The Obama administration announced today which smart grid projects will receive $3.4 billion in federal funding.  A Dept of Energy official has said that about 25% of the projects that applied for funding received a boost from the government with awards ranging from $400K up to $200 million for single projects.  The smart grid stimulus is expected to help get 18 million more advanced metering systems installed throughout the US. 

Here are the utilities receiving the largest grants:

CenterPoint Energy (Houston, TX) $200 million to complete installation of 2.2 million smart meters and 550 smart sensors and auto switches

Baltimore Gas and Electric  $200 million to deploy smart meters and customer control systems to 1.1 million customers

Duke Energy (NC, OH, IN)  $200 million for a complete overhaul of its midwest systems which includes deploying $1.4 million smart meters and support for deployment of plug-in electric vehicles.  The real winner here is Echelon (ELON)

Florida Power & Light $200 million for installation of $2.6 million smart meters, 45 sensors and advanced monitoring equipment

Progress Energy Service (NC, SC) $200 million to build smart grid virtual power plant

PECO Energy (Philly) $200 million to deploy 600K smart meters, install 7 intelligent substations and general network upgrades 

Southern Company (AL, FL, GA, MS, NC, SC) $165 million to deploy 5 smart grid systems

NV Energy (Vegas) $138 million to add smart grid technologies, support electric vehicles and deploy 1.3 million smart meters
Consolidated Edison (New York) $136 million to upgrade its grid with automation, monitoring and two way communication

Click here for the complete list

The real winners of these grants aren’t the utilities, they’re the companies that offer the smart grid components.  All are up significantly today:

Itron (ITRI) up about 4%
Echelon (ELON) up about 8%
PowerSecure (POWR) up about 3%
Comverge (COMV) up about 8%
EnerNOC (ENOC) down 2%

I’ll have to research this a bit more, but at first glance it looks like Echelon (ELON) may be the biggest beneficiary based on their relationship with Duke Energy.  As the big gorilla in the space, Itron (ITRI) will benefit big as well.