Recovery Act Programs

President Barack Obama signs the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ARRA (Pub.L. 111-5) into law on February 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act includes the largest single grid modernization investment in U.S. history, funding a broad range of technologies to spur the nation's transition to a smarter, more efficient and reliable electric system.

The Recovery Act provides the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with about $4.5 billion to modernize the electric power grid and to implement Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), which focused on the Smart Grid, and includes Smart Grid Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment.

The two largest initiatives are the Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) program and the Smart Grid Demonstration Program (SGDP). DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) is responsible for managing these five-year programs. SGIG focuses on deploying existing smart grid technologies, tools, and techniques to improve grid performance today. SGDP explores advanced smart grid and energy storage systems and evaluates performance for future applications.

The Recovery Act also provides $100 million for workforce training. The Workforce Training for the Electric Power Sector program involves colleges, universities, and electric power companies in developing curricula and materials for training engineers, technicians, and technical specialists with the skill sets needed to design, operate, and maintain the technologies and business systems (hardware and software) that comprise the Smart Grid.

A top priority of the SGIG and SGDP programs involves ensuring that projects properly address interoperability and cyber security. Interoperability is the capability of two or more networks, systems, devices, applications, or components to share and readily use information securely and effectively with little or no inconvenience to the user. Cyber security is the ability of electric networks to detect and respond to unwanted intrusions by hackers or terrorists into grid-connected software and hardware systems, including protections to prevent unauthorized access to data or system controls. DOE activities include development of standards and analysis tools, and assessment of lessons learned and best practices.