Deep diving at Grid ComForum

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I'm at Grid ComForum today and tomorrow and eager to hear several presentations and panels, while squeezing in meetings with utilities, associations and vendors to become better informed on issues.

Kevin Jones, with AT&T's industry solutions division, will discuss the telecommunications providers' role in the smart grid. AT&T has a mantra: "connect it, collect it, secure it, manage it." The telecom provider is working with SmartSynch for a 10,000-meter deployment with Texas New Mexico Power Co., as well as with Itron in the latter's advanced metering infrastructure deployments. (AT&T rival Verizon Wireless also works with Itron and Duke Energy.) Apropos of the ferment in this space, the Wi-Fi Alliance and WiMax proponents such as Alvarion will be presenting as well.

The prospects for plug-in electric vehicles, for transforming the oil-based transportation sector to electricity, has huge implications for electric utilities. To understand patterns of usage at charging stations will require the two-way communications promised by smart grids. So I'm catching Robert Swiatkowski of Elster Solutions, whose panel will discuss the electric vehicle-smart grid interaction with Erfan Ibrahim of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Saul Zambrano, who directs the clean air transportation effort at host utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), and Leon Hounshell of 4Home, a veteran of concept-to-commercial rollout efforts.

The ongoing argument over whether consumers know about, care about or are willing to do anything about home energy use (hint: inevitably, they must) motivates me to attend the session on "Networking the home," chaired by Mike Carlson of GridPoint. Carlson's panel includes John Thomas, who directs technology strategy for Intel Corp.'s Open Energy Initiative, Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, and Barry Hasser, executive director of the U-SNAP Alliance, which is developing a standard for connecting smart meters to "energy aware consumer products."

Look for coverage of these presentations and panels tomorrow, when I'll be busy with sessions on cyber security, standards and patents and policy.

On Wednesday, I'm looking forward to hearing the panel titled "Relax: Smart grid will not be a maze of standards and patents," led by James Bryce Clark, general counsel for OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, a nonprofit consortium. Clark's panel includes David Wollman from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Erich Gunther, chairman and chief technology officer at EnerNex Corp., Zahra Makoui, supervisor for smart grid communications standards at PG&E, and Sila Kiliccote, program manager for building technologies at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

That panel's title is reassuring, though being told to "relax" typically makes me nervous. If everyone is worrying about standards and patents, perhaps I should be, too. Seriously, because I spent years reporting on patent disputes in the wireless field, I understand the concern. According to the program notes, the panel will describe the application of the concepts of openness, transparency, licensing, interoperability and service-oriented architecture to find a balance between rewarding innovation and making it widely available.

On Wednesday afternoon, Katherine Hamilton, president of the GridWise Alliance, will chair a panel titled "Grid 2.0: How will policy and regulation change as our grid evolves?" Lee Krevat, director of smart grid policy and planning for San Diego Gas & Electric, will join Hamilton, as will Andy Campbell, an advisor to the California Public Utilities Commission, Carl Zichella, director of Western Renewable Programs for the Sierra Club, and Nick Sinai, energy and environment director for the Federal Communications Commission. 

All these panels boast subject matter experts with daunting backgrounds, which makes it clear that my time will be well-spent. The test of their success in this forum, for me, will be how well they balance their discussions between the accessible and technical esoterica. Reading between the lines gets tough when technologists do deep dives. Rest assured, however, that I'll provide at least one perspective on what transpired at Grid ComForum and invite those of you who attended or those who could not to comment on the issues of the day. 

Phil Carson 
Editor-in-chief
Intelligent Utility Daily
pcarson@energycentral.com [3]
303-228-4757