Yay Boulder! Plugging in Their Smart Grid

Smart Grid Plugs in for Boulder

Imagine a future when you can use the Internet to program when your appliances run to take advantage of lower electric rates during off-peak hours—or to run when your utility has energy available that is produced by wind or solar. A future when your electric company can remotely detect that a transformer is close to failing and prevent a blackout from occurring. A future when plug-in electric cars are charged from home solar arrays and can send power on demand to the grid, collectively acting as a small, clean power plant.

That future is unfolding right now in Boulder, CO, as Xcel Energy—the state’s largest utility that also operates in seven other states—continues to build out what it calls the nation’s first SmartGridCity.