconnection, believes the development of smart cars plugged into a smart grid is a multiple win situation for consumers, automakers and utilities.
PJM is the largest grid operator in North America, supplying 165,000 megawatt capacity in 13 states and Washington D.C.
Boston opened the PHEV Summit: Driving to Our Energy Future, at The Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research center this morning. More than 50 researchers, auto executives and utility industry people jammed a conference room in the CAR building.
The development of this system is also critical for jobs, which is one reason today’s conference will be closed out by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. OSU President E. Gordon Gee welcomed the group and stressed the need for continued partnership.
The theme of Boston’s Powerpoint presentation was “Smart Grid with Eyes Wide Open.”
“We need to educate our customers, they don’t like things that are complicated,” Boston said. “It’s about an integration of signal wires and customer devices. We are trying to make the grid smarter.”
The development of a smart grid can ease congestion, but it will need a diversity of resources and control, but the most important thing is storage,” Boston said.
But for the consumer, it also needs more visibility, he said.
“Where we see this going is that we need communication flow throughout the system,” Boston said. “This is a real opportunity for the power industry to work with the regulatory community.”
Progress is being made in terms of transfer of data between the system operators, distributors and the home, he said.
“We don’t want to control toasters, we want large loads,” he said.
Storage will be critical for a successful system, but in the long run, for consumers, the cost for fuel could amount to 60 cents a gallon. It will reduce reliance on oil and help the U.S. head to energy independency.
PJM is building a state of the art, highly secure system now, Boston said.
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