January 2022

Written by Doug Houseman

Regulation driving technical standards is not a new phenomenon in the electric power domain. It’s been happening ever since regulation was formalized in the early 20th Century. What is new for the electric power industry is the rate at which regulation is now driving the need for both updates and brand-new technical standards. When technical standard-setting bodies do not respond in time, regulations developed without knowledgeable input can end up taking the place of technical standards, as happened with California Rule 21. IEEE did not update IEEE 1547 fast enough to satisfy the regulators of California, which resulted in the multi-year effort needed to write a California-only set of standards governing the technical requirements for inverters and interconnection.

Written by Dan Ernstmann

Distributed Generation (DG) interconnection rules and requirements have many inputs. Industry standards, regulatory requirements, local system engineering specifics, legal, and business practice cover a significant breadth of their construction. From the implementation perspective, the consistent global contribution to standards development and certification can seem like a vast, nebulous machine. Some contextualizing of this process can help give perspective and understanding to the end-user and enforcer.

Written by Austin Arnett

Service disruptions could become far less frequent and impact fewer customers of CPS Energy in San Antonio thanks to a Recloser Deployment Program that got underway early in 2021. With design and planning recently completed, installation has begun in a program that calls for recloser devices and additional single-phase TripSavers to be placed yearly at strategic points on the metropolitan area distribution system.

Written by Travis Bouslog and Doug Houseman

With the announcement in 2021 by Ford and GM that their standard electric vehicle chargers (EVSE) will demand 19.2 kilowatt (KW) from now on, many utilities are running quick calculations on what the impact is on circuits and how many electric vehicles (EV) they will be able to support. Sadly, the answer on most circuits is, not nearly enough to be able to support the automaker's announced plans to electrify the majority of new vehicles they will be building within 8 years.