Marianna Vaiman: Protecting the Power Grid
Date: 16 July 2015
T&D World Magazine
In preparation for the 2015 IEEE Power & Energy Society's General Meeting in Denver, which took place July 26-30, Marianna Vaiman will present a tutorial on how to deal with the threat of grid reliability. As the executive vice president and co-founder of V&R Energy, Vaiman presented the following tutorial: "Understanding Cascading Phenomenon: Methodologies and Industry Practice for Analysis of Cascading Failures." Developed by the IEEE Cascading Failure Working Group, the tutorial offers an overview of the cascading phenomenon and explains methods on how to manage system failures.
Just the FACTS: IEEE recognizes excellence in transmission
Date: 30 July 2015
SmartGridNews.com
The 2015 IEEE Power & Energy Society's General Meeting event in Denver welcomed thousands of industry professionals, academics and others on July 26-30. And each year, IEEE PES announces the recipients of its Society-Level Awards, which recognize and credit important technical, educational and service contributions by the global power and energy community. Among the awards, the Nari Hingorani Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) Award was presented to Richard Piwko, senior technical director for GE's Energy Consulting business. SmartGridNews.com interview Piwko about the award, his career, and enhancements to IEEE 80.
The Man Behind the Self-Healing Grid
Date: 30 July 2015
Metering International
In this Metering International Q&A with IEEE Smart Grid Chair Dr. Massoud Amin, the evolution of the self-healing grid is examined and discussed. Dr. Amin offers his perspective on how the smart grid is progressing. Among the many developments, the next five years will involve microgrids and how they play a role in meeting demand and increasing reliability.
Apply to be an IEEE Core Smart City
Date: 16 July 2015
Two New Cities Will Join Guadalajara, Mexico; Trento, Italy; and Wuxi, China
IEEE Smart Cities Initiative is inviting applications from municipalities worldwide already in the process of planning smart cities for growing urban populations. Two cities will be selected from submissions received by 14th August to receive funding and support from IEEE experts to host a workshop in their city before the end of 2015.
IEEE Smart Cities has already provided investment to three selected IEEE Core Smart Cities – Guadalajara, Mexico; Trento, Italy; Wuxi, China, which are municipalities that have successfully demonstrated plans to invest human and financial capital into their smart city project. Two additional IEEE Core Smart Cities that are able to demonstrate a comprehensive plan and funds for their smart city evolution effort to join these municipalities will be selected.
Municipalities interested in applying to become an IEEE Core Smart City and host an inaugural workshop in 2015 can download an application form here.
The deadline to submit completed applications is Friday 14th August 2015. Successful submissions will provide clear, compelling evidence that the applicant municipality is well-positioned to utilize the resources offered through the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative, that its evolution into a smart city has the potential to substantially enhance a city's capacity to act on key issues, and that the city can demonstrate plans to invest human and financial capital into the project.
Municipalities not selected in this round will be eligible to become IEEE Affiliated Smart Cities. As a member of a worldwide network of cities, IEEE Affiliated Cities receive several benefits and raise discussion on the smartification topics that are at the heart of the city’s smartification plan.
For more information on the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative, including criteria and how to apply, visit the web site at http://smartcities.ieee.org. Completed applications should be submitted via email to Harold Tepper, IEEE Smart Cities Program Director at smartcities-cfi@ieee.org by the Friday 14th August deadline.
Securing the Smart Grid: Questions and answers on consumer privacy and threats to the grid - both physical and cyber
Date: 17 June 2015
Public Utilities Fortnightly
While the smart grid is a viable solution to the current issues surrounding the unreliability and inefficient electric grid, security should be at the forefront of development. "Security cannot be added as an afterthought," said Dr. Amin. "We need to start from scratch, at the very beginning." In this Public Utilities Fortnightly article, Dr. Amin offers his insights for each of the industry's top concerns: defining threats; assessing risks; regulatory impediments; consumer privacy; and price, service and value. Over time, in order to modernize the grid, investments need to be made and a systematic approach is required. Read more.
The Case for Smart Grid: Funding a new infrastructure in an age of uncertainty
Date: 17 June 2015
Public Utilities Fortnightly
The future of the electric grid and its growing and evolving infrastructure exists in the convergence of energy with telecommunications, transportation, Internet, and electronic commerce. In his Public Utilities Fortnightly article, IEEE Smart Grid Chair Dr. Massoud Amin examines the past, present and future of the electric grid. While a self-healing smart grid could be the answer to providing stable infrastructure, it's the efficiency of the system that is of primary benefit. Dr. Amin highlights that real-time monitoring and reaction, anticipation, and rapid isolation is at the core to detect, reduce and minimize the effects of power outages. Ultimately, a smart grid system--in Dr. Amin's assessment--can detect when people use electricity the most, study usage behaviors, and then help the entire system better manage and efficiently use electricity. Read more.
Dr. Massoud Amin Provides State of Reliability Opening Session Briefing at the FERC Reliability Technical Conference
Early in June 2015, IEEE Smart Grid Chair Dr. Massoud Amin provided a state of reliability report at the FERC Reliability Technical Conference. In his statements, Dr. Amin discussed the current state of the nation's electricity system and the activities, accomplishments, and challenges ahead.
Dr. Amin's remarks included acknowledging that the industry has achieved significant milestones over the past five years, with more to come. To look ahead, he highlighted key drivers for changes in the electric power sector, which include:
- Acceleration of efficiency (energy intensity dropping 2%/yr.);
- Distributed generation and energy resources (DG & DERs), including energy storage & microgrids;
- More cities interested in charting their energy future;
- District energy systems;
- Smart Grids;
- Electrification of transportation;
- New EPA regulations, such as for greenhouse gases under Section 111(d) of Clean Air Act;
- Demand response (and 3rd-party aggregation of same);
- Combined heat & power (CHP), plus waste heat recovery; and
- The increasingly interstate and even trans-national nature of utilities (and contractors too, which leads to security concerns).
Read Dr. Amin's entire FERC conference keynote.
ASME and IEEE-USA Provide Smart Grid Developments During Congressional Briefing
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and IEEE-USA recently co-hosted a congressional staff briefing focusing on developments related to smart grid technologies. The briefing, entitled, “Grid Security and Advancements in Smart Grid Technology,” was convened in conjunction with the Congressional Reach and Development (R&D) Caucus.
The briefing included presentations from Dr. Massoud Amin, an ASME and IEEE member, the chair of IEEE Smart Grid and recognized as a smart grid expert; Dr. Damir Novosel, president-elect of the IEEE Power & Energy Society and expert on smart grid-enabled technologies; and Kerrick Johnson, VP of strategy and communications from (VELCO) Vermont Electric and member of the Gridwise Alliance. All three and others spoke about how electric utilities are utilizing smart grid technologies to reduce costs to consumers and improve the reliability and resilience of the electric grid.
The briefing was moderated by the chair of ASME’s Inter Sector Committee on Federal R&D, Tommy Gardner, and featured an introduction to smart grid issues from Veronika Rabl, chair of IEEE-USA’s Energy Policy Committee.
To view the presentations, click here.
To view IEEE-USA Insight Summary, click here.
The Underground Smart Grid
Date: 21 May 2015
Publication: Electricity Today
Electricity Today’s Editor-in-Chief connected with Doug Houseman, IEEE senior member, to discuss technologies, standards and challenges the utility industry faces moving forward. The article explores underground a variety of underground Smart Grid technologies that improve system reliability and resilience. Doug Houseman is the vice president of technical innovation at EnerNex. Read more.
Engineering prof talks renewables, reliability and relationships
Date: 19 May 2015
Intelligent Utility
In continuation of Intelligent Utility’s women-in-energy series, the publication interviewed Mariesa Crow, vice president of publications for the IEEE Power and Energy Society, to gain her insights into renewables, reliability and educating engineering talent for the future. The interview covers her thoughts on the challenges faced with renewables as it pertains to the smart grid and what advancements she sees transpiring in power systems over the next ten years. Mariesa Crow is a professor of electrical engineering with the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri.
