DistribuTECH Workshop

QualityLogic will offer a Workshop that reviews the state of emerging smart grid standards. Standard such as SEP 2, OpenADR 2, DNP 3, IEC 61850, Green Button, MultiSpeak, etc., will be looked at in terms of the interoperability maturity of the products claiming to be conformant to the standards. The workshop, to be offered at DistribuTECH 2014 in San Antonio next month, is part of the Utility University program, and will answer such questions as:

• When will the standard produce interoperable products?
• Are there industry standard tests and processes (such as plugfests) which enhance interoperability between products?
• What resources, tools and techniques can help me verify interoperability between different products or systems?

The Workshop will feature a section summarizing real utility interoperability and standards experiences and lessons learned from the Northwest Regional Smart Grid Demonstration Project, the largest ARRA funded demo project, which involves 11 utilities of all sizes and types in five states. These pioneering utilities implemented dozens of new systems, many of which were the first installations, and QualityLogic is documenting the lessons learned for the rest of the industry.

The Workshop also helps understanding of smart grid, what interoperability means and how it benefits the industry. The workshop is aimed at utility and vendor staff responsible for specifying, acquiring and developing interoperable products based on emerging smart grid standards.

The course is taught by James Mater, one of the leading experts on interoperability and the maturity of products based on standards, and Mark Osborn, a former utility project manager and now a member of the QualityLogic team. Mater leads the Test and Certification Committee Work Group that is assessing the state of certification and test programs for standards in the SGIP Catalog of Standards, is a member of the GridWise Architecture Council, and contributor to the Interoperability Maturity Model and to multiple industry test and certification programs. He is active in UCA, OpenADR and CSEP among other standards activities. Osborn is an award-winning program manager and successful developer of new products and services for the utility industry. He has extensive energy industry experience. He has designed numerous utility energy efficiency and demand response programs and brings the utility perspective to the workshop.