IEEE, a Unifying Force and Catalyst in Advancing Smart Grid Technology Innovation and Implementation
IEEE is Home to the World’s Leading Smart Grid Innovators, Architects and Implementers
PISCATAWAY, N.J., USA, 28 SEPTEMBER 2011 – The Smart Grid’s technical, economic and political challenges are myriad; its potential benefits, perhaps unprecedented, say experts at IEEE, the world's largest professional association advancing technology for humanity. IEEE is home to the world’s leading Smart Grid experts and a catalyst for the technology innovations globally that are turning the Smart Grid into reality.
“The Smart Grid is a profound transformation that will play out over the course of our lifetimes,” said James Prendergast, IEEE executive director. “The future is going to be very different from the past in terms of how we receive, use and distribute electricity, and the ripples from that fact will be felt across virtually every aspect of human life, as well as our environment. What IEEE experts uniquely offer is the accumulated intelligence and dependable roadmaps required by the different nations, companies and individuals on the Smart Grid journey.”
Mei Shengwei, IEEE senior member and a professor in the department of electrical engineering at China’s Tsinghua University added, “IEEE is a unifying force for a global, cross-disciplinary community of Smart Grid innovators, architects and implementers, and it has emerged as a prominent thought leader in accelerating the Smart Grid effort worldwide.”
Smart Grid efforts are intensifying around the world, bringing together electrical, communications and information infrastructures unprecedented in scope. The magnitude of this effort is underscored by global investments of a tremendous scale. For example, Pike Research reports cumulative Smart Grid investment to reach US$171.3 billion in the Asia Pacific region by 2017 and US$80.3 billion in Europe by 2020. The United States is expected to see about US$60 billion invested in intelligent Smart Grid infrastructure by 2030, according to analysts at Innovation Observatory.
Meanwhile, different countries have different priorities in Smart Grid implementation. Singapore, for example, seeks primarily to shift its reliance to more locally generated, “green” sources of energy; whereas Brazil and China need greater transmission efficiency, India is dealing with electricity demand outpacing supply, and the European Union and the United States are challenged by fragmented regulatory systems and operations.
To address this complexity and the diverse demands across the Smart Grid markets, globally relevant technology standards are necessary for interoperability. IEEE today has a portfolio of more than 900 active standards and more than 500 standards under development that span the technology spectrum, including more than 100 active standards or standards in development specifically related to the Smart Grid. For example, IEEE 2030TM – IEEE Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and Information Technology Operation with the Electric Power System (EPS), End-Use Applications, and Loads – was approved and published earlier this month, becoming the world’s first system-of-systems, foundational standard created from the ground up to inform Smart Grid interconnection and interoperability.
IEEE works with leading organizations around the world to collaborate on Smart Grid standards development. State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), for example, is a partner in multiple ongoing IEEE standards development efforts, including IEEE P2030.3TM – Standard for Test Procedures for Electric Energy Storage Equipment and Systems for Electric Power Systems Applications. Yiming Hou, senior engineer (professor), China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI) of SGCC, in fact, chairs the IEEE P2030.3 working group.
IEEE touches virtually evey aspect of the Smart Grid and serves as a unifying presence globally, bringing together a diversity of talent and expertise. IEEE numbers more than 400,000 members worldwide and 45 technical societies and councils spanning virtually every aspect of the Smart Grid.
One example of how IEEE is fostering innovation is found within the ranks of the IEEE Power & Energy Society, where members are involved with deployment of phasor measurement units (PMUs), which enable monitoring of key parameters in the power system to reveal its state and stability. The technology aids grid control and helps minimize the possibility of blackouts.
Members of IEEE technical societies also are creating roadmaps for evolutionary shifts to predicted new and currently infant technologies. These groundbreaking initiatives will result in peer-reviewed publications that will illuminate where new research and standardization projects are needed. IEEE Communications Society members, for example, are evaluating how to design and optimize the Smart Grid data communications infrastructure, which is the true enabler for the intelligence in the grid and is also necessary for supporting all Smart Grid applications, from generation to consumer participation. IEEE Control Systems Society volunteers, meanwhile, are assessing how control systems and policies must be designed to properly support Smart Grid applications such as enabling consumer choice in electricity usage, the integration of renewables, storage and electric vehicles.
Furthermore, IEEE is a trusted source for engineering, computing and technology information globally through its highly cited technical publications, with over three million documents in the IEEE Xplore® Digital Library—the majority of which are peer-reviewed, including more than one million covering power-related topics. Each year, IEEE hosts a range of conferences on Smart Grid, power and energy topics, and provides professional and educational resources including the newly redesigned IEEE Smart Grid Web Portal, unveiled this week, and IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter.
Because of its proven standards development, unmatched technological and global scope and recognized thought leadership, IEEE is where the world’s Smart Grid innovators, architects and implementers come to share best practices and advance the Smart Grid.
Additional IEEE resources with relevance to the Smart Grid include:
- IEEE.tv’s Smart Grid channel, https://ieeetv.ieee.org/channels/smartgrid;
- The Institute, the IEEE member newspaper, issue focused on electric vehicles, http://theinstitute.ieee.org/tag/going%20electric, and
- IEEE Power & Energy Society IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, http://www.ieee-pes.org/publications/transaction-paper-abstracts
About IEEE
IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional association, is dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. Learn more: http://www.ieee.org.
About IEEE Smart Grid
Since the inception of the global Smart Grid movement, IEEE has been at the forefront. IEEE leverages its strong foundation and collaboration to evolve Smart Grid standards, share best practices, and publish developments in energy transformation. Additionally, IEEE provides related educational offerings and hosts leading international conferences to further the Smart Grid efforts.
