Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 12:04:36 PM - by Danny Vo

President Obama called for the creation of an updated electrical grid at the unveiling of Florida Power and Light's DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center yesterday.

The solar facility, Florida's second-largest, will power the 2,300-household town of Arcadia.

But, Obama and FP&L officials noted, the main obstacle to the increased use of solar power is an ancient electrical grid. Obama analogized it to America's system of roads before Interstates were built - "a tangled maze of poorly maintained back roads," he called it.

The renewable energy world was abuzz recently with the announcement that $3.4 billion of stimulus funds would be directed to the creation of a "smart grid" that would help consumers track their electrical use and provide transmission capacity for renewably generated electricity.

Smart grid monies will be disbursed to 49 states and the District of Columbia to fund smart meter installations and projects that improve the grid's reliability and stability. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates that smart grid technologies will reduce electricity use by 4 percent by 2030, saving over $20 billion.

"We're on the cusp of [a] new energy future," said Obama at the solar power plant.