Smart Grid Standards Wars: The Battle over Communications is Heating Up

In the first half of 2010 there has been a significant level of activity, and some striking developments, in communications standards that are widely seen as applicable to the Smart Grid.

Some of this activity has been orchestrated and driven under the Priority Action Plans (PAPs) animated by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Specifically, PAP15 concerning Power Line Carrier (PLC) technologies, has been successful in validating co-existence requirements for both broadband and narrowband PLC technologies, getting Standards Defining Organizations (SDOs) and vendors to agree on many details of co-existence standard specifications and accelerating timelines for their implementation. This bodes well for utilities and appliance vendors, who want any PLC technology they choose to deploy, for example to support Demand Response applications, to work reliably over premise wiring, even if other variants of PLC are being used there as well. In the wireless arena, PAP02 has driven a modeling effort that used data developed by the Utility Communications Alliance (UCA) OpenSG Communications Working Group with a NIST- and IEEE-developed analytic model of IEEE 802.11. This effort has demonstrated the adequacy of that wireless technology for Smart Grid use cases in Advanced Metering, Distributed Energy, and Distribution Operations. While not (yet) offering an executable model, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Standards, the North American partner in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), submitted an analysis presenting comparable results. While NIST is providing vision and leadership, it's the participation of SDO and vendor communities that is making things happen.