Utilities Should be Allowed to Use Public Safety Spectrum for Smart Grid, Says FCC

Utilities should be allowed to use the public safety wireless broadband network in the 700 MHz band to promote grid reliability and efficiency and Congress must consider amending the Communications Act to make it possible, the FCC said in a National Broadband Plan released Tuesday. The commission devoted an entire section to the “important” role broadband and advanced communications would play in achieving energy independence and efficiency.

Because utilities’ wide-area network requirements are similar to public safety agencies, they should be allowed to use the band, the commission said. Licensees or lessees of the public safety 700 MHz spectrum should be allowed to sign agreements with utilities on “uses and priorities,” it said. “At the sole discretion of safety licensee, utilities should also be able to purchase services on a public safety network, contribute capital funds and infrastructure or even be the operator of a joint network.” That would provide “more options” for the construction and operation of a public safety network, it said, and with the networks carrying “critical traffic from multiple users” will help lower costs for all.

Utilities have said the absence of a nationwide band to build an interoperable smart grid will hamper efforts toward energy independence and efficiency, the FCC said. It backed continuation of joint efforts by the commission and the NTIA to identify new uses for federal spectrum, including for smart grids: “Identifying a nationwide band in which Smart Grid networks could operate would speed deployment of a standardized and interoperable broadband Smart Grid.” Such a band would foster vendor competition and lower equipment costs, the plan said.

The FCC should start a proceeding to examine the “reliability and resiliency” of commercial broadband and wireless networks for smart grid applications, the plan recommended. States, in turn, should reduce barriers and financial disincentives to utilities’ use of commercial networks for smart grid communications, it said. “State regulators should carefully evaluate a utility’s network requirements and commercial network alternatives before authorizing a rate of return on private communications systems.” States also should ensure consumers access to real-time energy use information, and if they fail, Congress should step in with a national policy, it said. While evaluating smart grid grant applications, the Department of Energy should consider consumer access to energy data and “develop best practices and guidance for states,” the plan said.

The plan recommended the FCC start an inquiry about ways the communications industry can improve energy efficiency and reduce its environmental impact. The commission should look at issues such as data center energy efficiency, the use of renewable power for communications networks and steps companies can take to reduce carbon emissions, it said. The commission should also study how service providers can help reduce energy use of mobile phone chargers and other peripherals in the home, it said. Operating 10 percent of the nation’s data centers and servers, the federal government should take steps to cut its energy use, including setting a goal of getting Energy Star certification for the centers it operates, the plan said. “A first step toward this goal should be metering the energy use in all federal data centers as soon as practicable."

Energy efficiency advocates applauded the FCC’s plan. The plan will help “smart grid development accelerate,” said the GridWise Alliance, a group that includes AT&T, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, IBM, Verizon and the Utilities Telecom Council. “This plan is the first time that the federal government has developed a strategy for implementing ubiquitous broadband in a way that is specifically linked to consumers’ ability to participate in the smart grid,” said alliance President Katherine Hamilton. GE agrees with the FCC’s “recognition of the need for improving the communications infrastructure to modernize the grid,” the company said. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners said the plan recognizes the “crucial role” of state regulators in developing a smart grid.

The FCC’s recommendations would help hasten the extension of broadband, but what utilities need short term is spectrum, said Brett Kilbourne, the Utilities Telecom Council’s regulatory director. “That would be our first priority” in advancing the smart grid, he said. Utilities seek from the commission the “tools that we need to deploy smart grid in a cost-effective manner” and the spectrum problem limits them to using commercial networks, which in many cases may not be suitable, Kilbourne said.

The CEA supports the FCC’s “identification of promoting American leadership in a clean energy economy and enabling every American to track and manage their real-time energy consumption as major policy goals,” said Brian Markwalter, the vice president of technology and standards. “We look forward to working with the FCC and other government agencies to enable consumers to access their real-time and historical energy usage data and to create a vibrant market for innovative third-party services and devices to help consumers use energy most efficiently.”