We Got Your Smart Grid Right Here

The Pecan crew: Former council member Brewster McCracken, Council Member Randi Shade, AE General Manager Roger Duncan, Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Congressman Lloyd Doggett (Photo by Michael King)

Nothing like a happy press conference to announce a lottery winner – in this case, a $10.4 million Department of Energy grant to the Pecan Street Project to underwrite “an advanced smart grid project” at the Mueller neighborhood development.

The presser took place at the Mueller Center, the neighborhood’s information and marketing office, and it was easy to imagine the highlighted model the dominates the room as a miniature prototype of the "smart grid" the Project plans to implement on a life-size scale.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett kicked off the occasion with a coy reference to the old Mueller airport: “Now we have landed these federal funds to help our community take off on its energy future." The grant, originating in federal stimulus money, will underwrite the "Pecan Street Project Energy Internet Demonstration," designed to “create, operate, and evaluate an open platform Energy internet (… modeled on the architecture of the Internet).”

The application was shepherded by former City Council member Brewster McCracken, now PSP’s federal grants manager – and its success shouldn’t hurt BMc’s chances of becoming the new executive director, a board decision anticipated as early as next week. As reported at the time by Katherine Gregor ("Getting Down with the Grid," Sept. 4), the grant was submitted Aug. 26, and the turnaround was quick enough to take even those directly involved by surprise. McCracken said they had picked up hints of the decision on DOE-related web sites only this morning, and then Doggett’s office contacted them directly and the announcement event was hastily organized.

"We intend to make the Mueller neighborhood an example of what modern neighborhoods can accomplish with smarter energy management, clean energy generation and advanced system integration," McCracken said. "Our goal is the most self-sufficient and energy efficient neighborhood development in the country."

Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Austin Energy General Manager Roger Duncan were among the officials also addressing the gathering, which included representatives of PSP’s various partners – the University of Texas (which will provide research teams), the Environmental Defense Fund, Mueller neighborhood residents and representatives, and several board members, among them Council Member Randi Shade and José Beceiro of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.