Martha’s Vineyard has picked Fairfield conglomerate GE to operate its Smart Grid system on the Massachusetts island as a way of better assessing its energy use.
“An island like Martha’s Vineyard, where there is little room to build more generation, provides a great test bed for understanding the role of smart grid technologies in promoting smart energy management,”said Ted Bayne, Vineyard Energy Project, in a statement.
The smart grid system allow home and business owners to regulate their energy usage by monitoring their facility’s real time electricity needs, and it can particularly help keep costs down by shutting off unnecessary appliances at peak pricing times.
Under the agreement, homes around Martha’s Vineyard will receive GE smart grid appliances and home energy managers. The island has a goal of being entirely dependent on wind and solar power during its off-season, and control of its energy usages will help meet that goal. The smart gird agreement was funded by a $800,000 grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
