Barack Obama made a pitch for renewable energy Tuesday, announcing $3.4 billion in government support for 100 projects aimed at modernizing the nation's power grid.

President Barack Obama, left, and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., walk off Air Force One as they arrive in ...

Touring a field of solar energy panels in west-central Florida, the president urged greater use of several technologies to make America's power transmission system more efficient and better suited to the digital age. The projects include installing "smart" electric meters in homes, automating utility substations, and installing thousands of new digital transformers and grid sensors.
Peco Energy gets $200M 'smart-grid' grant

Peco Energy Co. was awarded a $200 million federal stimulus grant yesterday that will allow it to speed up deployment of "smart-grid" technology, including 600,000 advanced electric meters in the next three years.
The grant will allow the Philadelphia electric utility to rapidly roll out a plan to install "smart meters" that will allow customers to monitor electric prices in real time. The utility plans to convert all 1.6 million of its customers to the devices in a decade

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. officials said a $200 million federal subsidy awarded to the company Tuesday would lower the cost to customers of an ambitious project to provide every household with an advanced "smart meter" that will enable them to better control energy use.

BGE plans to install 2 million of the devices between 2010 and 2014 and charge customers for the upgrade. The smart meters would give BGE's residential and commercial customers hour-by-hour information about energy pricing and enable them to cut back at times of peak costs.

The Federal government of the United States admits that the power grid is susceptible to cyber-warfare.The United States Department of Homeland Security works with industry to identify vulnerabilities and to help industry enhance the security of control system networks, the federal government is also working to ensure that security is built in as we develop the next generation of 'smart grid' networks. On April 8, 2009, it is believed that China or Russia have infiltrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.China denies intruding into the U.S. electrical grid. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has issued a public notice that warns that the electrical grid is not adequately protected from cyber attack.One counter measure the U.S. should consider is disconnecting the power grid from the Internet to decrease the likelihood of attack.Massive power outages caused by a cyber attack, would cause a crisis making it difficult for the government and emergency workers to respond to critical concerns leading to national trauma