Program: UTC Smart Grid Workshop

Electric utilities are among the most regulated businesses in the world and smart grids will not diminish that level of regulation; but they will alter it. At the federal level, Congress and the Administration are providing economic stimulus funding and preparing to alter regulations. At the state level, regulators are wrestling with the challenge of supporting ongoing funding of new smart grid operations. This session will feature experts outlining how the government can be expected to change the rules in 2010 and what your utility will have to do, regardless of your implementation schedule.

Brett Kilbourne, Director of Regulatory Services and Associate Counsel, Utilities Telecom Council

Marc Spitzer, Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Charles Worthington, Energy and Environment Staff, National Broadband Taskforce, Federal Comminucations Commission (FCC) Presentation

NIST and standards organizations are racing to ensure that all this new technology will work together securely. Utilities should expect mandates requiring use of standardized smart grid technologies – but, not always. This session will feature experts who will explain how you will know which standard you should be betting on and how they impact your Smart Grid decisions.

Dr. George W. Arnold, National Coordinator for Smart Grid, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), U.S. Department of Commerce Presentation

Thomas Basso, Senior Engineer- Electricity, Resources and Building Systems Integration Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Presentation

Smart grid development demands much greater attention to cybersecurity by utilities than ever before. At the same time, overall grid security encompasses ICT interoperability and the ongoing reliability of smart grids and their ability to support the rapid restoration of grid activities following disaster. NIST and NERC have been given important mandates to drive interoperability and cybersecurity standards; but how will these two standards work together? At the same time, various industry groups are moving faster than ever before on standards. This session will look at the most important of these activities and tell you what will be changing in 2010 and how you can deal with those changes.

Kshamit Dixit, Manager of Information Technology Security, Toronto Hydro, and Chair, UTC's Smart Networks Council Security Committee Presentation
Doug McGinnis, Principal Network Architect, Exelon Corporation, and Vice Chair of UTC’s Smart Networks Council Presentation
Rita Wells, Manager of SCADA and Process Control Systems, Idaho National Laboratory Presentation
Mark Madden, Regional Vice President, Energy Enterprise & Vertical Markets, Alcatel-Lucent Presentation
Eva Thomas, Director of Strategic Planning, Aclara

Smart grids will be different for every utility. The focus of this session will be to help you decide what kind of network you need to start designing and/or building in 2010 to be sure you are ready for the kind of smart grid your utility will need. Some utilities will use a distributed architecture that uses wireless mesh and backhauls traffic from a neighborhood collection point, using fiber and other high capacity technologies. Others will use a centralized architecture that communicates directly to the meter from a radio tower or a wireline technology, such as fiber, telephone, coax, or powerline. Some utilities will use a ZigBee type architecture to connect to devices within the home such as thermostats, and some are relying on third party commercial carriers to support the smart grid network. Finally, some utilities will partner with the likes of Google, AT&T, or Verizon. This session will feature experts to cover the wide gamut of these topics and give you actionable advice you can use in the months ahead.

Craig Maternoski, Director of Applied Technologies, Integrys Energy Group, and Chair, UTC’s Smart Networks Council Education & Research Committee Presentation
Jeff Nichols, Director of Network & Communications Services, Sempra Energy Utilities, and Vice Chair of UTC’s Smart Networks Council Presentation
Dean Campbell, Chief Technology Officer, LightRiver Technologies Presentation
Jim Hanson, Energy & Utility Industry Director, Motorola Inc. Presentation

On the first day, you learned about all the new and old rules that will govern how you build/expand your smart grid and all the technologies that can help you. Today’s focus will be on the dollars-and-cents business issues you must understand to succeed. Questions that will be addressed include how radically human resources needs will evolve with smart grids, how do you benchmark your smart grid success, how do you finance smart grid development, and how do you manage the daunting task of rebuilding a 21st Century energy grid right now? All key questions that will be answered by experts who have been down the road ahead of you.

Joe Nowaczyk, Manager of Electronics Systems & Smart Grids, Salt River Project Presentation
Austin Montgomery, Smart Grid Maturity Model Manager, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Presentation
Michael Oldak, Sr. Dir, State Competitive & Regulatory Policies, Edison Electric Institute

This session will be a cram course in how to take everything you have learned over the past day and half and put it into a business case that works for YOUR utility. Drawing on UTC’s new Smart Grid Business Case Analysis, this session will look at alternative paths to implementing smart grids and examine different ways to cost-justify each smart grid deployment phase. Knowing the true economic impact from every smart grid project on your drawing board should make the process of building smart grids move more quickly and efficiently. This session will help you maximize the value of UTC’s Smart Grid Business Case Analysis. Don’t plan on leaving early. This is a session you cannot afford to miss.

Cynthia Brumfield, Director of Research, Utilities Telecom Council
David Shpigler, President, The Shpigler Group Presentation