Smart Grid National Coordination

The Smart Grid National Coordination project leads, coordinates and manages the national public/private partnership effort to develop interoperability standards for the smart grid, fulfilling NIST’s statutory responsibility under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), in order to ensure that the estimated $400 billion of industry smart grid investment over the next 20 years will be interoperable and secure. The project also supports Administration policy development for the smart grid through the NIST National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability’s co-chairmanship (with DOE) of the National Science and Technology Council Committee on Technology’s Smart Grid Interagency Working Group. The project provides technical support to federal and state regulators who promulgate standards-related policies and regulations for smart grid and approve utility investments. The project provides highly visible leadership of smart grid standardization efforts nationally and internationally to promote harmonization in order to maximize export opportunities for US manufacturers. The project provides programmatic leadership of NIST-wide smart grid measurement science research conducted in the Engineering Laboratory, the Information Technology Laboratory, and the Physical Measurement Laboratory.

Objective: This project leads, coordinates and manages the national public/private partnership effort to develop interoperability standards for the smart grid, fulfilling NIST’s statutory responsibility under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), and provides programmatic leadership of NIST-wide smart grid measurement science research.

What is the new technical idea?  NIST leadership, coordination and acceleration of smart grid interoperability standards development are key responsibilities established under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). Since the smart grid must be able to meet the needs of many stakeholders, a national and international coordination effort is needed to engage stakeholders in order to identify their needs and to ensure that these priorities are reflected in the ongoing Smart Grid Interoperability Standards effort. Key stakeholders include industry, other federal agencies such as the Department of Energy (DoE), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), state and local agencies, Congress, trade associations, standard setting organizations (SSOs), universities, and other governments. NIST established the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) as the mechanism for “input and cooperation” with the private sector and other agencies in developing the smart grid interoperability framework. Initially funded entirely by the government, it is beginning a transition to become a formal legal entity primarily funded by the private sector. This transition will enable NIST to increase its focus on challenging measurement science research barriers that require NIST’s unique capabilities to address.

What is the research plan?  

The project has three components: Smart Grid Secretariat, Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, and Smart Grid Measurement Science Program Development and Management.

Smart Grid Secretariat

The Secretariat provides leadership, coordination, and management for the Smart Grid Program. It convenes a broad-based public/private partnership that engages industry, government, SSOs and academia in developing the interoperability and cybersecurity standards underpinning the nation’s smart grid. It initiates and manages collaboration with international smart grid efforts to create harmonized standards that maximize export opportunities for US manufacturers. It supports development of the Administration’s smart grid policies by co-chairing (with DOE) the NSTC Smart Grid Interagency Working Group (IWG). The Secretariat provides periodic reports to Congress on the smart grid program as required by EISA. The Secretariat ensures interagency coordination through participation on the DOE-led Federal Smart Grid Task Force. It provides technical support to state regulators (directly and through the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners) and FERC, who are responsible for promulgating standards-related smart grid regulatory policies and approving smart grid investments. The Secretariat administers the NIST Smart Grid (Federal) Advisory Committee, a group of 15 high-level executives from the smart grid industry and academia that advises the NIST Director on the smart grid program. The Secretariat has strategic engagement with national and international leadership of Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) in order to facilitate and accelerate standards development.

The Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, published by NIST in January 2010 and updated in February 2012, provides the smart grid industry and U.S. regulators the foundational guidance on architecture, standards, testing and certification, and cybersecurity based on consensus industry input and a comprehensive public review process. The Secretariat will ensure continued evolution and improvement of the Framework in collaboration with the SGIP and other stakeholders and technical resources.  

The Secretariat actively promotes the results of NIST’s smart grid program through publications in industry journals and invited talks at technical programs of major smart grid conferences and workshops such as GridWeek, Grid-Interop, IEEE, and others. These opportunities showcase the results of the NIST Smart Grid Program and its impact.

Smart Grid Interoperability Panel

NIST created the SGIP as a public-private partnership to support NIST in developing the Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards. The SGIP was formed in December 2009 and has grown to over 750 member organizations and over 1,900 individual participants. The Secretariat provides management oversight and technical direction for the current SGIP administrator contract. Secretariat staff holds leadership positions in various standing committees and working groups including the Testing and Certification Committee, the Program Management Office, and Domain Expert Working Groups. In addition, the NIST National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability serves as ex-officio member on the SGIP Governing Board.  

As the SGIP is maturing, NIST is supporting the development and implementation of a business sustainment plan for transitioning the SGIP 1.0 to a primarily privately supported legal entity, SGIP 2.0. Since smart grid interoperability standards and testing and certification will continue to evolve and require significant ongoing stakeholder coordination, this new business sustainment plan will ensure that the SGIP and its functions will be appropriately supported by the private sector into the future. The SGIP will continue to be an important component of the program since it serves as an important avenue for collaboration among smart grid stakeholders and a key way to accelerate smart grid development and deployment. The Secretariat will continue to support the SGIP and to play leadership roles in the SGIP through our technical contributions on committees and working groups. This would help to ensure that the SGIP will transition without losing momentum of its operation.

Smart Grid Measurement Science Program Development and Management

The primary focus of this effort is to effectively leverage NIST unique capabilities in measurement science to address key technical and measurement barriers in smart grid development and deployment. This effort develops the strategy, assigns priorities, and allocates resources for NIST smart grid measurement research. This effort provides management oversight and technical direction for the ongoing and new smart grid-related research projects in the Engineering Laboratory, the Information Technology Laboratory, and the Physical Measurement Laboratory that are described in the other projects under the Smart Grid Program. Staff works closely with the leadership of the Labs to allocate resources for the projects, conduct periodic program and project reviews, monitor progress, and assess impact.
This effort is informed by the Federal Advisory Committee and broader industry/academic input on barriers that NIST should address. Another important source of input comes from an August 2012 workshop convened by NIST in partnership with the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) of the University of Colorado that identified the research and measurement challenges impeding Smart Grid development and deployment. The project is using these inputs to set the priorities and strategy for the research program and drive its future development.

An important gap that has been identified for NIST to address is system-level simulation, modeling and validation of the smart grid. During FY13, the Office will begin to recruit staff and initiate a collaboration through a cooperative agreement with a university to build a leading measurement research effort in this area.

Recent Results:

• NIST Smart Grid Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 1.0 (January 2010) and Release 2.0 (February 2012):  These authoritative Framework documents are the primary NIST output fulfilling its EISA role, providing to the U.S. and world smart grid industry the high-level guidance on architectural and cybersecurity principles, standards, and testing and certification based on consensus industry input supported by a comprehensive public review process.
• National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) report “A Policy Framework for the 21st Century Grid: Enabling Our Secure Energy Future” (June 2011): This document provides the administration vision for grid modernization.
• The NIST Smart Grid (Federal) Advisory Committee released its first report to NIST that includes recommendations for NIST Smart Grid work, both short- and long-term (March 2012).
• The Office organized and led a workshop to educate APEC economy energy regulators on standardization considerations for smart grid investments and deployments that was held on May 16-17, 2012 in Quebec City, Canada.
  

Standards and Codes: 
The Office has provided key input to standards development at the IEC, IEEE, and many other SDOs.  Staff is maintaining strategic relationship with CEOs and senior leaders of key SDOs that develop standards for smart grid.