GRID MODERNISATION project work, instead of individual threaded discussions throughout the various committees.” As SGIP moves forward to development of interest topics such as the integration of microgrids, or storage, the focus will be on where expertise or help is needed from within the Association to move projects forward. This may be across domain experts such as distribution engineers or architectural or security people, but it will all be focused through the project aims, instead of through committees which may meet without the larger context of a grounded project. “The project focus is a big push – it doesn’t matter what business you work for, you have to balance strategic objectives with practical work, and the best way to keep the practical work focused, is to form around a project and make sure the voices of those who are doing the implementations are heard and actioned in order for us to help them as the ones who ultimately are deploying the technology.” Due to the broad focus of the smart grid, the new focus will keep things immediate and sustain momentum, drive milestones and operational goals. “As an organisation, our focus needs to be on overcoming some of the challenges to interoperability; being aware of what some of these new things are that may need to be tackled in order to make it a viable, sustainable option for energy delivery. variety of products from multiple vendors in real-time, real-life situations. “This kind of testing cannot be done in a production environment, and not everyone has the capital to build big testing facilities. We want to document what is going on, what the results are, what the capabilities are. And this test bed initiative is something we are just starting. “For the moment, microgrids and energy storage are some of these new focus areas and we are concentrating on what tweaks need to be made, and as the industry develops and things become more connected, the topic of cybersecurity continues to weigh on everybody’s mind. People are asking themselves how they develop a risk strategy, and as they have more intrusion points in their network, we need to be aware of what we can do to facilitate this process. SGIP has pulled this out as a focus area, because not only is there work that needs to be done around technology, but also there is work around developing a risk framework which touches on practices and processes within a utility.” “I am going to be meeting with a large utility to see what they are doing and to understand where they want to go, so we can catalog the various test beds, and see how we can leverage these facilities for their benefit but also for the benefit of vendors too.” The test beds provide an opportunity to identify how various equipment works together, where there are potential conflicts or challenges around interoperability and how various situational elements influence outcomes. This is a great opportunity to test how equipment works together before doing a massive deployment to millions. A key project that SGIP is facilitating is their test bed program currently being rolled out with a variety of utilities across the US. Allan is particularly excited by this initiative, which allows the testing of a “The way we can really get to interoperability is through these test beds. Until you actually install the equipment in the field and get it working together, it’s all still a bit theoretical.” MI Unlock your company’s potential with Metering & Smart Energy International: • • • • Printed and Digital publications Website banners and targeted ads HTMLs and newsletters Distributed to more than 100 000 key industry professionals Wherever your customers are - 365 days a year! METERING & SMART ENERGY INTERNATIONAL Connecting buyers & sellers in the global metering & smart energy market place. www.metering.com Sales: gerald.schreiner@spintelligent.com