Craig D. Rose STAFF WRITER
683 words
07/22/2005
The San Diego Union-Tribune
C1
English
© 2005 San Diego Union Tribune Publishing Company. Provided by ProQuest
Information and Learning. All Rights Reserved.
San Diego Gas & Electric said yesterday that it will launch a small, pilot
project in September to provide broadband access over its power lines,
marking the first California trial of a technology that could someday make
every electrical outlet a portal to the Internet.
SDG&E said its test will be limited to about 10 company employees, who
will use the technology to monitor electric-grid conditions and control
equipment in the Kearny Mesa area, where SDG&E has its offices.
That would make SDG&E's test program of broadband over power line, or BPL,
more limited than others around the country, where the offerings have
advanced to providing Internet access to some members of the public.
Most computer users now obtain high-speed Internet access through
telephone lines or television cables. Accessing the Internet through power
lines holds the potential both for higher speed and lower cost, as well as
expanding broadband access to regions where cable television is
unavailable or phone companies aren't offering such service.
While SDG&E noted the potential for wide applications of BPL technology,
it declined to speculate on when or if it might move to offer Internet
access to the public.
"This is a proof-of-concept test, so there's no need to involve a large
number of people," said Ed Van Herik, an SDG&E spokesman. "It would be
premature to speculate about the consumer market."
He said BPL was one of the possible technologies the company is
considering to link the advanced electric meters the company is proposing
to install across its customer base. The BPL test project will be paid for
by the utility's shareholders and not its customers, Van Herik said.
The utility is working on the pilot project with ham radio operators, he
said. Tests elsewhere of BPL have created interference on amateur radio
bands.
The California Public Utilities Commission has been urging the state's
utilities to move forward with BPL testing.
Susan Kennedy, a member of the commission, said the PUC has been
frustrated to see California, typically a technology leader, trail other
states in exploring this new avenue for Internet access.
"For the home of Qualcomm and Silicon Valley to be following in the tail
wind of eastern states is criminal," Kennedy said.
But the utilities have complained that regulatory uncertainty has kept
them from moving faster, she said. The PUC, for its part, is hoping to
move faster in clarifying a regulatory framework that would allow the
technology to be developed.
In the meantime, Kennedy said she was strongly encouraging the utilities
to use shareholder money, not ratepayer funding, in developing BPL.
"They should take the risk and reap the rewards," she said. Kennedy said
BPL might offer faster two-way Internet speeds uploading and downloading
than other technologies.
Michael Shames, executive director of San Diego's Utility Consumers'
Action Network, said he believes BPL holds the potential to significantly
reduce the cost to the public of high-speed Internet access.
The consumer advocate said he was disappointed that SDG&E had not
undertaken a broader pilot project.
"I would have liked them to test an entire neighborhood or commercial or
industrial district," Shames said. "The word to best describe this
proposal is half-hearted."
About 40 utilities around the country have run or plan to run conduct
tests. They include a municipally owned utility in Manassas, Va., and an
investor-owned utility in Cincinnati that offer Internet access to the
public.
In recent weeks, moreover, companies including Google, IBM and Motorola
have announced investments in BPL.
Pacific Gas and Electric was poised to become the first California utility
to launch a BPL project last year, but the project was scrapped when AT&T,
the utility's partner in the pilot project, pulled out of the consumer
market.
Story Filed By The UNION TRIBUNE, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA