How can I get involved with the NIST Smart Grid Project in the USA?
Background:
| Through the United States’ Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is tasked with “primary responsibility to coordinate development of a framework that includes protocols and model standards for information management to achieve interoperability of smart grid devices and systems” — from generation to end use. |
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LONWORKS® networking technologies have been proven in tens-of-millions of meters around the world; with some installations as far back as the early 1990s,
right in the USA. Tens-of-millions of
devices have LONWORKS technologies
in them. The protocol is “shovel ready,”
as they say; and that’s a great thing, considering the accelerated timeframes
of the Smart Grid Roadmap: on the 24th of September, 2009, this quick-moving effort got written into an official first draft and the pace has quickened at a tremendous rate.
NIST held an open-to-the-community vote
on the 16th of November, 2009, to ratify a charter and purpose for a Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP), of
which LonMark International is a participating member.
Of great importance to the LONWORKS networking community, is the release of
the Smart Grid Roadmap . This roadmap was released in draft form on September 24th, 2009, and then was further updated; resulting in the 1.0 version, released to PDF in its final form on January 19th, 2010:
Participation:
LonMark International, LonMark International members, and the general public can support LonWorks standards as being a part of the solution — and, moreover, ensuring that the Smart Grid is a national success — by simply participating in the teleconferences, the face-to-face events, and participating in the NIST collaboration website .
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Here's how you can get a bird's view of what's happening:
The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) -- Note the July 2011 Montreal Meetings and Voting for Standards (started 2011-06-14).
NIST also has created many Priority Action Plan (PAP) groups to support the SGIP and to help solve the following (of which, LonMark staff participates in those in bold text and encourages participation in others):
00 - Meter Upgradeability Standard
01 - Role of IP in the Smart Grid
02 - Wireless Communications for the Smart Grid
03 - Common Price Communication Model
04 - Common Scheduling Mechanism
05 - Standard Meter Data Profiles
06 - Common Semantic Model for Meter Data Tables
07 - Electric Storage Interconnection Guidelines
08 - CIM for Distribution Grid Management
09 - Standard Demand-Response (DR) Signals
10 - Standard Energy Usage Information
11 - Common Object Models for Electric Transportation (closing)
12 - IEC 61850 Objects/DNP3 Mapping
13 - Time Synchronization, IEC 61850 Objects / IEEE C37.118 Harmonization
14 - Transmission and Distribution Power Systems Model Mapping
15 - Harmonize Power Line Carrier Standards for Appliance Communications in the Home
16 - Wind Plant Communications
17 - Facility Smart Grid Information Standard
18 - SEP 1.x to SEP 2 Transition and Coexistence (NEW)
Where is Much of the Work Being Done?
Much of the ongoing efforts of NIST will be fine-tuned in the open forums provided by
the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). They are looking for involvement.
This page contains recent letters from NAESB:
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 Click on this screenshot to read the latest from NAESB. |
Other work is being in various groups of NIST's PAPs via teleconferences. Still other work is being done in various groups like LonMark International.
The EIS Alliance
The EIS Alliance is a fairly new group that is creating buildings, residential, and industrial -related Use Cases to help foster and/or create Energy Information Standards for smart-grid interaction. Some use cases are now available on their forum:
EIS Alliance Customer Use Cases System Interface Requirements Specification, Version 1.11:
www.eisalliance.org/forums/ [...] System-Interface-Requirements-Specification
EIS Alliance Customer Domain Use Cases, Version 3:
www.eisalliance.org/forums/ [...] Review-Use-Case-Version-3
Registration for the website is required, if you are not already registered:
www.eisalliance.org/forums/register.php
(Business e-mail addresses are strongly encouraged for prompt processing of registration.)
What to do with all of this Information:
While LONWORKS standards could be used at the utility generation, transmission, and distribution stages, today, they play a much bigger role between-and-including the Energy/Curtailment Service Providers (ESPs/CSPs) and the end devices:
- signaling of demand-response information down to the meter;
- signaling from the meter to the end devices;
- signaling directly from the ESPs/CSPs to the end devices.
However, more consumers will continue to become producers as localized generation becomes more economically feasible and sound. There will be needs for local generator sets and automatic transfer switches in addition to the local utility meters. There will be a need for alternative energy-generation sources to be controlled, measured, and monitored locally.
With LONWORKS networking, we have most of those functions profiled today and we are creating more; like the Wind Turbine Generator, Demand-Response Load Actuator, and the Photovoltaic Converter functional profiles, now in development within LonMark International’s Member Forum under TG - Utility / Energy — and the soon-to-be-drafted and first-draft profiles for standardized demand-response. But there are other areas that are fairly new for us and still need to be addressed. We need ideas and participation to make them a reality.
What can I do?
You can read the NIST Roadmap, find the good and the not-so-good, and report your findings to us. We’ll share your findings or help you to do it yourself. You should look for holes that can be filled with the use of LONWORKS technology — areas where the Smart Grid could benefit from LONWORKS standards.
The LONWORKS technology experts are here: in our community. It’s up to us to educate and help build awareness of the wheel we already invented well over a decade ago.
Further, you can participate in the online meetings of the above PAP groups.
LonMark staff is working hard on your behalf but we cannot do it alone.
Please join in the effort to help NIST ensure that the Smart Grid is a success:
www.nist.gov/smartgrid/
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Many Thanks,
Jeremy J. Roberts
Technical Director
LonMark International |
p.s.
Here are the latest few postings to the NIST Collaboration site. These links will open into a new browser window (or a new tab) and subsequent clicking, on the other links, will reuse that same window or tab:
NIST Postings
 | ImplementationMethodsCommittee
SGIMC committee member email list is: The SGIMC mailing list for other interested SGIP members is: SGIP SGIMC INTEREST@SMARTGRIDLISTSERV.ORG Join the SGIMC Interest ... (last changed by RolfBienert2) | | WebLeftBar
" warn "off"}% Getting Started Become A Member Member Resources Upcoming Events Catalog Standards Literature/Tools Meeting Support SGIP News TWiki Help ... (last changed by JenyDowlin) | | CSCTGTesting
Smart Grid Testing and Certification Committee Cyber Security Working Group (CSWG) Weekly Meeting Information When: Tuesdays 11:00 am Eastern Time next call ... (last changed by VictoriaYan) | | Summer2012F2FMtg
About EventScheduleNetworkingHotel TravelRegistrationSpeakersFor the Media Minds on Tomorrow SGIP Face to Face Meetings bring together a community of Smart Grid ... (last changed by JenyDowlin) | | CsCTGAMI
Cyber Security Working Group (CSWG) CSCTGTesting Weekly Meeting Information When: Tuesdays 13:00 14:00 Eastern next meeting May 1, 2012. Call in ... (last changed by DougMcGinnis) |
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