Westar Energy's Smart Grid/Lawrence

Recipient: Westar Energy, Inc.

Funding Agency: Department of Energy

Grant Amount: $19,041,565

Local Amount: $19,041,565

Grant Description: The objective of this project is to support the goal of the Smart Grid Investment Grant Funding Opportunity Announcement which is to accelerate the modernization of the nation's electric transmission, distribution, and delivery systems, and promote investments in smart grid technologies which increase flexibility, functionality, interoperability, cyber security, situational awareness and operational efficiency. An additional goal is to collect information from customers, distributors, and generators to understand how smart grid technologies may lead to reductions in demands and costs, increases energy efficiency, optimally allocates and matches demand and resources to meet that demand, and increases the reliability of the grid. The social benefits of a smart grid and energy storage technologies are reduced emissions, lower costs, increased reliability, greater security and flexibility to accommodate new energy technologies, including renewable, intermittent and distributed sources.

Project Description: We finalized a Project Management Plan & Schedule defining interdependencies among all components of the program. We completed a work breakdown schedule of each program component. We created an internal web site to store and publish documentation, which was approved by our executive steering committee. We selected a product to provide a customer web portal. Contracts were completed with eMeter Corp to purchase Energy Engage and EnergyIP, a meter data management software package, which includes professional services for configuring and implementing the systems. Specification bids were received for hardware required to support both applications. A services contract and statement of work were received from Enspiria Solutions to provide system integration and project management services. A statement of work for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure system from Elster Integrated Solutions was reviewed.

Requirements were identified for an outage management system. These requirements were used to create a request for proposal which was sent to seven qualified vendors. We have been participating in subcommittees with NIST. We developed a process to track all hours worked on the project. Eleven Information Technology staff were selected to join the project team. Our engineers have mapped the location for 31 mid-circuit reclosers.

We worked with the Brattle Group to research and design possible dynamic rate plans in which the final study was provided to the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC). We assisted the KCC with a smart grid roundtable in October 2009.

Preliminary customer research and communication planning for raising customer awareness, acceptance and participation are complete which will serve as the foundation of our customer education efforts to engage customers in tools. We began initial communication in our community with key individuals to build an early advocacy group. An internal Kickoff was held in March 2010 to educate everyone on the new technology.

Job Creation: Managers, Computer -related Occupations, Business Occupations were all jobs that were working on the project during the reporting period.

Primary Vendor(s):

Enspiria, $66,731; System Integration and Project Management Services.

Enspiria, $34,328; System Integration and Project Management Services.

Enspiria, $25,659; System Integration and Project Management Services.

The Brattle Group, $32,321; Dynamic Rate analysis and Design.