By Geoff Zeiss, Director of Technology, Autodesk, Inc.

Experts predict that a build-out of the smart grid will be one of the largest creators of wealth in the decade. One smart grid analyst goes so far as to say that the smart grid is "akin to the transcontinental railroad, the phone system, the interstate highway system and the Internet."

Challenges
It is very easy to see why America needs to do something about the current power grid.   The reliability of the existing grid is decreasing as our dependence on it is increasing.  According to the Department of Energy, today's electricity system is 99.97 percent reliable, yet still allows for power outages and interruptions that cost Americans at least $150 billion each year - about $500 for every man, woman and child.  Consider this:

• The number of outages affecting more than 50,000 people was 41 in 1991-95 and 92 in 2001-2005.
• The US has 9,200 electric generating units with a total of more than 1,000,000 megawatts of generating capacity - most of them were constructed in the 1960s or earlier.
• The current electrical network has 14,000 transmission substations, including 4500 large substations, and the average age of a substation transformer is more than 40 years - beyond their expected life span.  Substations are a critical component of our distribution system, and a loss of only 4% of transmission substations would result in a 60% loss of connectivity.
• As to the country's 300,000 miles of transmission lines, since 1982 peak demand for electricity has exceeded transmission growth by almost 25%  each year - but only 668 miles of new interstate transmission lines were built between  2000 and 2008.

Although the Congress has not set a national goal for renewable energy, 36 states have Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS).  The development of wind energy in the US is increasing at an exponential rate led by Texas, which recently set a new record of 6.7 GW of wind power generation, approximately 20% of the state's total power generation at the time.   In other states such as California, a massive expansion of solar power is underway where the Governor has reset the RPS target to 33% renewable energy by 2025.  The first proposal for off shore wind energy, off Cape Cod, has been approved and construction is expected to begin this year.  To bring this power to consumers, a massive build out of the transmission network will be required.  One proposal involved 19,000 new miles of very high voltage transmission lines to bring wind and solar energy to market.

Smart Grid
In addition to renewable energy programs, regulators are encouraging power utilities to reduce peak demand through consumer oriented programs such as smart meters and time-of-use pricing.  Many power utilities have already begun pilot deployments of smart meters.  Ontario in Canada will have completed deployment of smart meters to every residence and small business by the end of 2010.  Power utilities are also deploying technology for demand response that allows the power utility to reduce demand by shutting down non-essential equipment at peak.   To enable this type of capability requires a bidirectional network that allows information to flow from the utility to the consumer, as well as information to flow to the utility from the consumer.  This requires a build out of new communications networks, typically fiber in more densely populated areas and wireless such as WiMax in rural areas.

To reduce down time, whether brown outs or black outs, power utilities are automating their distribution networks by making installing intelligent network management hardware and software and building out network redundancy.  The objective is to make the distribution network smart enough to be able to isolate problem equipment and reconfigure itself to minimize the number of customers affected and to reduce the time required to identify and repair the faulty equipment.

It is estimated that implementing renewable energy and the smart grid to support it will cost between $1.5 and $2 trillion over the next two decades.   The current administration has made the smart grid build out a top priority.  The 2009 economic stimulus bill includes funding and loan guarantees for modernizing the nation's electricity grid. This total includes $11 billion to finance 3,000 miles of transmission lines, new and upgraded substations to transport renewable energy; as well to finance 40 million smart electric meters in homes.

Aging Workforce
At the same time that utilities are facing an increased workload to accommodate non-emitting energy sources and the smart grid, they are also facing a workforce crunch.  Experienced workers are retiring at a faster rate than they can be replaced with trained younger workers.  Utilities need new tools to improve productivity to enable them to upgrade and build out the smart grid without increasing their workforce.  As banks, low cost airlines, and the German automobile industry, to name just a few of the industries that have turned to IT for solutions have shown, IT technology can dramatically reduce costs while improving quality.

Automating the Design Process
Model-based design, or building information modeling (BIM), together with 3D visualization technology is helping engineers, architects, designers and construction companies automate tasks such as clash detection and quantity takeoff.  When combined with project management software, called 4D and 5D modeling, it enables construction companies to model the entire construction process, facilitating scheduling of crews and material delivery.

In the electric power sector, utilities are also adopting these technologies to improve the substation design and redesign process by making it easier for the design teams involved to collaborate.  For example, Duke Energy (Arnold Fry, Duke Energy Transforms Its Substation Design Process, Electric Energy T&D, Nov/Dec 2009) is streamlining the substation design/redesign process through a state-of-the-art design solution, Substation Design Solution (SDS), that enables its designers to create an integrated 3D model of a substation that includes all the equipment, connections, and structural elements.   Duke Energy estimates that SDS will reduce overall design time by at least 50%. With the time saved, the company believes that it will be better positioned to meet its customers' evolving capacity and service demands.  Additionally, the Duke Energy SDS will come online just in time to support the move to smart grid technology.

As utilities ramp up deployment of smart grids, they are going to devote these new technologies to not only redesigning existing and designing new substations, but also to designing and getting regulatory approval for transmission lines, designing renewable power generation and other facilities for their expanded networks.  And this is just the beginning.  New data capture techniques such as laser scanning and high resolution oblique imagery is being adopted by utility companies to reduce the time required to develop 3D models of existing facilities.  And other utility sectors such as water and wastewater utilities are also moving in the direction of intelligent networks.

Faced with a shrinking and less experienced workforce and the massive effort required to replace our existing networks with intelligent networks over the next two decades,  utilities in all sectors will be increasingly looking to model-based design and 3D visualization technology to enable them to meet their customers' expectations and the smart grid challenge.

AGC members in California sent hundreds of letters to the California Air Resources Board, urging it to repeal its costly and unnecessary off-road rule, which could be adopted by 32 other states.

AGC showed the board that emissions from off-road construction equipment are far lower than originally thought, and the news is spreading quickly. The North Bay Business Journal further explored the data while nearly 2,000 letters were sent in opposition to the rule to members of the California Air Resources Board last week. Engineering News-Record also covered the issue.

AGC released a study last year showing that as many as 32 other states could adopt California's rule.

For more information, contact Mike Kennedy at kennedym@agc.org.

The construction industry added 19,000 jobs in August, but the sector's 17 percent unemployment rate was the highest August rate ever, AGC said Friday, following its analysis of federal employment data.

Continuing gridlock in Washington over infrastructure legislation and expiring tax rates threatens to keep construction workers unemployed much longer, AGC warned.

Read more here.

Construction employment declined in 276 out of 337 metropolitan areas between July 2009 and July 2010, according to AGC's analysis of federal employment data. The employment figures demonstrate the widespread decline in demand for construction services that continues to outpace stimulus-funded work, AGC noted.

Read more here.

The news was covered by the Dayton Business Journal, Arizona Daily Star and Sacramento Bee, among others.

The new AGC member directory allows members to change and edit company information, and upgrade listings to include background information on the firm, a project image portfolio, and priority listings.

The AGC and McGraw-Hill Construction online member directory is now the only place for AGC members to increase brand exposure and get found by the directory's 2,200 visitors per week online.

Visit directory.agc.org, or click the "Member Directory" button on the top left corner of the AGC website.

For more information on upgrading your listing, click here.

AGC president Ted Aadland talks to an ACE Leadership School student.

At the opening of the AGC-New Mexico Building Branch-developed ACE Leadership High School in Albuquerque, N.M., AGC president Ted Aadland noted that construction-focused schools deliver better results than comparable public schools, and an increased focus on skills-based programs would help cut high school dropout rates.

Read more here.

For more information, contact Brian Turmail at turmailb@agc.org, or Mara Halguin at MaraHolguin@agc-nm.org.

Construction job gains were more widespread across the country and job losses were generally less severe in July than in June, AGC reported Friday in an analysis of state employment data released by the Labor Department.

Twenty-six states added construction jobs in July, compared to 19 in June, while six states added construction jobs over the past year and most others are losing far fewer jobs than previously, AGC noted.

"Encouraging as it is to see some modest signs of progress, it is increasingly unlikely we'll keep seeing these kinds of gains over the next few months," said Ken Simonson, AGC's chief economist. "There is little to indicate that construction will be adding workers to a significant extent any time soon."

Read the press release here. The news was covered by the Amarillo Globe News, Phoenix Business Journal and Vermont Biz, among others.

For more information, contact Ken Simonson at simonsonk@agc.org.

Solicitations requiring bidders on certain U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) construction projects to submit an executed project labor agreement (PLA) prompted AGC to write and call agency officials expressing strong concern.  On August 18, the agency called AGC to announce that it was withdrawing the PLA requirement and to thank AGC for educating them on the issue.

On August 12, AGC sent a letter to the USACE's Mobile District demanding information about the agency's justification for including a PLA mandate in a solicitation for the construction of an Air Force Technical Applications Center at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. The letter questioned how it determined that the conditions listed in President Obama's executive order on PLAs were present. The requirement, along with similar mandates by other contracting agencies and information about pressure from higher in the Administration, also prompted AGC to send a letter calling on President Obama to protect contracting officers from such political pressure, and to send an "unmistakable and public" message that political appointees should not cross the line between politics and procurement.

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AGC called on the president to send an "unmistakable and public" message that political appointees are not to cross the line between politics and procurement.

AGC urged President Obama to tell his staff to leave career contracting officers free to evaluate whether it is in the taxpayers' interest to mandate project labor agreements for the construction of federal projects. Such agreements are typically between general construction contractors and the unions representing construction craft workers.

AGC pointed out that government mandates for PLAs are controversial because they disadvantage contractors who work without union agreements.  They also disrupt the collective bargaining over the area-wide agreements that would otherwise apply to work in a particular city, county or other area.

Read AGC's letter here.

For more information, contact Denise Gold at (703) 837-5326 or goldd@agc.org.

AGC's analysis of federal data released Friday showed that construction unemployment reached 17.3 percent, with 11,000 more construction workers losing their jobs in July. AGC urged Congress and the administration to act now to pass a host of long-delayed infrastructure bills to finance new highway, transit, water and utility projects.

Continuing the push for long-term infrastructure funding, AGC member company George J. Igel & Company participated in an event with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Representative Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) in Columbus. During the event, Igel employees expressed concern over what would happen when stimulus money runs out. Secretary LaHood and Rep. Kilroy agreed that a six-year transportation bill would be a logical sequel to the stimulus.

Watch the local NBC affiliate's coverage here.  Read AGC's press release on construction unemployment here, or read coverage from the New Haven Register, Michigan Live and Finance and Commerce.