Big new pathways are being forged – right here, where you blogger sits, in Kansas City.

You may have heard the national news that Google after a national search settled on Kansas City, Kansas as the site for its first build out of its long-anticipated 21^st century Internet fire hose. More than 1,100 cities wanted that honor.

Google net’s 1-gigabit-per-second speed would be as must as 100 times zippier than what most people today consider acceptable broadband cruising.

Now Google is announcing that it has struck a novel deal with Kansas City Power & Light to stretch the service across state lines to larger Kansas City, Missouri. Google says that KCP&L’s cooperation was essential to make it happen.

What does the pact entail? Details have not yet been released.  Google’s team will have access to KCP&L power poles – much like cable and telephone companies.  There will be restrictions on Google procedures to protect electric line workers from accidents and ratepayers from possibly cross-subsidizing the Google effort.

Now that Google has worked out a model for dealing with one metropolitan investor-owned utility – their cookie cutters should be out.

Hats are off to Mike Chesser, the head of the local utility who – as past chairman of the Electric Power Research Institute – has frequently explored the frontier of many technologies as they relate to power delivery.

 Now that Mike is inside the Google tent, we wonder what synergies he and his crew may be exploring down the road.

 Will Kansas City consumers on vacation be able to Google – and control - their air conditioner and home appliances’ energy use? Google is already into building a vast swath of transmission into the Atlantic. Why not Google Power & Light?