OSU gets stimulus cash for ‘smart grid’ training - Business First of Columbus:

OSU gets stimulus cash for ‘smart grid’ training - Business First of Columbus:

Ohio State University has been awarded $2.5 million in federal stimulus funding to train engineers and educators in the burgeoning field of “smart grid” technology.

The award was part of about $3.2 million the Obama administration announced this week for projects in Ohio aimed at training the state’s work force on modernizing the nation’s electricity grid. Smart grid deployment and demonstration projects are backed with more than $4 billion from the stimulus package.

At Ohio State, the funding will be used to train electrical engineers, specifically with a simulation of a real smart grid. High school teachers also will receive hands-on summer workshops.

As the school works to bolster the work force with the needed skills for smart grid development, Columbus-based American Electric Power Company Inc. (NYSE:AEP) already is at work on a $150 million GridSmart project financed in part by a $75 million stimulus grant. The company is installing 110,000 “smart meters” at customers’ homes and businesses that allow greater control over use.

GridSmart also plans to fund the testing of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and energy-efficient appliances with expectations for more than 500 new jobs created over three years as a result.