Last month, we saw Uncle Sam (or Uncle Chu, to be more accurate) dish out $800 million in grants for alternative transportation and renewable energy projects. That was small potatoes compared to the grants unveiled by President Obama at FPL Group's
Let's take a look at where our money is going.
Houston's CenterPoint Energy and Baltimore Gas & Electric, the regulated utility arm of Constellation Energy Group
In the realm of electric distribution systems, Consolidated Edison got the biggest grant, weighing in at $136 million. This will go toward implementing automation, monitoring, and two-way communication in Con Ed's New York/New Jersey service area.
There wasn't much funding allocated to the smart appliance category, but Whirlpool did walk away with a little cash to develop devices like smart dryers that modify electricity consumption in response to variable or time-of-use utility pricing.
Finally, in the integrated and/or crosscutting systems category, a catch-all for multifaceted smart grid deployment, big winners included Duke Energy
While utilities caught the headlines, plenty of other companies stand to benefit from this government greening of the grid. Two names that spring to mind are Echelon