Remote - December 2011 - (Page 26)

Industry News The Newton-Evans Research Company has released initial findings from its extensive research program looking into electric power utility use of various telecommunications technologies and plans for adding capabilities to meet the requirements of the emerging smart grid. The ongoing research program is entitled: Global Study of Data Communications Usage Patterns and Plans in the Electric Power Industry: 2011-2015. In these findings, power line carrier technology led in mentions of data communications technologies being used for at least some portion of meter communications, nearly one-third reported having no plans for AMI deployments at this time and 20 percent were undecided about their eventual choice of AMI communications methods. Plans for connecting smart and advanced meters to the utility’s telecommunications network varied, with 36 percent saying they had no such plans. Just over one quarter cited use of public cellular services, 24 percent reported some use of RF mesh networks and 13 percent reported use or plans to use point-to-multipoint radio. Many utilities are now taking a “wait and see’ attitude toward AMI with regulatory decisions not yet rendered in several states and international regions. One question group in the Newton-Evans’ survey measures the level of agreement or disagreement with 11 statements related to communications issues that were contributed by suppliers and utilities: (interoperability, SLAs, Industry Pace of Change, open protocols, synchrophasor use and others). Among these topics, two have received strong indications of agreement among survey participants thus far along in the study. These are interoperability being important to the utility, and the use of open protocols providing a degree of protection from premature product obsolescence. The majority of respondents to date concur on the notion of using IP for all smart grid communications. However, 20 percent of the initial group indicated that they do not support standardizing on the use of IP for any SG communications. Distribution Automation (DA) is a key component of smart grid. For DA, 40 percent of utilities surveyed to date use licensed point-to-multipoint communications, and thirty-eight percent use unlicensed point-to-multipoint. Numerous other technologies and approaches to DA communications were also mentioned including cellular, POTS, frame relay, paging, GPRS, fiber, leased lines and private fiber-based Ethernet. ISA-100.11a-2011, “Wireless Systems for Industrial Automation: Process Control and Related Applications,” has been approved by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as a publicly available specification, or PAS. This follows its approval earlier this year as an ISA standard, developed per ISA’s open consensus process as accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). “There has been a great deal of interest to move ISA-100.11a into the IEC process, and I am very pleased this has been accomplished with its unanimous approval as an IEC PAS,” said Tony Capel of Comgate Engineering, who is the chair of IEC SC65C, the committee that will oversee the standard. “An IEC PAS allows the early publication of a standard that has obtained consensus in a professional society such as ISA, and will further promote the use of this standard throughout the world.” Unlike non-accredited processes typically used by vendors’ consortia to develop specifications, ISA’s ANSI-accredited procedures call for direct participation and voting by experts from end-user companies, ensuring that their views and needs are heard and reflected in the resulting standard. ISA100.11a-2011 received overwhelming approval from voting members on ISA100 who represent end-user companies where wireless systems will be deployed in real-world industrial applications. ISA-100.11a-2011 was developed to provide reliable and secure wireless operation for noncritical monitoring, alerting, supervisory control, open loop control and closed loop control applications. The standard defines the protocol suite, system management, gateway and security specifications for low-data-rate wireless connectivity with fixed, portable and moving devices 26 www.RemoteMagazine.com Initial Findings Depict Newer Data Communications Technologies and Services Being Adopted by World’s Electric Power Utilities supporting very limited power consumption requirements. The application focus is to address the performance needs of applications, such as monitoring and process control, where latencies on the order of 100 ms can be tolerated, with optional behavior for shorter latency. Draker Labs was recently selected by Con Edison Development (CED) to monitor and control more than 40 MWs of grid-interconnected solar projects in the Northeast US, including the 20 MW Pilesgrove solar power plant. The Pilesgrove facility is the largest PV plant in the northeastern US. The Pilesgrove project was put in service in Q3 and is expected to generate enough clean energy to power over 5,000 homes while reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 1,900 tons per year. “We selected Draker based on the scalability and reliability of their data acquisition system, as well as their ability to deliver an integrated monitoring and control solution to manage the utility interconnection, said Mark Noyes, vice president, Con Ed Development. “Draker’s team of dedicated project managers and field engineers were instrumental in commissioning the plant and interconnecting to the utility grid.” Draker has worked cooperatively with both CED and its engineering partner, RMT, to develop a secure monitoring and control solution that integrates with the utility’s SCADA system and data historian through a local Human Machine Interface (HMI). Draker provided switchgear monitoring and control through real-time automation controllers manufactured by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL). A dedicated team of Draker project engineers provided design and engineering services and onsite installation and commissioning support. B&B Electronics has completed its acquisition of the assets of Quatech, Inc., a device networking and connectivity solutions firm. The acquisition, to be named Quatech, LLC, immediately expands the range of product technology and application solutions offered by both companies, along with adding significant reach into new sales and distribution channels. Quatech products enable reliable machine-to-machine (M2M) communications via secure 802.11 wireless or traditional wired networks, with industrial-grade embedded radios, modules, boards and external device servers and bridges. B&B and Quatech both sell complementary products with little overlap in the connectivity marketplace. In some cases, they have sold one another’s products for several years. “It’s a natural fit,” said Sean Harrigan, CEO, B&B Electronics. “Together, we are creating a powerful connectivity solutions provider for our customers. Quatech brings engineering expertise in wireless connectivity and experience in creating large-scale, industry-specific solutions that are very important. In addition, we plan to expand and leverage our combined engineering teams to accelerate the pace of product development, thereby energizing our ability to deliver compelling new solutions for our customers.” Draker Labs Selected by Con Edison Development for Utility-Scale Solar Monitoring and Control Project B&B Electronics Completes Quatech Acquisition ISA100 Wireless Standard Receives IEC Approval Carrier Identification Counter-Measures Critical for Combating Satellite Interference Satellite communications specialist Newtec has given its unreserved support for the standardization and adoption of industry-wide counter-measures to combat interference. Interference of satellite carriers is a growing problem in the industry for users of satellite transmissions. There is an industry consensus that counter-measures should utilize the addition of carrier identification to enable the quick location and correction of misconfigured or unauthorized carriers. DVB has accepted the topic of Carrier ID as a work item and that as a first step the commercial and market requirements will be captured within the Commercial Module and its relevant sub-group DVB-CM BSS. Once approved by the commercial module and steering board, such requirements will be passed to the technical module of DVB to review the various technical options from which a solution will be defined and selected that best meets the commercial requirements. “Whilst an intermediate solution is necessary we need to look to the lon- http://www.RemoteMagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Remote - December 2011

Utility Telecom Spending Could Reach $3.2 Billion by the End of 2011
Securing Remote Substations for a Smarter Grid
Maximize Range While Minimizing Power Consumption in Wireless Digital Transmission
CMS Deploys Energy Smart Grid Project
Satellite Technology – The Key to Remote Communications for Government Agencies
American Innovations Releases Bullhorn RM4012 Remote Monitoring System
ProSoft Releases Modbus TCP/IP to IEC 61850 Gateway
Pelco Introduces the New Digital Sentry
CEITEC S.A. Releases RFID Chip for Logistics Application
C&D Technologies Introduces Liberty MSE 2 V VRLA Line
Industry News
Calendar of Events
Washington State Archives Keeps Cool with Environmental Monitoring

Remote - December 2011