Question 15/15 - Communications for Smart Grid
(Continuation of Question 4c/15)
Motivation
There is a growing interest worldwide in providing support for the integration of new technologies and applications aimed at sustainably addressing energy independence and modernization of the aging power grid, e.g. utility scale renewable energy sources, distributed energy resources, Plug-in Electric Vehicles, and Demand-Side Management. For supporting the above technologies and applications, it is necessary to ensure the availability of a modern, flexible, and scalable communications network that will tie together the functions of “monitoring” and “control.” Information and communication technologies will allow utilities to remotely locate, isolate, and restore power outages more quickly, thus increasing the stability of the grid. Information and communication technologies will also facilitate the integration of time-varying renewable energy sources into the grid, enable a better and more dynamic control of the load, and will also empower consumers with tools for optimizing their energy consumption.
The support of these application will require the development of new Recommendations and enhancements to existing Recommendations covering all aspects of narrowband and broadband communications and their management across the power grid from generation to load. These studies will include communications issues from the physical layer . to the transport of higher layer protocols over heterogeneous networks, as well as the definition of a smart grid communication architecture and requirements. Given the interdisciplinarity nature of smart grid applications, it is expected that a high degree of cooperation with other ITU Study Groups and Questions as well as other International Bodies like IEC will be required.
A global audience will be targeted to facilitate a unified approach to the support of Smart Grid communications. The telecom industry has a very important role in Smart Grid applications, for example broadband access can be used in Demand Side Management and cloud hosted energy service providers can reach the home also via existing broadband access technologies. Additionally, the consumer electronics industry will develop products on the basis of new energy efficiency standards and these products will also support Smart Grid applications, like Demand Response. The convergence of telecom, power, and consumer electronics industries for Smart Grid applications will drive a new eco-system of products. This convergence must happen under the auspices of international SDOs in co-operation with each other.
The following major Recommendations, in force at the time of approval of this Question, fall under its responsibility: G.995x, G.996x, G.997x, and G.9959 (ex. G.wnb).
Question
What enhancements are needed to the G.995x, G.996x, G.997x series and G.9959 (ex. G.wnb) Recommendations:
in the light of design, network deployment experience, and evolving service requirements?
to optimise the transport of IP-based services?
to ensure efficiency and scalability in large networks of Smart Grid devices?
to operate over all voltage levels?
to operate worldwide over different power grids?
to support new smart grid applications?
What new Recommendations are needed:
for transceivers supporting Smart Grid application in the transmission, distribution and in-premises domains?
for transceivers operating on a variety of networking media such as phone-line, coaxial, data (e.g. CAT5), power cables, and wireless?
to ensure efficiency and scalability in large networks of Smart Grid devices?
What enhancements to existing and developing Recommendations are required to provide energy savings directly or indirectly, to support Smart Grid applications in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) or in other industries?
What new requirements should be developed to enhance existing recommendations and allow them to support emerging energy related applications?
Study items include, but are not limited to:
Modulation and coding, digital signal processing, tools for spectrum management (including dynamic spectrum management), real noise environments over multiple communications media, handshaking procedures, testing procedures, physical layer management procedures, energy saving techniques, and transport of higher layer protocols.
These studies should take account of the different regulatory environments around the world.
Transceiver to higher layer inter-connection techniques
These studies will include any specific requirements:
to optimise the transport of IP-based services
to optimise the transport of Ethernet based services
to support Smart Grid applications in access (generation, transmission, distribution) and in-premises networking systems and equipment operating over a variety of communications media
Tasks
Tasks include, but are not limited to:
Maintenance and enhancements of existing Recommendations and production of new Recommendations in the G.995x, G.996x, and G.997x series.
Relationships
Recommendations:
G.991.x series, G.992.x series, G.993.x series, G.994.1, G.995.1, G.996.1, G.997.1, G.998.x series, G.995x series.
G.995x, G.996x, and G.997x series, and G9959 (ex. G.wnb)
Questions:
Study Groups:
ITU-R SG1 and SG5
All SGs in ITU-T that have a stake in Smart Grid applications
TSAG, including the ITU-T JCA on Smart Grid and Home Networking (JCA SG&HN)
Standardisation bodies, forums and consortia:
ATIS on energy efficiency and smart grid communications related standards
CCSA on topics related to Smart Grid applications
ETSI on energy efficiency and Smart Grid communications related standards
HGI on residential gateway
HomePlug on power line communication
HomePNA on phone-line networking
IEC CISPR I on EMC requirements, energy efficiency and smart grid communications related standards
IEC on energy efficiency and smart grid communications related standards
IEEE on smart grid communications related standards
IETF on energy efficiency and Smart Grid communications related standards
ISO and IEC on interconnection of Information Technology equipment, energy efficiency and Smart Grid communications related standards
MoCA on multimedia over coax
NIST on energy efficiency and Smart Grid communications related standards
SAE on energy efficiency and Smart Grid communications related standards
Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP)
TIA TR-45 and TR-50 on Smart Grid device communications
UPA on power line communication
