Not long ago, simply upgrading the aging U.S. electric grid to the state of the digital art to reduce power failures seemed like a big challenge. Now, the upgrade is intended to do much more: increase national security by limiting our dependence on foreign oil, reduce the need for new centralized power production facilities, and cut green house gas emissions. In this story, I review the Congressional mandate and funding for the development of the hundreds of standards that will be needed to accomplish these goals, the process being used to select them, and the broad range of standard setting organizations that will provide them.