New smart grid unveiled at LANL

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - An electric grid at Los Alamos National Lab just got smarter.

It has been upgraded to a $52 million state-of-the-art smart grid and it was powered up Monday.

It will provide power from a solar panel system to 2,000 homes in Los Alamos.

Everything will be managed through an automated command center to instantly switch back and forth among solar, battery backup and other electric power supplies.

It will also use weather forecasting models to determine if there's enough sun for power each day, as well as determine if it's cheaper to use battery-stored power or to buy electricity on the market.

“We’re energy rich, and the sun, the wind, it's something grand,” Governor Susana Martinez said. “The grid is absolutely important to us…make sure we get this energy back and forth. Imagine if we can replicate this and have a clean, safe energy...so I think this is super important.”

Los Alamos County, LANL and a tech company in Japan all worked on the project.