In The Forefront

Vt. poised to become energy research leader - WCAX (with video)

Sandia Center at UVM will accelerate smart grid transition - VT Digger

Gov. Peter Shumlin credits Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for bringing a new multi-million dollar Center for Energy Transformation and Innovation to the state. Sanders was “like a dog with a bone” on the issue, recalled the governor at a joint press conference on Monday.

The project, a partnership between Sandia National Laboratories, the University of Vermont, Green Mountain Power and Vermont businesses, will create “a revolution in the way we are using power,” Shumlin predicts.

The goal is to make Vermont “a national example of how to deploy smart grid technology across a state, along with renewable generation and really demonstrate that we can handle the security issues that come with that.”

One of those issues is that having numerous interactive devices on two-way networks creates new risks. According to Kenneth van Meter, manager of energy and cyber services for Lockheed Martin, “By the end of 2015 we will have 440 million new hackable points on the grid. Nobody’s equipped to deal with that today.”

Sandia was founded in 1949 and has roots in the Manhattan Project, which helped develop the atomic bomb during World War II. The company’s website describes its work during that period as “ordnance engineering,” which involved turning the nuclear innovations of the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore labs into functioning weapons.