Category Archives: Power Grid Network Projects

“…I have a problem with this term “compliance.”  In fact I think it’s bad terminology for the CIP program and gets us into the entire wrong mindset from the get-go. And why do I think this? Well although the term “compliance” has a more or less precise legal definition, its use among the uninitiated does not have the same connotations.  I fear that when many hear the term they look more to Webster than Black as the dictionary of choice.  And in Webster one is likely to find the word defined as: Compliance: –noun, 1. the act of conforming, acquiescing, or yielding. 2. a tendency to yield readily to others, especially in a weak and subservient way…”  The CIP Program – Are We On the Right Track and also Winning the Critical Infrastructure War

“…This document is intended to help cooperatives develop a cyber-security plan for general business purposes, not to address any specific current or potential regulations. Its foundation is the … NISTIR 7628, which is a survey of standards and related security considerations for the smart grid ….  real security requires more than simply compliance with rules – the organization must embrace security as a basic requirement of business operations and develop a broad understanding of security…”  Guide to A Cyber Security Plan

“…the nation’s first comprehensive, consumer-centric, data-driven system for evaluating power system performance.

As the U.S. moves toward a more intelligent, cleaner electricity system, a growing number of consumers are demanding improvements in power delivery as well as greater choice in the type of power they use and how they use it. The PPSoA program provides much-needed metrics and design criteria that help industry stakeholders:

• Eliminate interruptions and improve safety and power quality;
• Be cost-competitive with greater transparency;
• Increase system efficiency and significantly reduce environmental impacts; and
• Enable and encourage consumer and community participation. “

First in a series of excellent sessions on distribution automation I recently discovered:

The Business Case

The Second focuses on DA Implementation:

Implementing the System

The third is about the why’s and wherefore’s of comm requirements for DA:

Communications for DA

The fourth looks at the architecture of distribution automation:

DA-System Architecture

The fifth surveys distribution management systems:

Distribution Management Systems

The sixth examines smart substations:

The Smart Sub-Station

The seventh reviews what is Volt-VAR Control and Optimization:

Volt-VAR Control & Optimization

And the last session deals with Automatic Feeder Switching:

Automatic Feeder Switching

The electronic contraption, only in its first generation, was named this year by experts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as one of the 10 most important technology innovations of 2010. MIT ranked the “smart transformer,” created by the FREEDM Systems Center in Raleigh, alongside recent advances in cancer genomics and synthetic cells…NCSU’s Smart Transformer

Most automation by electric utilities has been applied in the substation and at the enterprise level. Relatively few utilities have deployed distribution automation-the automation of devices outside the substation fence (i.e., out on the feeders themselves). This is due primarily to the potentially large expense of implementing DA, the lack of economic justification for such expenditures, and the unique and difficult technical challenges of implementing DA on a widespread basis.

Drivers include:

• increased customer expectations in terms of power quality and reliability;
• growing number of regulatory incentives, both positive and negative;
• increased performance and affordability of DA communications choices; and,
• increased variety and capability of automation devices and software.

An efficient, reliable and secure communication infrastructure is vital for a successful DA implementation. Unfortunately, there is no single “cookbook” communication solution or model for success that can be applied to all utilities. Each utility’s unique characteristics-geography, distribution feeder electrical capabilities and constraints, customer density, human and financial resources, customer demographics and preferences, and a host of other characteristics-will determine the requirements for the communication system.

First DA Case Study

2nd DA Case Study

“…With the global economy still fragile after last year’s financial crisis, assuring the integrity and availability of key national industries may fall out of focus as a government priority, but will remain a key determinant of strategic vulnerability.

Six hundred IT and security executives from critical infrastructure enterprises across seven sectors in 14 countries all over the world anonymously answered an extensive series of detailed questions about their practices, attitudes and policies on security—the impact of regulation, their relationship with govern- ment, specific security measures employed on their networks, and the kinds of attacks they face.

Critical infrastructure owners and operators report that their IT networks are under repeated cyberattack, often by high-level adversaries. The impact of such attacks is often severe, and their cost is high and borne widely….”

In the Crossfire_Critical IT

Comment:  “… the comments by Prof. Lockwood are of interest and possibly the most important point of this article. He suggests that the Arctic blocking resulting from reduced solar activity is affecting the jet stream positions and is similar to what happened during the little ice age, he further forecasts this might continue for 40 years. He has published about this before and other studies of the significance of Arctic blocking have been seen of late, the Moscow heat wave being attributed also. Ignoring the wind for a moment this is also a forecast for cooler and longer winters is it not?…”

See the TELEGRAPH.CO.UK Article:  UK Wind Loss

Utilities face a coming wave of data beyond anything they have ever experienced. This one-hour Webinar will bring in some of the worlds most experienced professionals to explain how to prepare for, and benefit from, the coming data surge.

Part I;   Part 2;   Part 3;  Part 4;  Part 5;  Part 6;  Part 7.

Sponsor: Accenture

Jesse Berst, Smart Grid News (moderator)

Part 1 & 2 Dr. Jeffrey Taft, Accenture

Part 3 & 4 Peter Belknap, Oracle Corp. 

Part 5, 6, 7 Randy Huston, Xcel Energy