The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is spearheading a global initiative to support the new smart electric power grids around the world with common technical standards that ensure interoperability, security and energy savings.
IEC brought together Smart Grid experts in Paris, France last month to agree on a roadmap to ensure interoperability of smart grid systems.
The meeting, convened by Richard Schomberg, US Vice President Research at EDF, brought together experts from the 13 nations that constitute the group: Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, UK and the US.
The interoperability is a new challenge to integrate large numbers of complex technology "bricks" across the board. As part of the initial framework for Smart Grid, the Strategic Group designated 19 technical committees whose existing International Standards play a role in the Smart Grid structure.
The IEC is developing a web portal allowing those involved in Smart Grid projects with an easy access to a first release of the IEC Smart Grid Framework offering ready to use standards as well as some guidance to make the most of them in their current status. Manufacturers, designers and distributors will be able to visit it to find a single database of all IEC Smart Grid related standards they can use for the projects they are developing and obtain guidance on how best to make use of them.
The importance of common technical standards in deploying the Smart Grids was also underlined last week by the US Department of Energy which issued its list of first National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-recognized interoperability standards.
At its next meeting, scheduled for end of September 2009 in Washington, DC, the IEC group will develop guidance for the different technical sectors to bring together a comprehensive set of harmonized global standards supporting the Smart Grid requirements.
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