Smart grid project to create 500 Wash. jobs

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Monday that the U.S. Energy Department has approved $178 million in funding for a Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project for improving electricity grid systems across five states.

The project will create an estimated 500 jobs in Washington state and a total of 1,500 in the Pacific Northwest region, she said.

Full press release on Cantwell's announcement below:

RICHLAND, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has approved release of grant funding for the $178 million Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project that will create an estimated 500 jobs statewide. Speaking from Battelle, Cantwell said that with the project now fully launched, the deployment and installation of new smart grid technology across five states will create 1,500 jobs in the region, one-third of them in Washington state.

“With funding for this landmark smart grid demonstration project now moving ahead, our region is cementing its leadership in what will be a worldwide smart grid marketplace worth hundreds of billions of dollars,” Senator Cantwell said. “This project will create hundreds of jobs in the near term and position Washington state to be a leader in the growing clean energy economy.”

See the full article in the Puget Sound Business Journal.