Itron Inc. has started up an additional production line at its Waseca, Minn., plant to increase its production of electric circuit boards for its Open Way utility meters, which are part of its smart-grid technology offerings. The Liberty Lake-based company has hired 40 full-time workers to staff the new line.

The company also makes circuit boards for the meters and manufactures the other components for them at its Oconee, S.C., plant, but demand for the meters has outstripped that plant's capacity to make them, says Kim Papich, an Itron spokeswoman.

The meters are used in the so-called smart grid, which applies advanced utility metering and heightened communication capability between utilities and customers to match energy supply more closely with demand and reduce excess power generation and curb greenhouse-gas emissions.

Itron says its OpenWay Centron meter is one of the first smart meters to provide built-in, high-speed, two-way communications. The company says it's eligible for a federal tax credit under economic-recovery legislation thanks to its investment in the new line.