Modernizing the electricity grid has been an important priority for President Obama's ambitious green agenda.

As with so many of President Obama's campaign promises, the massive $789 billion economic stimulus package afforded him an opportunity to take a major step toward that goal early in his presidency.

In the stimulus bill, under the heading "Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability," there is $4.5 billion set aside for modernizing the nation's electrical grid, making it more efficient and better able to adapt to disruptions.

There's also money for enhanced security, energy storage research, and for specific projects like the Bonneville Power Admininistration, which got $3.25 billion in additional borrowing authority to expand its Northwest power grid.

The White House says the investments will result in more than 3,000 miles of new or modernized transmission lines. The plan also will deploy 40 million "Smart Meters” in American homes, which track energy consumption in more detail and in real time and can lower utility bills and reduce power outages.

In all, a White House analysis says there is more than $11 billion in the recovery plan to create a "bigger, better, smarter electric grid."

"We will transform the way we use energy," Obama said at the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Denver on Feb. 17, noting that the nation had been relying on a grid that dates back to Thomas Edison.

"The investment we are making today will create a newer, smarter electric grid that will allow for the broader use of alternative energy," he said.

This is a controversial plan in some circles, particularly among manufacturers of electricity meters that might have to change dramatically because of the new grid, and it will be a complex undertaking that will unfold over years. The White House acknowledged that this new nationwide "superhighway" will require long-term policy changes and years of planning.

"This gets the ball moving," said Phil West, a spokesman for the U.S. Energy Department.

We agree, and move this promise status to In the Works.