Energy.gov

DOE's Grid Tech Team issued a notice of availability and request for comments on the Electrical Grid Integration Technical Workshop summaries. Public comments on summaries from the distribution system and transmission system workshops will be accepted until March 25, 2013.

The Department has funded an effort at the Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC) entitled The Future Grid to Enable Sustainable Energy Systems. The initiative investigates the requirements of an electric grid with high penetrations of sustainable energy systems and heavy reliance on cyber systems for sensing and communication.

PSERC is offering a free, public webinar series to present progress reports from the Future Grid Initiative. March and April topics have been announced.

DOE's Office of Electricy Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) issued a notice of an open meeting on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 (9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET) of the smart grid data privacy multi-stakeholder process concerning the development of a Voluntary Code of Conduct for utility and third parties providing consumer energy use services.

The meeting is open to the public and also will be webcast. The complete Federal Register Notice, including details of how to register, is available for download.

The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability issued a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), Innovation for Increasing Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems, on February 8. The announcement is seeking applications to conduct research, development and demonstrations leading to next generation tools and technologies that will become widely adopted to enhance and accelerate deployment of cybersecurity capabilities for the U.S energy infrastructure, including cyber secure integration of smart grid technologies.

The FOA includes six topic areas:

The Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability has released four reports on the impact of the Recovery Act-funded Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) Program.  Under the SGIG Program, investor-owned and municipal utilities, transmission operators, and electric co-ops across the U.S. are deploying a range of smart technologies and systems designed to increase the electric grid’s flexibility, reliability, efficiency, affordability, and resilience. 

The new reports cover four key smart grid application areas: 

The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) recently changed its organizational structure to become more nimble, strategic, and innovative in an increasingly complex and rapidly-changing environment. The changes, which included creating a separate Smart Grid Investment Program division, adding an Energy Infrastructure Modeling and Analysis division, and re-structuring two divisions, are designed to lead to a sharper focus on mission areas, improved decision-making, and greater operational efficiencies.

Assistant Secretary Patricia Hoffman will give the keynote address at the 4th annual IEEE PES Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT 2013) on Monday, February 25. The conference, which will be held from February 24 through February 27 in Washington, DC, is a forum to discuss state-of-the-art innovations in smart grid technologies. The event will feature tutorials, panel sessions and paper presentations by international experts.

The Department has funded an effort at the Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC) entitled The Future Grid to Enable Sustainable Energy Systems. The initiative investigates the requirements of an electric grid with high penetrations of sustainable energy systems and heavy reliance on cyber systems for sensing and communication.

PSERC is offering a free, public webinar series to present progress reports from the Future Grid Initiative. Two webinars are currently scheduled on January 22, 2013 and February 5, 2013.

A new article by OE’s Kerry Cheung, William Parks and Anjan Bose in IEEE’s Smart Grid newsletter describes the Department of Energy’s strategic plan to achieve a future electricity system that will be cost-effective, seamless from generation to end-use, and capable of meeting all clean energy demands and capacity requirements.

The State and Local Energy Efficiency Action Network’s (SEE Action) Customer Information and Behavior Working Group has released “A Regulator’s Privacy Guide to Third-Party Data Access for Energy Efficiency.”  Funded by the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, the guide summarizes the range of approaches taken by states on privacy and security issues related to third-party access to customer data gathered under electric and gas ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs and