Squabble Over Smart Appliance Standards Gumming Up the Works

Intelligent appliances are considered a significant way for utilities to manage peak demand and for consumers to manage their electricity costs. But appliance manufacturers are arguing among themselves and with the government over standards for the smart appliances.

The vision is that smart appliances would turn on or off automatically as the cost of electricity fluctuates and demand for power rises and falls. The benefits to utilities would be a way to manage peak demand and, therefore, less pressure to build new generation plants. The responsive appliances also would help consumers save money on their electric bills and, with less power being used, soften the impact on the environment.

But to make demand response work, manufacturers will need a relatively simple and cost-effective way to connect with the electric grid. At this point, they have roughly a dozen wired and wireless options—and most are high bandwidth and extremely expensive—so those options aren't attractive to manufacturers.

And, for better or worse, a top government official told manufacturers recently that if the industry wouldn't develop a standard, the government might do it for them.

Government officials were aware that the standards issue would be a sticky one, even before the rounds of Smart Grid stimulus and demonstration grants were awarded over the past two months. A total of $10 million was spent to establish a Smart Grid standards push led and organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

NIST is in the process of reviewing industry comments and feedback on a set of proposed Smart Grid standards. And in November NIST held the first meeting of its Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, a group of industry leaders and innovators who were invited to coordinate, accelerate and harmonize standards development.

At the meeting, George Arnold, national Smart Grid standards coordinator for NIST, told the group that if it couldn't or wouldn't develop a standard for connecting appliances to the grid quickly, his agency might make the decision for them, according to an EE Times news article.

The industry participants, of course, were not happy and said NIST was exceeding its authority and that a premature convergence of home network technologies "could create more problems than it solves," according to Panasonic's Stefano Galli, a lead scientist for the company. He also was quoted in the EE Times article.

The appliance industry has tried unsuccessfully in the past to come up with a powerline home networking standard and it appears that a resolution to the issue as it stands now is not coming anytime soon.

   EE Times news article

   NIST Unveils Initial Smart Grid Interoperability Standards

   Smart Grid Standards resources on SGN

   Smart Appliances resources on SGN