Current Group, a Germantown-based technology firm, has taken over an ordinary looking house in Bethesda and turned it into a laboratory for smart-grid technology, the system the company believes will bring the nation’s electricity grids into the digital age.
In the front yard stands a utility pole hooked up to a special transformer that connects the power lines to high-speed Internet. Hundreds of sensors attached to the lines monitor how power flows through the home. That information is then sent back to the utility company.
The process lets a utility more efficiently manage the distribution of electricity by allowing two-way communication between consumers and energy suppliers via the broadband network on the power lines. Based on data they receive from hundreds of homes, utilities can monitor usage and adjust output and pricing in response to demand. Consumers can be rewarded with reduced rates by cutting back on consumption during peak periods. And computerized substations can talk to each other so overloaded circuits hand off electricity to those that have not fully loaded, helping to prevent blackouts.
Some utility companies have launched initiatives to give consumers data about their energy consumption habits in an effort to lower energy bills. Smart-grid technology takes such programs further by automating electricity distribution, which would make grids more reliable and efficient.
By partnering with utilities, the company hopes to tap into $4.5 billion in stimulus grants intended to encourage smart-grid development. When he announced the funding, President Obama pointed to a project in Boulder, Colo. , as an example of a successful smart-grid experiment. Current is one of the companies working on the project.
Current’s chief executive Tom Casey believes the technology will help utility companies better distribute electricity produced by renewable resources, such as solar panels or wind farms. " A smart grid’s system can be paired up with the renewable resources so that when the renewable source is varying, the overall load can be varied as well, " Casey told the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. " This will reduce or eliminate the need for backup coal or gas-based power generation plants. \
What benefit can the smart-grid technology bring（）
A. Substations can talk to each other through computers
B. The consumers and energy suppliers can have direct communication
C. Consumers can be rewarded for using less electricity
D. The electricity supply of a certain area can be adjusted accordingly
参考答案：D
解析：
细节题。由题干中的benefit定位到第三段。第三段提到，公用事业公司可以高效管理配电，故D为正确答案。文中提到，联网的变电所之间可以进行交流，将电流从负载过重的电路转移到未满负荷运转的电路上，从而避免停电，故A的表述不是智能电网带来的好处，排除；文中提到，借助电线上的宽带，消费者和电力供应商可以进行双向交流，但这并不是智能电网实验的目的，其目的是达到高效配电，因此排除B；原文中提到，如果在用电高峰期减少用电量，消费者可以获得优惠价作为奖励，C项缺少“用电高峰期减少用电量”这一前提条件，故排除。