Friday, April 27, 2012

New IEEE Standard and Development Activities Designed To Aid Smart-Grid Communications And Distribution Automation

IEEE, the world's largest professional association advancing technology for humanity,today announced the publication of a new standard, as well as the launch of three new standards-development activities, all designed to enhance the communications and distribution-automation capabilities of the smart grid globally.

 “Many of the benefits that the world hopes to achieve through smart-grid development—such as empowering greater consumer choice in energy use, improving the reliability of power generation and distribution and more efficiently meeting skyrocketing power demand—are dependent on integrating significantly more robust systems for communications and distribution automation,” said Dr. W. Charlton Adams Jr., past president of the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA).“The new standards activities approved by the IEEE-SA Standards Board are designed to enhance those very capabilities—and, in doing so, accelerate realization of the smart grid’s revolutionary promise.”

IEEE-SA has published IEEE 1591.1™-2012 – Standard for Testing and Performance of Hardware for Optical Ground Wire (OPGW). OPGW is being used in the smart grid to provide both grounding capabilities for transmission lines and communications back to utility systems such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). IEEE 1591.1 provides manufacturing, testing and procurement specifications for use with OPGW hardware. The new standard is available for purchase at the IEEE Standards Store.Smart-grid standards projects newly approved by IEEE-SA include the following:
standardized definitions of such systems.

IEEE P1909.1™–Recommended Practice for Smart Grid Communication Equipment -Test methods and installation requirements – is intended to document testing and installation procedures that are geared specifically for communications equipment to be installed in various domains of the smart grid, such as generation, transmission and distribution. Safety, electromagnetic capability (EMC), environmental and mechanical tests are to be covered in the recommended practice, toward the goal of improving the safety and reliability of a wide range of smart-grid communications equipment.

IEEE P1703™–Standard for Local Area Network/Wide Area Network (LAN/WAN) Node Communication Protocol to complement the Utility Industry End Device Data Tables – is intended to improve the cost efficiency and flexibility of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) deployments. The standard is being developed to define uniform, managed, adaptive and secure network data and message delivery for plug-and-play, multi-source utility meters, home appliances, communication technology and other ancillary devices.

IEEE P1854™– Guide for Smart Distribution Applications Guide – is being developed to categorize and describe important smart distribution applications and fill a gap for standardized definitions of such systems. The guide is intended to cover advanced automation and SCADA systems for reliability improvement, outage management, fault location and management, voltage and var management, distributed-resource and renewable-generation integration, demand response, advanced protection, equipment diagnostics and asset management, real-time simulation for system optimization, microgrids and many other applications.


The guide is intended to cover advanced automation and SCADA systems for reliability improvement, outage management, fault location and management, voltage and var management, distributed-resource and renewable-generation integration, demand response, advanced protection, equipment diagnostics and asset management, real-time simulation for system optimization, microgrids and many other applications.

With a portfolio of more than 100 active standards or standards in development relevant to the smart grid, the IEEE-SA is a global leader in smart-grid standards development, as well as smart-grid vision, awareness and education.


About the IEEE Standards Association The IEEE Standards Association, a globally recognized standards-setting body within IEEE, develops consensus standards through an open process that engages industry and brings together abroad stake holder community. IEEE standards set specifications and best practices based on current scientific and technological knowledge. The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of over 900 active standards and more than 500 standards under development. For more information visit http://standards.ieee.org/.

(Press Release)

Monday, April 16, 2012

ITU 2nd Green ICT App Challenge Focuses on Smart Energy

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) along with Telefónica earlier in the year announced two ICT Application challenges to uncover the innovative role of ICT in Sustainable Energy to support the 2012 UN declared International Year for Sustainable Energy for All. The first challenge known as "Green ICT Hackathon" was held on February 28-29, 2012 during World mobile congress held at Barcelona, Spain. The 2nd challenge focuses on innovative concept paper for which the deadline is extended till 31st May, 2012 is open to all ITU member state including India. 

ITU Press Release 
"The 2nd Green ICT Application Challenge invites innovative Concept Papers for ICT applications that support ‘sustainable energy for all’. As the global economy undergoes a necessary shift towards renewable energy sources and sustainable energy production, ICT is playing a key role in transforming energy distribution, with technologies such as smart grid, smart metering, smart billing and electro-mobility allowing people to exert more direct control over the volume of energy they consume. ITU encourages entrants to submit Concept Papers that build on these exciting innovations, suggesting new ways in which users can improve their own energy efficiency.The winning entry will receive a cash prize of USD 3,000 at an award ceremony to take place during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012. For more information on the 2nd Green ICT Application Challenge." 

Ideas for the Challenge 
Below are some ideas for topic areas, but these are simply suggestions and should not limit your imagination
  • Energy efficiency: in sectors such as smart buildings, intelligent transport systems, smart homes, etc.
  • Access to Energy: smart metering, energy billing systems, energy management, etc.
  • Renewable Energy: smart grids, renewable energy potential, electric vehicles, etc
Who Can Apply 
The Challenge is open to individuals from "member state" of the ITU. Individuals must be of the age of majority in their country at the time of entry.Staff of the ITU and of the sponsor(s) of the Challenge as well as members of the Jury are not eligible to participate in this Challenge.

Prizes
A cash prize of USD 3,000 will be awarded by the ITU for the best and most innovative Concept Paper.

Timeline 

The submission period begins on 1 February 2012 at 12:00 PM Central European Time (“CET”) and ends on 31 May 2012 at 12:00 PM CET.

Award Ceremony
The author of the best and most innovative Concept Paper for a “Sustainable Energy for All” ICT application will be awarded the cash prize of USD 3,000 in Paris, France, on 18 September 2012 during the 2nd ITU Green Standards Week

Information about the Challenge, including Rules, Timeline, Award, is available on the ITU-T website at: http://itu.int/ITU-T/climatechange/greenict/

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Two Smart Grid pilots to be implemented with USTDA grant

The United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) recently announced two grants to support U.S business development in clean energy Infrastructure development. Henry Steingass, the regional director of USTDA signed the two agreement at the luncheon hosted by the U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson. "India has ambitious energy infrastructure development goals," stated Steingass. "We are pleased to join this trade mission to support those goals, and to help open the market for U.S. clean energy technologies, which are among the best in the world."


The grants are awarded to two private sector companies namely, Azure Power and CESC LTD. The solar power developer, Azure Power, will be given the first grant to carry out feasibility study for rural solar micro-grid that will bring electricity to remote villages which are off the grid. Azure power aims to develop 100 such micro-grid, which will be based on 2-3 acre of land with little or no connection to the existing electric grid. The second grant will be given to another private company CESC Ltd., which supplies  electricity to 2.5 million people in Kolkata. It will help CESC carry out feasibility study for implementing Smart Grid technologies to their entire electricity distribution system. The study will develop Smart Grid pilot project as well as broad implementation guidelines, which is top priority for CESC as it will help improve energy efficiency and reliability to their customer base. 

According to announcement, these projects are results of the joint commitment made by President Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh under the agreement of Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE). Apart from substantial benefit to India's clean energy mission, the successful implementation of this project has opportunities worth $250 million for the US companies. 

According to the press release, "The opportunity to conduct the Azure Power and CESC feasibility studies will be competed on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website. A link to the FBO announcements will be posted on USTDA's website at www.ustda.gov. Interested U.S. firms should submit proposals according to the instructions in the FBO announcement".