The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and  Technology (NIST) has advised the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission  (FERC) that it has identified five “foundational” sets of standards for Smart  Grid interoperability and cyber security that are ready for consideration  by federal and state energy regulators.

The standards, produced by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), focus on the information models and protocols important to efficient and reliable grid operations as well as cyber security.

In a letter to FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, NIST’s national coordinator for Smart Grid interoperability, George Arnold, said the standards “are essential to uniform and interoperable communication systems throughout the grid and will accommodate the evolution of the grid and the integration of new technologies.”

In the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, Congress directed NIST to coordinate development of communication protocols and other standards to achieve an interoperable Smart Grid —a nationwide electric power system that enables two-way flows of energy and information.  Under EISA, once it determines sufficient consensus has been achieved, FERC is charged with instituting rulemaking proceedings to adopt the standards necessary to ensure Smart Grid functionality and interoperability.

The five families of IEC standards will further efforts to achieve efficient and secure intersystem communications, among other FERC priorities identified in the commission’s July 16, 2009, Smart Grid Policy Statement.  These standards will be updated as Smart Grid requirements and technologies evolve.

The standards and their functions are:

• IEC 61970 and IEC 61968: Providing a Common Information Model (CIM) necessary for exchanges of data between devices and networks, primarily in the transmission (IEC 61970) and distribution (IEC 61968) domains.
• IEC 61850: Facilitating substation automation and communication as well as interoperability through a common data format.
• IEC 60870-6: Facilitating exchanges of information between control centers.
• IEC 62351:  Addressing the cyber security of the communication protocols defined by the preceding IEC standards.

To determine whether a standard was ready for consideration by regulators, NIST took a number of factors into account, including the maturity of the standard, the resolution of previously identified issues by its Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, and a satisfactory review of cyber security requirements.

The five IEC standards were among the 25 Smart Grid-relevant standards identified as “ready for implementation” in the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 1.0, which was issued in January 2010.  However, these specifications required a cyber security review that could not be completed until NIST finalized its initial Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security, which were published in early September 2010.

NIST anticipates that the release of future standards identified as ready for consideration by regulators—as well as by other Smart Grid stakeholders—also will be organized according to Smart Grid functions and domains of application, such as bulk generation, transmission or customer premises.

NIST’s standards-coordination activities are supported, in part, by the U.S. Department of Energy, the lead agency for federal Smart Grid efforts.

To read summaries of each of the five standards identified for consideration by regulators, go to: http://collaborate.nist.gov/twiki-sggrid/bin/view/SmartGrid/NISTStandardsSummaries (source www.nist.gov)

According to estimates by the National Institute of Standards and Technology Office of Weights and Measures, sales of products or services impacted by weights and measures laws in the United States represent approximately 50 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product.

During World Metrology Day more than eighty countries will celebrate the impact of measurement on daily life, no part of which is untouched by this essential and largely hidden aspect of modern society. This year’s theme is “Measurements in Science and Technology: Metrology – a Bridge to Innovation.” Previous themes have included topics such as measurements in sport, the environment, medicine and trade. The 2010 theme concentrates on how measurement influences science and stimulates innovation. Science and technology rely on being able to measure correctly and to refer measurements to the same international reference standards. A world without accurate measurement is a world subject to fraud, error and uncertainty.

National systems of measurement must rely on agreed standards and units as well as agreed techniques to make consistent, reproducible and accurate measurements. Each national system is linked into a world-wide network of national measurement standards and laboratories coordinated by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. In industry and commerce, this standardization helps ensure product quality, eliminate waste and raise productivity and trade based on agreed measurements and tests. It also enables scientists to use a common language to underpin their collaboration across the world and ensure uniformity wherever companies operate.

NIST will hold its fourth annual celebration of World Metrology Day  on Wednesday, May 20, 2010. The Metre Convention was signed on 20 May 1875, a date now celebrated as World Metrology Day. The Convention created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) and set the framework for global collaboration in the science of measurement and in its industrial, commercial and societal application. The original aim of the Metre Convention – the worldwide uniformity of measurement – remains as important today, in 2010, as it was in 1875. Join us in celebrating World Metrology Day — a celebration of our core foundation and purpose! The theme for 2010 is Measurements in Science and Technology; Metrology – a Bridge to Innovation NIST research and measurements provide a significant foundation for measurements in support of our global economy.  (source www.nist.gov)

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The goal is to increase electrical reliability and reduce power interruptions

EVERETT, Wash. – Fluke Corporation, the global leader in handheld electronic test and measurement technology and electrical calibration, will receive $1.4 million in federal stimulus funding, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to ensure the Smart Grid is reliable and stable, and ready to accept power from renewable resources including wind and solar.

Fluke Corporation, a division of Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR), was chosen to create a new calibration technology that is a catalyst for creating a standard with which electricity flowing into the Smart Grid will be evaluated. The standard will enable consistent measurement of electricity from all sources, including renewable resources such as wind and solar. The grant was awarded by the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the area of Measurement Science and Engineering Research to support research in areas deemed of critical national importance. “This grant is a testament to the innovations we’ve brought to the field of electrical measurement,” said Barbara Hulit, Fluke president.

“We are excited at the prospect of helping develop a measurement standard that makes the entire U.S. Smart Grid more stable, while utilizing renewable energy efficiently and effectively.”

Looming Issue: Why the Smart Grid needs an electrical measurement standard Fluke’s new calibration technology will be used to calibrate Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs), a gating technology that measures the health of the electrical power grid. PMUs play a vital role in the deployment of the Smart Grid, by measuring and evaluating power flowing into the grid from increasingly diverse sources. Grid distribution centers use this critical information to determine where and when to send power across transmission lines, leading to more efficient use of energy and lessening the risk of power interruptions and outages. PMUs identify the preconditions that lead to power interruptions.

The U.S.-Canada investigation into the Northeast blackout of 2003, which disrupted power to an estimated 45 million people in eight U.S. states and 10 million people in Ontario, hypothesized that had a system of PMUs been in place, the grid collapse could have been avoided. According to a recent study at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, power interruptions cost the U.S. economy about $79 billion annually, or about one third of what the nation spends on electricity. Add to this the need for the Smart Grid to carry energy from renewable sources, and there is an even higher potential for future conflicts to occur, putting the U.S. Smart Grid at risk for power interruptions.

“Modernizing the electric grid and improving power system reliability requires very precise electrical measurements. PMUs provide those. They also allow the grid to utilize energy from renewable resources and increase transmission throughput. At present, the testing and verification method for PMUs is unclear. That’s why the Smart Grid needs one measurement standard,” said Warren Wong, director of engineering for Fluke Calibration.

“With a PMU calibrator, we’ll have a standard that can be used to uniformly evaluate the proper operation of these devices. That could really minimize the risk of power conditions that lead to blackouts.”

NIST received over 1,300 proposals for the grants and Fluke was one of only 27 companies awarded grants in the area of  measurement science and engineering research. Fluke will develop the calibrator over the next 26 months, and as part of the grant, will invest $390,000 of its own money in the development effort.

About Fluke
Fluke Corporation is the leader in compact, professional electronic test tools. Fluke customers are technicians, engineers, electricians, metrologists and building diagnostic professionals who install, troubleshoot, and manage industrial electrical and electronic equipment and calibration processes for quality control as well as conducting building restoration and remediation services. In just the past year Fluke tools won more than 15 industry awards including Test and Measurement World Best in Test, Control Engineering Engineer’s Choice, and Plant Engineering Product of the Year. Fluke is a registered trademark of Fluke Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

About Danaher
Danaher is a diversified technology leader that designs, manufactures, and markets innovative products and services to professional, medical, industrial, and commercial customers. Our portfolio of premier brands is among the most highly recognized in each of the markets we serve. Driven by a foundation provided by the Danaher Business System, our 47,000 associates serve customers in more than 125 countries and generated $11.2 billion of revenue in 2009. For more information please visit our Web site: www.danaher.com.  (source us.fluke.com)

What is a Phasor measurement unit ?
A Phasor measurement unit (PMU) measures the electrical waves on an electricity grid to determine the health of the system. In power engineering, these are also commonly referred to as synchrophasors and are considered one of the most important measuring devices in the future of power systems (smart grid). A PMU can be a dedicated device, or the PMU function can be incorporated into a protective relay or other device.

What is a Phasor network ?
A phasor network consists of phasor measurement units (PMUs) dispersed throughout the electricity system, Phasor Data Concentrators (PDC) to collect the information and a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system at the central control facility. Such a network is used in Wide Area Measurement Systems (WAMS), the first of which was begun in 2000 by the Bonneville Power Administration. The complete network requires rapid data transfer within the frequency of sampling of the phasor data. GPS time stamping can provide a theoretical accuracy of synchronization better than 1 microsecond. “Clocks need to be accurate to plus or minus 500 nanoseconds to provide the one microsecond time standard needed by each device performing synchrophasor measurement.”  For 60Hz systems, PMUs must deliver between 10 and 30 synchronous reports per second depending on the application. The PDC correlates the data, and controls and monitors the PMUs (from a dozen up to 60). At the central control facility, the SCADA system presents system wide data on all generators and substations in the system every 2 to 10 seconds. PMUs often use phone lines to connect to PDC, which then send data to the SCADA and/or Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS) server. PMUs from multiple vendors can yield inaccurate readings. In one test, readings differed by 47 microseconds- or a difference of 1 degree of at 60Hz- an unacceptable variance. China’s solution to the problem was to build all its own PMUs adhering to its own specifications and standards so there would be no multi-vendor source of conflicts, standards, protocols, or performance characteristics.

The Main Interconnections of the U.S. Electric Power Grid

The 10 North American Electric Reliability Council Regions:
ECAR – East Central Area Reliability Coordination Agreement
ERCOT – Electric Reliability Council of Texas
FRCC – Florida Reliability Coordinating Council
MAAC – Mid-Atlantic Area Council
MAIN – Mid-America Interconnected Network
MAPP – Mid-Continent Area Power Pool
NPCC – Northeast Power Coordinating Council
SERC – Southeastern Electric Reliability Council
SPP – Southwest Power Pool
WSCC – Western Systems Coordinating Council
Note: The Alaska Systems Coordinating Council (ASCC) is an affiliate NERC member.  (Source: North American Electric Reliability Council)

GAITHERSBURG, Md.-The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued today an initial list of standards, a preliminary cyber security strategy, and other elements of a framework to support transforming the nation’s aging electric power system into an interoperable Smart Grid, a key component of the Obama administration’s energy plan and its strategy for American innovation. NIST Director Patrick Gallagher announced the publication of the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 1.0, to the some 700 engineers, scientists, and business and government executives attending the IEEE Innovative Smart Technologies Conference, which NIST is hosting.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) set development of the Smart Grid as a national policy goal, and it assigned NIST the “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 …”

“This is an important milestone for NIST, for the entire community of Smart Grid stakeholders, and for the nation,” Gallagher said. “This first installment of the Smart Grid interoperability framework will pay dividends to our nation for decades to come. Just as Congress intended, we are building a foundation for sustainable growth and future prosperity.”

By integrating digital computing and communication technologies and services with the power-delivery infrastructure, the Smart Grid will enable bidirectional flows of energy and two-way communication and control capabilities. A range of new applications and capabilities will result. Anticipated benefits range from real-time consumer control over energy usage to significantly increased reliance on solar and other sources of clean renewable energy to greatly improve reliability, flexibility and efficiency of the entire grid.

The new report presents the first release of a Smart Grid interoperability framework and roadmap for its further development. It contains:

* a conceptual reference model to facilitate design of an architecture for the Smart Grid overall and for its networked domains;
* an initial set of 75 standards identified as applicable to the Smart Grid;
* priorities for additional standards-revised or new-to resolve important gaps;
* action plans under which designated standards-setting organizations will address these priorities; and
* an initial Smart Grid cyber security strategy and associated requirements.

A draft of today’s report was issued on Sept. 24, 2009, for public review and comments. More than 80 individuals and organizations submitted comments. A companion draft document, NISTIR 7628, Smart Grid Cyber Security Strategy and Requirements, also underwent public review. A subsequent draft of the cyber security strategy, which will include responses to comments received and will incorporate new information prepared by the almost 300-member cyber security working group, will be issued in February. NIST intends to finalize the Smart Grid cyber security in late spring.

Under EISA, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is charged with instituting rulemaking proceedings, and once sufficient consensus is achieved, adopting the standards and protocols necessary to ensure Smart Grid functionality and interoperability in interstate transmission of electric power and in regional and wholesale electricity markets. However, some of the standards listed in the NIST report are still under development and some others, such as those already used voluntarily by industry, may not warrant adoption by FERC or other regulators.

“NIST is working closely with FERC and state utility regulators so that we can coordinate development of additional technical information on individual standards to support their evaluation and potential use for regulatory purposes,” said George Arnold, NIST’s national coordinator for Smart Grid interoperability.

In November 2009, NIST launched a Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) to assist NIST in carrying out its EISA-assigned responsibility, including working with regulatory bodies on evaluating and implementing standards in this and subsequent releases of the NIST interoperability framework.

A public-private partnership, the SGIP is designed to provide “a more permanent process” to support the evolution of the interoperability framework and further development of standards, according to the report. With NIST, the report explains, the panel will “identify and address additional gaps, assess changes in technology and associated requirements for standards, and provide ongoing coordination” of standards organizations’ efforts to support timely availability of needed Smart Grid standards.

Over the past two months, almost 500 organizations have joined the SGIP. A total of 1,350 individuals from membership organizations have signed up to participate in the panel’s technical activities.

A copy of the 145 page NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 1.0, can be downloaded here: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/smartgrid_interoperability_final.pdf

(source www.nist.gov)

Capital budgets are tighter than ever, and these 3 simple steps can help extend even the tightest of budgets. Manufacturing facilities are faced with the smallest budgets ever,  engineers and technicians are struggling to find ways to extend their test equipment resources, while still maintaining efficiency, productivity and quality.

Utilize the following information as a plan for economic recovery:

• Repair, Calibrate and Maintain your Equipment – Often companies will replace equipment when it is out of calibration or needs repairs. Instead of replacing equipment consider repairing it  – Test Equipment Connection offers repair and calibration services for test equipment from over 300 different test and measurement manufacturers. NIST and Specialty calibrations are available as well as repairs for thousands of obsolete models that the manufacturers no longer support.

• Replace with Refurbished -Many companies including the US Government have a buying preference for new equipment even when the same make and model is available at a substantial savings. Refurbished test equipment generally has a savings of 30 to 80 percent off new list prices, includes a part and labor warranty, and has an acceptance period to ensure satisfaction. Work with a trusted company – Test Equipment Connection has over 16 years experience in the global test and measurement community.

• Resale -Manage your idle assets, idle equipment is a negative asset that takes up your valuable space, time and money. Prevent your equipment from becoming obsolete and protect your investment by using our Consignment Services or Trade-In programs for your underutilized test and measurement equipment, receive cash or credit towards the test solutions you need today. This is a great way to maximize the value of surplus, excess and underutilized T&M solutions.

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