National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Winter Committee Meeting SGIP Report to Committee on Critical Infrastructure
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Chair Mays, Co-Vice Chair Fox, Co-Vice Chair Whitfield and Members of the Committee: Good afternoon and thank you for allowing me to make this report to your committee today.
My name is Patrick Gannon. I am President and Executive Director of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, better known as SGIP. NARUC and several state Commissions are members of SGIP.
“For those of you not familiar with SGIP, we are a member-funded, global, non-profit organization that orchestrates the work behind utility grid modernization. As many regulators may be aware, SGIP was originally established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and SGIP has now transitioned to a new membership-driven private-sector entity with continued strong participation and support from NIST. One of SGIP’s key roles is to identify requirements that make the modernized grid interoperable. Orchestrating the harmonization of technology standards is one of our principle goals. Our work is designed to acceleration the realization of benefits for all stakeholders.
How do we help regulators? SGIP expands the resources of regulatory commissions by providing an inexpensive way for Commissioners and Staff to stay educated, thoroughly informed, and have an up-front impact on the rapid changes in interoperable smart grid technology.
I have time to mention only four of the hot topics this committee is discussing this week, which SGIP is working on right now. There are several others and I welcome the opportunity to discuss them with you while we are here in D.C.
Cybersecurity, grid resilience, grid security, and the integrated grid are all hot topics. SGIP has been addressing these issues and I am going to suggest opportunities where participation from regulators would be particularly beneficial to you.
1) Cybersecurity is on everybody’s agenda. In a recent survey, 111 energy executives revealed that 61 percent considered security to currently be a big problem for the Smart Grid; more poignantly 64 percent believed that the grid is not prepared for security threats. The SGIP Cybersecurity Committee is very active and has several subgroups focusing in areas such as Privacy and Cloud Computing. Our Cybersecurity Committee recently completed its User’s Guide to provide an easy to understand
approach to navigate the “Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security”, known as NIST Interagency Report 7628. NISTIR 7628 provides an overview of the approach, including the risk assessment process used to identify the high-level security requirements, and assists organizations as they craft a Smart Grid cybersecurity strategy that includes Security Requirements to mitigate cybersecurity and privacy risks. The NISTIR 7628 User’s Guide incorporates the actual experience and insights of implementers over the past 3 years. SGCC is also developing a case study for the Department of Energy Risk Management Process (RMP) which will provide an example of the adoption and implementation of the RMP within a fictitious electric utility. Your participation in the Cybersecurity Committee activities will provide valuable input and enable you to be better informed on the latest risk assessment options.
2) Resilience in regulated utilities is a hot topic with storm outage and restoration of utility
infrastructure a major concern. Three areas within SGIP are working on these important issues: The Transmission and Distribution Domain Expert Working Group (TnD DEWG) works to create
unprecedented robustness and resilience to Grid instabilities and disturbances in order to improve reliability. They also work to improve power quality to meet customer needs and enable ready access for distributed generators to the Grid. The group is developing use case scenarios for large scale
disasters such occurred with Super Storm Sandy. The Business and Policy Domain Expert Working Group (BnP DEWG) assists business decision-makers and legislative/regulatory policy-makers in implementing smart grid policies sensitive to interoperability. The Priority Action Plan for Weather Information (PAP-21) is establishing criteria for harmonized weather data information. It is gathering inputs from a wide range of energy sectors including Renewables, Distributed Energy Resource (DER), distribution utilities, ISO/RTO markets, and weather forecasters; to produce a set of information requirements designed to facilitate the harmonization of information models and exchange models to be used in Smart Grid applications. State regulators have shown an increased interest in setting policies to make their energy grid more resilient to reduce the impact of storms and reduce the storm outage time-frames.
Participation in these SGIP activities can greatly increase the commission staff’s knowledge of technology solutions to aid them in achieving their goals in a cost-effective manner.
3) Security Governance for States: Rethinking Oversight of Electric Sector and Critical Infrastructure Security is on the Committee’s agenda. The Smart Grid Cybersecurity Committee High Level
Requirements Subgroup maintains the high-level security requirements which are documented in the “Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security”, known as NIST Interagency Report 7628, and develops mappings and other analyses between NISTIR 7628 and other documents, standards, and guidelines. 4) The “Value of the Integrated Grid” is another hot topic. To actually become an integrated grid, it must be an interoperable grid. How the integrated grid can enable the optimal combination of local generation, energy storage, energy efficiency and new uses of electricity -- integrated with central generation -- to provide reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity is a huge task and a concern of everyone at SGIP. The Distributed Renewables, Generation and Storage (DRGS) Subgroups are addressing a variety of issues. DRGS Subgroup B is near completion of a white paper on “Distributed Energy Resources (DER): Hierarchical Classification of Use Cases and the Process for Developing Information Exchange Requirements and Object Model”.
Additionally, the DRGS Subgroup C has convened a group of experts with knowledge of microgrid and hierarchical control approaches that utilize or impact the operation of DRGS devices and that enable aggregation of DRGS local and regional grid supportive functions and can assist in this difficult
undertaking. Subgroup C has completed 5 of 9 Microgrid Control and Operation Use Cases and expects to complete the rest by April 2014. These Use Cases can be valuable for commissioners and their staff to better understand how the technology is being deployed.
Thank you for your attention and I am pleased to answer any questions. Patrick Gannon
941-357-6224
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Winter Committee Meeting SGIP Report to Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment
Monday, February 10, 2014
Chairman Kenney, Co-Vice Chair Gardner, Co-Vice Chair Speakes-Backman and Members of the ERE Committee:
Good afternoon and thank you for allowing me to make this report today. My name is Patrick Gannon. I am President and Executive Director of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, better known as SGIP. NARUC and several state Commissions are members of SGIP.
For those of you not familiar with SGIP, we are a member-funded, global, non-profit organization that
orchestrates the work behind utility grid modernization. As many regulators may be aware, SGIP was originally established in 2009 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and SGIP has now
transitioned in 2013 to a new membership-driven private-sector entity with continued strong participation and support from NIST. One of SGIP’s key roles is to identify requirements that make the modernized grid
interoperable. Orchestrating the harmonization of technology standards is one of our principle goals. Our work is designed to acceleration the realization of benefits for all stakeholders.
How do we help regulators? SGIP expands the resources of regulatory commissions by providing an inexpensive way for Commissioners and Staff to stay educated, thoroughly informed, and have an up-front impact on the rapid changes in interoperable smart grid technology. SGIP’s Stakeholder Category for State and Local Regulators was created for organizations that regulate the operation of the power system in the United States but are not federal in scope.
Time limits permit me to mention only five of the hot topics this committee is or will be discussing, which SGIP members are addressing right now. There are several others and I would like to discuss them with you while we are here in D.C., if you have the time.
Cybersecurity, distributed generation and storage, “integrated grid”, energy efficiency and transactive energy management are all hot topics. SGIP has been working on these issues and I am going to suggest opportunities where participation from regulators would be particularly beneficial to you.
1) Cybersecurity is on everybody’s agenda. In a recent survey, 111 energy executives revealed that 61 percent considered security to currently be a big problem for the Smart Grid; more poignantly 64 percent believed that the grid is not prepared for security threats. The SGIP Cybersecurity Committee is very active and has several subgroups focusing in areas such as Privacy and Cloud Computing. Our Cybersecurity Committee recently completed the NISTIR 7628 User’s Guide to provide an easy to understand approach to navigate the “Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security” known as the NIST Interagency Report 7628. NISTIR 7628 provides an overview of the approach, including the risk assessment process used to identify the high-level security requirements, and assists organizations as they craft a Smart Grid cybersecurity strategy that includes Security Requirements to mitigate cybersecurity and privacy risks. The NISTIR 7628 User’s Guide incorporates the actual experience and insights of implementers over the past 3 years. SGCC is also
developing a case study for the Department of Energy Risk Management Process (RMP) which will provide an example of the adoption and implementation of the RMP within a fictitious electric utility. Your participation in the Cybersecurity Committee activities will provide valuable input and enable you to be better informed on the latest risk assessment options.
2) Energy Storage is on the Committee’s agenda this week. SGIP Priority Action Plan - 07 Distributed Energy Resource (DER)/Electric Storage (ES) Interconnection is working on electrical interconnection guidelines and standards for energy storage, hybrid generation-storage, and other power electronics-based ES-DER
equipment. The Distributed Renewables, Generation and Storage (DRSG) Subgroup E is addressing Regulatory and Market Issues. This subgroup is in process of completing a white paper on “Potential Regulatory Barriers and Challenges to Deployment of Distributed Generation and Storage” which includes sections on net
metering. As a member, you will be able to provide valuable input and stay abreast of the latest interoperable energy storage technology solutions.
3) The “Value of the Integrated Grid” is another hot topic. To actually become an integrated grid, it must be an interoperable grid. How the integrated grid can enable the optimal combination of local generation, energy storage, energy efficiency and new uses of electricity -- integrated with central generation -- to provide
reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity is a huge task and a concern of everyone at SGIP. The
Distributed Renewables, Generation and Storage (DRGS) Subgroups are addressing a variety of issues. DRGS Subgroup B is near completion of a white paper on “Distributed Energy Resources (DER): Hierarchical
Classification of Use Cases and the Process for Developing Information Exchange Requirements and Object Model”.
Additionally, the DRGS Subgroup C has convened a group of experts with knowledge of microgrid and hierarchical control approaches that utilize or impact the operation of DRGS devices and that enable
aggregation of DRGS local and regional grid supportive functions and can assist in this difficult undertaking. Subgroup C has completed 5 of 9 Microgrid Control and Operation Use Cases and expects to complete the rest by April 2014. These Use Cases can be valuable for commissioners and their staff to better understand how the technology is being deployed.
4) The ERE Committee is all about energy efficiency. SGIP’s Priority Action Plan-20 focuses on the Green Button Challenge as one step towards realizing the common-sense idea that consumers should have access to their own energy usage information in a downloadable, easy-to-use electronic format, offered by their utility or retail energy service provider. Regulators have participated in many Business and Policy Domain Expert Working Group (BnP DEWG) discussions regarding Green Button developments and innovations in the past. The BnP DEWG provides support and positive interaction between commission members and utilities, and serves as a good forum to become educated on the coupling between energy efficiency and timely access to energy information. BnP DEWG is the primary resource for regulators to stay abreast of the interoperability technology issues and provide input on how these activities impact policy decisions.
5) A rapidly emerging “hot topic” which will have a large regulatory component is Transactive Energy
Management. The term “transactive energy” is used here to refer to techniques for managing the generation, consumption or flow of electric power within an electric power system through the use of economic or market based constructs while considering grid reliability constraints. Regulatory, policy, and business issues frame the discussion about the functional characteristics of transactive energy systems. There are numerous transactive values and services that have already been identified and there are many challenges that may require innovative policies, regulation and business models. The Business and Policy DEWG at SGIP is working closely with the GridWise® Architecture Council (GWAC) to address transactive energy and you would benefit greatly by being involved during these formative discussions. Join this work group and find out more about this technology and the areas for appropriate regulatory guidance.
National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Winter Committee Meeting SGIP Report to Committee on Electricity
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Chairman Boyd, Co-Vice Chair Ackerman, Co-Vice Chair Finley, Co-Vice Chair Ziegner and Members of the Electricity Committee:
Good afternoon and thank you for allowing me to make this report to you today. My name is Patrick Gannon. I am President and Executive Director of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, better known as SGIP. NARUC and several state Commissions are members of SGIP.
For those of you not familiar with SGIP, we are a member-funded, global, non-profit organization that
orchestrates the work behind utility grid modernization. As many regulators may be aware, SGIP was originally established in 2009 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and SGIP has now
transitioned in 2013 to a new membership-driven, private-sector entity with continued strong participation and support from NIST. One of SGIP’s key roles is to identify requirements that make the modernized grid interoperable. Orchestrating the harmonization of technology standards is one of our principle goals. Our work is designed to acceleration the realization of benefits for all stakeholders.
How do we help regulators? SGIP expands the resources of regulatory commissions by providing an inexpensive way for Commissioners and Staff to stay educated, thoroughly informed, and have an up-front impact on the rapid changes in interoperable smart grid technology. SGIP’s Stakeholder Category for State and Local Regulators was created for organizations that regulate the operation of the power system in the United States but are not federal in scope.
Time limits permit me to mention only four of the hot topics your Committee is discussing, which SGIP members are addressing right now. There are several others and I would like to discuss them with you while we are here in D.C., if you have the time.
Cybersecurity, net-metering, distributed generation and storage, and the “integrated grid” are all hot topics on your agenda this week at NARUC. SGIP has been working on these issues and I am going to suggest opportunities where participation from regulators would be particularly beneficial to you.
1) Cybersecurity is on everybody’s agenda. In a recent survey, 111 energy executives revealed that 61 percent considered security to currently be a big problem for the Smart Grid; more poignantly 64 percent believed that the grid is not prepared for security threats. The SGIP Cybersecurity Committee is very active and has several subgroups focusing in areas such as Privacy and Cloud Computing. Our Cybersecurity Committee recently completed its NISTIR 7628 User’s Guide to provide an easy to understand approach to navigate the “Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security”, known as NIST Interagency Report 7628. NISTIR 7628 provides an overview of the approach, including the risk assessment process used to identify the high-level security requirements, and assists organizations as they craft a Smart Grid cybersecurity strategy that includes Security Requirements to mitigate cybersecurity and privacy risks. The NISTIR 7628 User’s Guide incorporates the actual experience and insights of implementers over the past 3 years. SGCC is also developing a case study for the Department of Energy Risk Management Process (RMP) which will provide an example of the adoption and implementation of the RMP within a fictitious electric utility. Your participation in the Cybersecurity Committee activities will provide valuable input and enable you to be better informed on the latest risk assessment options.
2) Net-metering wars is another Electricity Committee agenda item and is a high interest subject to members of SGIP. SGIP’s Distributed Renewables, Generation and Storage (DRSG) Subgroup E is addressing Regulatory and Market Issues. The group is in process of completing a white paper on “Potential Regulatory Barriers and Challenges to Deployment of Distributed Generation and Storage” which includes sections on net metering. Input from regulators is highly desired. The Business and Policy Domain Expert Working Group (BnP DEWG) is examining issues related to how business decision-makers and legislative/regulatory policy-makers implement smart grid policies sensitive to interoperability and has heavy participation by commissioners and their staff.
3) Distributed generation and the high penetration rate of renewable energy sources is another emerging area. SGIP Distributed Renewables, Generation and Storage (DRGS) Domain Expert Working Group addresses issues related to Smart Grid integration of distributed renewable/clean energy generators and electric storage, and initiates priority action plans to address these issues and gaps related to interoperability. Priority Action Plan (PAP)-07 addresses distributed energy resources and interconnection guidelines. Those commissioners and staff who need to stay informed on interoperability issues related to distributed generation will want to join this group.
4) The “Value of the Integrated Grid” is another hot topic. To actually become an integrated grid, it must be an interoperable grid. How the integrated grid can enable the optimal combination of local generation, energy storage, energy efficiency and new uses of electricity — integrated with central generation — to provide reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity is a huge task and a concern of everyone at SGIP. The
Distributed Renewables, Generation and Storage (DRGS) Subgroups are addressing a variety of issues. DRGS Subgroup B is near completion of a white paper on “Distributed Energy Resources (DER): Hierarchical
Classification of Use Cases and the Process for Developing Information Exchange Requirements and Object Model”.
Additionally, the DRGS Subgroup C convened a group of experts with knowledge of microgrid and hierarchical control approaches that utilize or impact the operation of DRGS devices and that enable aggregation of DRGS local and regional grid supportive functions and can assist in this difficult undertaking. Subgroup C has completed 5 of 9 Microgrid Control and Operation Use Cases and expects to complete the rest by April 2014. These Use Cases can be valuable for commissioners and their staff to better understand how the technology is being deployed.
One last note on the value of an integrated grid: SGIP is working jointly with the Gridwise® Alliance and
Gridwise® Architecture Council on the very important issue of grid resilience and storm outage recovery. Right
now, there are over sixteen states going through the aftermath of what is being called the Artic
Vortex. And winter storms are just getting started. Pennsylvania alone has had over 600,000 homes without power - for days. If you are interested in learning more stop by our display and pick up a copy of our
"Statement of Action" about how integration and interoperability requirements are being developed with respect to Storm Outage Restoration and Utility Mutual Aid Assistance that increase the resiliency of the electric grid.