Thursday, May 14, 2009

IEEE Project 2030 for Smart Grids

IEEE announced the other day an additional smart grid initiative for the power engineering, communications and information technology industries: IEEE 2030 "Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and Information Technology Operation with the Electric Power System (EPS) and End-Use Applications and Loads".

Intel will host the first P2030 meeting, open to individuals and organizations interested in smart grids, at its headquarters in Santa Clara, CA, June 3-5, 2009.

Click HERE for more information.

“Intel is honored to host the first meeting of the IEEE P2030 Committee, because the time to take action on smart grids is now,” said Lorie Wigle, general manager of Intel’s Eco-Technology Program Office. “To accelerate deployment of a smart energy infrastructure, the industry must work toward interoperability and the creation of standards. Intel’s Open Energy Initiative is committed to supporting the development of open standards that will empower energy consumers and drive rapid integration of renewable energy sources, smart buildings, electric vehicles and other intelligent systems.” Source: IEEE Website.

What does "smart" or "intelligent" mean in the context of the electric power delivery system?

I guess we can state that "smart" and "intelligent" are synonyms in this context. The FreeDictionary states the following:

"smart: Characterized by sharp quick thought; bright. See Synonyms at intelligent: second definition below.

intelligent (Adjectiv):

1. having or showing intelligence: an intelligent child, an intelligent guess

2. (of a computerized device) able to initiate or modify action in the light of ongoing events"

The second definition can be applied to the power automation system IEDs (Intelligent Electronic Devices). These IEDs consume information received from other IEDs or the process input, process the information based on algorithms and settings, and generate information for other IEDs or the process output.

Information needs to be defined (information models, example: IEC 61850-7-4, IEC 61400-25-2, ...) and communicated (information flow, example: IEC 61850-7-2, 8-1, IEC 61400-25-4). The information flow needs to be configured (Example: IEC 61850-6).

IEC 61850 and IEC 61400-25 are standards that provide crucial features of intelligent devices used to build smart grids - developed by SMART people!! Data and information in the hands of smart human beings make a system smart! The algorithms and settings may be defined using the "Function Block" standard IEC 61499. Click HERE to learn more about IEC 61499.

Before we can develop Smart Grids, we need smart (or intelligent and well experienced) PEOPLE. Click HERE to learn more about Peopleware (i.e., about you and me).

1 comment:

Harald said...

The IEDs are also "information managing devices" providing crucial information being used by humans in order to make important decision.
Therefore it is important that the QUALITY of the information is high, i.e., the information is accurate, timeliness and authentic.

Historical information stored in the IEDs can document how things developed (according to concession, faulty situation, etc.). Real-time or close to real-time information with high quality may be used for momentary operational (or market related) decisions. The IEDs could have all this information to be communicated according to the needs defined by the users (human or other applications). Smart humans and intelligent devices, and the sustainable interoperability between IEDs (in a multi vendor environment) and between humans and IEDs are the crucial prerequisites for the future power delivery system.

Sustainable interoperability should be implemented by standards like IEC 60870-5-10x, IEC 61850, IEC 61400-25, IEC 61968.