Andy Bochman has a quick post to get the word out about an important FERC meeting on Jan. 31 to explore smart grid interoperability and security standards development past, present and future.
A Government Accountability Office report says that while progress has been made in developing smart grid security standards and guidelines, there are serious shortcomings that need to be addressed asap by NIST and FERC. Read the story and Jesse Berst's take on what it all means.
China is spending billions on smart grid technologies and infrastructure, but has been behind the eight ball on one critical issue: no smart grid standards. GE, which is involved in numerous joint ventures in the country, took it a step further when it agreed to help the Chinese develop a set of national standards.
Tension is building in the smart grid security standards world and Andy Bochman is here with a blow-by-blow report along with a brief heads-up on what to expect in the NERC CIP arena come 2011.
A new coalition of key smart grid players will put its considerable weight behind promoting adoption of an Open Automated Demand Response standard. The OpenADR Alliance says the standard will reduce cost, enhance reliability and boost demand response and smart grid deployments.
IEEE has formally given its blessing to its 1901 Broadband over Power Line standard. The BPL standard is considered a key technology in paving the way for smart grid applications, transportation and local area networks.
With 100 U.S. utilities facing deadlines for implementing projects using their smart grid stimulus grants, EPRI senior project manager John. J. Simmins says pressure is on the standards community to develop interoperability testing procedures for the IEC 61968 series of standards that extend the Common Information Model to meet the needs of electrical distribution. Find out what it could mean for you, at the site.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has identified five "foundational" sets of standards for smart grid interoperability and cyber security that are now ready for consideration by state and federal regulators.
The Energy Services Network Association, a nonprofit composed of utilities, manufacturers and vendors, is backing the Open Smart Grid Protocol and intends to publish it as an open standard. The standard, pioneered by Echelon, would mean utilities can use interoperable meters and other smart grid gear from different vendors on the same network.
Upstream from smart meter and AMI pieces, success of plug-and-play depends on how well components “talk” to each other. As KEMA VP Ron Willoughby explains in this guest column, Europe is already using IEC 61850 data communication standards to a great advantage, and forward-looking utilities in the U.S. are beginning to leverage the protocol to enhance substation and distribution automation investments. Learn more about IEC 61850 inside.
After 17 months of work, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has released its first guidelines for Smart Grid cyber security. They include high-level security requirements, risk assessment, an evaluation of privacy issues, grid protection strategies and more.
With broadband in every home or ubiquitous AMI still years off, you've got to wonder how off-the-shelf products made today can possibly provide DR opportunities for all consumers, wherever they may live, without becoming obsolete in the next decade or two. EPRI’s Brian Seal outlines one interesting solution.
Security expert Andy Bochman provides a mid-year update on Smart Grid security standards and compliance issues facing utilities. His webcast paints a grim picture, but it's one you can't ignore.
Home appliance makers and energy efficiency advocates have agreed to vastly improved energy efficiency standards and are calling for new national minimum standards, production tax credits for super-efficient appliances and the inclusion of Smart Grid readiness as a feature of Energy Star-qualified appliances
4G wireless communications provider Alvarion explained its strategy to offer the most open and flexible platform for 4G networks using Time Division Duplexing by announcing support for the coming TD-LTE standard and incorporating it into its 4Motion solution.
Representatives from IEEE, NIST and other organizations gave a House subcommittee a progress report on interoperability and cyber security standards development. John McDonald, IEEE Fellow and director of technical and policy development for GE's digital energy business, told the legislators that "tremendous progress” has been made.
IEEE has produced its 1815 Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) standard for electric power systems communications in record time. The group also announced the release of a draft standard for a common technical platform for distributed resources interconnection applications.
Nothing is more crucial than getting Smart Grid standards in place, especially in communications. But the communications space is highly complex, both technically and politically. As our friends from EPRI explain in this exclusive report, we are getting down to crunch time. Different factions are drawing lines in the sand and different groups are vying to be in charge. The next few months could determine the direction of Smart Grid communications for years or even decades to come.
With all the Smart Grid standards now in the works, which ones are most essential? Smart Grid expert Dr. Dale McMullin argues that a single set of standards for geospatial interfaces and encodings deserve a spot on your "pay attention" list. Find out why.
Arch Rock announced what it says is the first AMI and grid communications platform based completely on industry-standard IP networking, security and data collection protocols.
The recent announcement that a wireless electric load controller has completed Zigbee Smart Energy certification testing also gives us news on a larger scale: Smart energy device testing is blasting off as a global Smart Grid industry.
The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel reported this week that it is well on its way in its mission to develop interoperability standards and requirements for a broad slate of applications. The panel was initiated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2009 to focus on the interoperability of Smart Grid equipment and systems.
Metering industry leaders are working to ensure interoperability between smart meters, smart home applications and the Smart Grid overall. Current members of the new IDIS Association include Itron, Landis+Gyr and Iskraemeco.
Voltage optimization for energy savings can be an attractive energy conservation investment. But as EPRI Research Director Mark McGranaghan points out, the unknown for evaluating the impact of voltage optimization is the response of different types of loads to the voltage reduction. He says a new industry-wide initiative that addresses the modeling need from two different approaches is required. He details both inside.
The Zigbee Alliance has released its draft 0.7 document of Zigbee Smart EnergyTM 2.0 available for download and public comment. Smart Energy has been an important part of advanced metering infrastructure and smart metering on home area networks.
We're getting mixed signals about the vitality of the smart grid market. On the one hand, the recent DistribuTECH conference was one of the most successful ever. On the other, a well-known Wall Street analyst recently told his clients that the smart metering sector is "facing several headwinds," including weak regulatory support in the U.S. and delays in European adoption. Taking the pulse of the smart grid industry is this week's Tuesday Topic.
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