Smart Grid Blog

“The basic structure of the present grid has changed little over its hundred-year history. The U.S. grid, which is operated by over 3100 electric utilities using equipment and systems from hundreds of suppliers, has historically not had much emphasis on standardization and thus incorporates many proprietary interfaces and technologies that result in the equivalents of stand-alone silos.

Transforming this infrastructure into an interoperable system capable of supporting the nation’s vision of extensive distributed and renewable resources, energy efficiency, improved reliability and electric transportation may well be described by future generations as the first great engineering achievement of the 21st century.”

via News on IEC 61850 and related Standards: NIST Smart Grid Architecture and Interoperability Standards – What has been accomplished?.

Toward the end of 2009, SIP Forum (News – Alert) started a task force dedicated to evaluating the application of the Session Initiation Protocol in the Smart Grid ecosystem. The origins of this group were previously covered in an article I wrote for this portal here. Six months later, the group has over 100 members across a wide spectrum of companies (Utilities, Service Providers, OEMs, ISVs etc.) and has produced several key approach notes and white papers that further outline the relevance of the role SIP can play in the Smart Grid ecosystem.

via SIP Forum’s Smart Grid Group: Why SIP Is the Best Protocol and Architecture for Demand and Response.

Many countries around the world are trying to find efficient means of distributing electricity between the suppliers and consumers and find the smart grid architecture to be an efficient network for this purpose. It does not only ensures efficient delivery of electricity from the source to the end users, but also helps attain aims of reducing global warming.

The use of smart grid architecture has been especially beneficial to a number of facilities, including universities, retail stores, hospitals, warehouses, production facilities, and other enterprises that feature multiple locations. Effective metering and automation will be able to ensure that the monitoring of the efficiency of electricity use shall be conducted consistently.

via Smart Energy Grid Architecture Helps Savings on Energy Costs.

When it comes to smart grid deployments the need for “open” architecture using Internet Protocol has become resounding (IP is one of our Winners of 2009 on GigaOM Pro). Hey, even the phone companies — who have long built closed, proprietary networks — want to offer something in the ballpark of an open network. This morning Verizon Wireless announced that it is partnering with Ambient Corporation to offer customers an “Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture,” which they bill as “an open communications network” for utilities’ smart grid programs.

via Verizon Wireless: We’ve Got An Open IP Smart Grid Network, Too.

Verizon Wireless and Ambient Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: ABTG) today announced the launch of their jointly developed Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture, an integrated smart grid solution and open communications network for utilities deploying smart grid programs.

The Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture accelerates the deployment of secure smart grids, saving utilities the operational investment and maintenance cost of deploying a proprietary communications network.  The Ambient Smart Grid®, operating on Verizon Wireless’ network infrastructure, leverages the reliability and breadth of the Verizon Wireless network.  The architecture provides utilities with private IP clouds of connectivity creating virtual private networks, allowing the utility to benefit from Verizon Wireless’ continuous investment in network security, speed and reliability.

via Verizon Wireless and Ambient Corporation Launch Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture — BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and BOSTON, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ –.

The term “batch processing” was coined back in the 1950’s in the days of mainframe computers: A computer operator would feed a batch of punch cards into the computer, which would then process the information during a scheduled time, and hopefully deliver the needed information back the next morning. Compare that to today, when most computer processing is done through real-time and “event-driven” processing — the data is fed in and the computer quickly spits each bit of info out in seconds. Broadband networks connected to our computers have been built out around this idea of real-time computing.

via Why the Smart Grid Needs to Ditch Its Dated Architecture, Now.

mPhase Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:XDSL) participated on the Thought Leadership Panel at the Smart Grid Implementation Summit last Wednesday, August 19 along with General Electric, Intel, and Deloitte. The discussion highlighted key developments in energy storage technology and the importance of batteries in smart grid architecture. mPhase described its Smart NanoBattery and applications that could enhance the way smart grids function.

The Thought Leadership Panel on Smart Grid Technology was led by Deloitte with GE and Intel discussing hardware requirements and communication needs and capabilities for smart grids, while mPhase talked about energy storage solutions, focusing on batteries. In its current form, the Smart NanoBattery could provide always ready emergency backup power to electrical devices employed in the smart grid, such as sensors and actuators.

Three elements of batteries were discussed in relation to smart grid architecture: demand response, distributed energy, and reserve power. The mPhase Smart NanoBattery may have an opportunity to make a significant impact with reserve power. In the event of a power grid going down or becoming disabled, battery power is required to ensure that mission critical operations, such as hospitals, data centers, security systems, etc, continue to operate without interruption. Reliability over extended periods of time is of the utmost importance in these situations. With a potentially infinite shelf life and the ability to program usage life, the Smart NanoBattery can help improve smart grid security, interoperability and networking.

via mPhase Reports On Smart Grid Implementation Summit (OTCBB:XDSL).