Jul. 5--Southwest Washington's high-tech industry is wising up to the business opportunities in the smart grid -- also called the Internet for the electrical power grid.

Many of the region's largest technology manufacturers, engineers and research laboratories, including Sharp and Underwriters Laboratories in Camas, already have invested in new products and services and are vying for a slice of the $4.1 billion set aside in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help build a smart grid. Others are brainstorming ways to enter the $6 billion market, estimated to grow 21 percent annually through 2014, according to Specialists in Business Information.

"The development and deployment of smart grid will involve all of our tech businesses at some time," said Bart Phillips, president of the Columbia River Economic Development Council in Vancouver. "The whole knowledge base is basically in Vancouver and Portland; we're ground zero for smart grid here in the Northwest."

Bringing the nation's aging electrical grid into the information age will require overlaying the existing grid with a digital communications system that includes sensors, controls and wireless devices. Such systems, proponents say, will give utilities more precise control over power production and distribution that in turn creates energy savings, increases power quality and reliability, and allows more renewable energy sources to come online. Consumers will also gain more control over their energy costs through flexible utility rates and in-home monitoring devices a smart grid would allow.

The opportunity for Clark County tech companies is big. Every gadget that enables the smart grid will need a computer chip or microprocessor to build communication links from power plants to transmission lines all the way into homes and businesses. With some 340 high-tech companies here, and regional research and thought leaders such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, Bonneville Power Administration, and Intel Corp., the region has the expertise to take advantage of an emerging market that blends communications and computing.

"Most companies involved with Internet technologies have an opportunity with the smart grid," said Steve Jennings, chief marketing officer of BPL Global, a smart grid technology company that owns Hillsboro, Ore.-based Serveron.