• Three-state, 200,000-Customer Deployment is Key Step to Securing a Green, Clean Energy Future for the Region
• Project Delivers Customer Benefits and Supports New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Federal Energy Policy
• National Grid Plan is among the Most Advanced, Comprehensive in the U.S.

National Grid (LSE:NG;NYSE:NGG), the nation’s second-largest utility, has applied to the U.S. Department of Energy for $200 million in stimulus funding to develop an “end-to-end” smart grid deployment that will include approximately 200,000 customers in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Through its smart grid program, National Grid is partnering with the three states to help them achieve their vision for a clean, efficient energy network of the future while creating new jobs and economic development opportunities for the region. The smart grid program will provide residential and business customers across the northeast with unprecedented ability to reduce their energy consumption, carbon emissions and utility bills.

Tom King, president of National Grid U.S., said, “Our smart grid program is highly consistent with and supportive of the purpose and goals of the DoE stimulus program and it will accelerate smart grid deployment.” King added, “The proposed project is a collaborative effort among National Grid, its customers and the leadership of New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Working together, we aim to demonstrate the transformative value and benefits of the smart grid to the northeast and the rest of the nation.”

National Grid’s project will demonstrate the benefits of combining “smart” and “green” technologies from end-to-end (transmission to consumer) including demonstrations of clean energy technologies such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and solar and wind power as well as energy storage technology. The result will be one of the most technologically advanced smart grid deployments in the U.S. This initiative will provide an increased understanding of the interface between the next generation of green energy supply and the smart grid to pave the way for the broader roll out of these technologies in the states where National Grid operates.

King added, “While our smart grid is focused on customers, it also acts as a catalyst to accelerate and accommodate the integration of renewable energy applications into the distribution network.