The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved Version 4 of the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). The currently-effective Version 3 CIP Reliability Standards. NERC had sent the CIP 4 standards over to FERC for approval back in February 2011, and FERC’s rulemaking on the same was initiated in September.
NERC CIP 4 presents significant changes in the way utilities identify critical assets and the means used to protect them. The main difference between Version 3 and Version 4 is a change in definition for “Critical Assets” (found in CIP-002-4). Specifically, Version 4 includes uniform “bright line” criteria for the identification of “Critical Assets,” which replace the “risk-based assessment methodology” developed and applied by individual responsible entities under Version 3.
NERC now has till March 31, 2013 to submit the next version of the CIP Reliability Standards, and Version 5 is still waiting approval by NERC. Discussions on NERC CIP 5 suggest that it is intended to finally address all of Order 706.

 The IEEE standards association (IEEE-SA) has voted to approve the publication of the “4g” amendment to the 802.15 standard. The amended standard is commonly referred to as Smart Utility Networks (SUN) and is a physical layer (PHY) amendment to the existing low power, personal area network (LoPAN) 802.15 standard. The amendment is intended to provide a global standard that facilitates very large scale process control applications such as the utility smart-grid network capable of supporting large, geographically diverse networks with minimal infrastructure, with potentially millions of fixed endpoints, according to the IEEE web site. Read more »

The Administration announced today that nine major utilities and electricity suppliers will commit to providing more than 15 million households access to data about their own energy use with a simple click of an online “Green Button.” These utilities have agreed to base their Green Buttons on a common technical standard developed in collaboration with a public-private partnership supported by the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
"The Green Button Initiative will help consumers monitor and manage their energy consumption. We believe that engaging consumers as a crucial stakeholder in the process will help us achieve national energy policy goals, deliver important societal benefits and realize important advancements in the utility value chain," said Connie Durcsak, UTC President and CEO, in a press release supporting this project. Read more »

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) opened its Spring Face-to-Face Meeting in Charlotte on March 20, 2012. The opening plenary session featured Dr. George Arnold, the overseer of the NIST Smart Grid effort. Dr. Arnold told the audience that NIST will continue to participate in the SGIP, regardless of the ultimate structure of the organization, citing mandates in the EISA 2007 legislation. Dr. Arnold was referring to the requirement that the SGIP transition to a sustainable, self-sufficient organization by 2013. The SGIP had created a working group to address this issue and has received a report on a variety of options from EnerNex, the SGIP administrator. Concerns from the audience included one from a utility that suggested that if the SGIP was going to charge dues for membership, it should make the fact known as soon as possible. The utility representation stated that utilities are beginning to create budgets for 2013 in the summer and SGIP membership fees may not make the budget, unless identified early. Dr. Arnold said he understood the concern and would make plans known as soon as possible.
A report from Don Sheflin, chair of the Smart Grid Federal Advisory Committee summarized the group’s report to NIST on the workings of the SGIP. Top recommendations included consolidate the disjointed treatment of cybersecurity issues related to the smart grid. Also cited was the need to strengthen state regulatory support for smart grid initiatives, implying that when states treat smart grid efforts in a wide variety of ways, it creates regulatory uncertainty that delays smart grid implementation. Other recommendations included the need for a consolidated communications plan for smart grid education and outreach. UTC will be blogging additional topics from this meeting over the next few days.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has added five new standards to the IEEE portfolio of more than 100 active standards or standards in development relevant to the smart grid.

The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board approved IEEE C37.118.1-Standard for Synchrophasor Measurements for Power Systems, IEEE C37.118.2-Standard for Synchrophasor Data Transfer for Power Systems, IEEE C37.238-Standard Profile for Use of IEEE Std. 1588 Precision Time Protocol in Power System Applications, IEEE C37.232-Standard for Common Format for Naming Time Sequence Data Files (COMNAME) and IEEE 1020-Guide for Control of Small (100 kVA to 5 MVA) Hydroelectric Power Plants.

The standards were developed outside the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability effort and must be approved through the NISR process before being added to the NIST Catalog of Smart Grid Interoperability Standard. Additionally, IEEE-SA recently modified the scope and purpose of an existing smart grid related standards- development project --IEEE P1409 -- Draft Guide for the Application of Power Electronics for Power Quality Improvement on Distribution Systems Rated 1 kV Through 38 kV. For more information, see related IEEE press release.

The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) has ended its work in Priority Action Plan 18 (PAP18) with the addition of a best practices document to the SGIP catalog of standards. PAP18 deals with the Smart Energy Profile (SEP) used by a number of utility meters and home energy devices to communicate with one another. Read more »

The NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP)has released version two of its Interoperability Process Reference Manual, with a guide to the process by which test laboratories and certifying organizations are accredited for evaluation of Smart Grid products. Utilities that are interested in smart grid interoperability testing, and the procedures recommended by NIST, should download the document as a reference.

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The UCA International Users Group is considering the creation of a community to support the "green button" initiative that is supported by the White House (see related Insight article). According to Erich Gunther, UCA International chairman, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Green Button initiative is moving forward very quickly.

Gunther stated that the Green Button is at once a concept, a policy, a brand and a collection of technologies and creates both opportunities and challenges for utilities and their customers. UCA will likely vote next week to move forward with the creation of a Green Button support mechanism. Those utilities interested in participating should contact UCA International or Klaus Bender at UTC. You will be provided relevant information when it is available.

In an email to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Smart Grid Cybersecurity Working Group (CSWG), it was announced that the CSWG Testing and Certification subgroup has completed the draft SGIP document, “Guide for Assessing the High-Level Security Requirements in NISTIR 7628, Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security.” The document provides a foundation to facilitate a security assessment based on the NISTIR 7628 high-level security requirements. The agency released the smart grid security guidelines in the NISTIR 7628 document in 2010, but some utilities have struggled with using the document in order to create real world security policies. This guide is written to provide a foundation to facilitate a security assessment based on the NISTIR 7628 high-level security requirements implemented within an effective risk management program. Read more »

In a recent announcement, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has published ten CIP standards (CIP-002-5 through CIP-009-5, CIP-010-1, and CIP-011-1), a set of new and revised NERC Glossary definitions, and a proposed implementation plan. The documents have been posted on the NERC website for a formal 60-day comment period through Friday, January 6, 2012, which will be accepted via an electronic form. The implementation plan, also called the mapping document, identifies each requirement in the already-approved Version 4 CIP standards and identifies how the requirement has been treated in the Version 5 CIP standards. For more information, click here.