Minnick lauds investment in Idaho's energy infrastructure

Washington, D.C. – Two Idaho utilities will receive millions of dollars to improve energy infrastructure for the state’s residents.

Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick today praised the Department of Energy decision to award funding of $20 million to Avista Utilities in Spokane and $47 million to Idaho Power in Boise to help consumers and utility customers in Idaho. Both awards are part of the $3.4 billion “Smart Grid Investment Awards” program announced today.

“This is great news for Idaho,” Minnick said. “These kinds of investments not only improve our infrastructure for the long term, they help create jobs and prepare Idaho to be a leader in the new energy economy. And most important, these investments will literally put power into the hands of consumers by helping them regulate their usage and reduce their energy bills.”

According to the Department of Energy, the Idaho Power project will “modernize the electric transmission and distribution infrastructure, including deploying a smart meter network for all 475,000 customers throughout the service area.” The company will also implement an “outage management system and irrigation load control program that will reduce peak and overall energy use and improve system reliability.”

The Avista project, according to the Department of Energy, will be used to “implement a distribution management system, intelligent end devices, and a communication network to reduce distribution system loses, enable automatic restoration to customers during outages, and allow for the integration on-site generating resources.”