Oct. 27--TAMPA -- President Barack Obama will announce $3.4 billion in stimulus grants, including more than $200 million in Florida, for "smart grid" energy technology during his appearance at a new solar generating plant in Arcadia this morning.

It's likely, but not certain until Obama delivers his speech, that the University of South Florida will be among the grant recipients. Researchers at USF have done advanced research in smart-grid technology.

Obama is scheduled to speak at 11:45 a.m. at the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia.

The grant program will use federal money, matched by equal or greater private investment, to begin revamping the nation's system of electrical generation and distribution. Government officials are comparing it to creation of the interstate highway system.

A smart grid is a modernization of the electrical transmission and distribution system that allows power from alternative, renewable sources to be fed into the system, such as solar panels on a house roof or biofuel generator at a grocery store; and helps customers time their use of power to avoid high-demand periods. That cuts the number of generating plants that must be built to accommodate peak use.

It includes such features as "smart meters" that can tell customers how much power they're using and how much it costs, so they can time use of appliances to avoid peak use periods.

In a conference call Monday afternoon, administration officials including Carol Browner, Obama's assistant for energy and climate change, said the program of grants Obama will announce includes $3.4 billion in federal stimulus money matched by $4.7 billion in private money from utility companies and others.

The program will fund 100 grant requests, chosen from among 400 applications. Of those, about 25 are large grants of up to $200 million, including one in Florida.

The effects of that program, Browner said, "will be felt throughout South Florida."

Florida will also get several smaller grants of $10 million to $40 million.

Browner said the program aims to achieve "a transformational impact on how electricity is generated and consumed. We have a very antiquated system in this country."

The projects, which are in all but one of the 50 states, will take one to three years to build. Money will start flowing in two months, the administration officials said.

In all, they said, the projects will include:

--Installing 18 million smart meters, representing 13 percent of U.S. homes.

--200,000 "smart transformers" that signal when they are about to fail, helping prevent outages.

--850 transmission sensors, covering the entire country, that monitor small outages and help prevent them from cascading into larger outages.

--Hundreds of thousands of in-home displays and "communicating thermostats" intended to help customers manager their power consumption.

White House economist Jared Bernstein said the grant program will create "tens of thousands of good, nontradeable jobs" in smart meter manufacturing; engineering technicians, electricians, installers, informational technology workers and others.

"This is replacing demand for foreign fossil fuels with renewable energy produced here at home," he said.

USF researchers and Progress Energy are involved in building a smart grid serving some 5,000 customers in St. Petersburg and St. Pete Beach. At the time it was announced last spring, it was the largest in the Southeast, USF said.

The university has applied for two grants in the field, but as of Monday, didn't know whether either had been granted, USF spokeswoman Vickie Chachere said.

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