Governing Board of Smart Grid
Standards Panel Announces Officers
GAITHERSBURG, Md.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
announced today that John D. McDonald, general manager
business and an IEEE Fellow, will serve as chair of the
governing board of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel,
the organization launched by NIST in November to sustain
and coordinate development of interoperability standards for a modernized electric power grid.
The unanimous choice of governin
spokesperson and will have primary responsibility for organizing its meetings and activities. As required
national coordinator for Smart Grid interoperability.
The board also chose John F. Caskey, senior director of the Power Equipment Division at the National
Electrical Manufacturers Association, to be vice chair and George Bjelovuk, managing director for
marketing, research, and program development at American Electric Power, to serve as secretary. All
three officers will serve one-year terms.
NIST established the SGIP, which now has more than 450 participating and observing member
organizations, to help it fulfill its Smart Grid responsibilities under the 2007 Energy Independence and
Security Act. The governing board manages and coordinates the technical efforts of the SGIP. In turn,
the SGIP is both a forum for discussing Smart Grid technical issues and a vehicle for interorganizational collaboration to respond to these issues and to address emerging requirements for Smart
Grid standards.
On Jan. 19, NIST intends to issue its Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability
Standards, Release 1.0. Incorporating responses to comments during public review of a draft document
released on Sept. 24, 2009, this report identifies a group of standards applicable to the ongoing
development of the Smart Grid, specifies an initial set of high-priority gaps requiring updated or
entirely new standards, and describes progress in developing a cyber security strategy for the Smart Grid.
Under the guidance of the governing board, the SGIP will help NIST to extend this initial set of
interoperability and cyber security standards. This set will make up a fraction of the total number of
standards ultimately needed to build an advanced power grid that will integrate many varieties of digital
computing and communication technologies and services with the power-delivery infrastructure.
-caliber individuals have volunteered to fill the leadership
fellow officers for investing their talent, time and energy to guide the SGIP in helping the nation
to frame the infrastructure that will power our
-improving solutions and help American
Now numbering 23 members, the SGIP Governing Board will grow to 27 members after an election to
fill four open slots is held later this month. The governing board is elected by representatives of the
-member organizations, which are divided among 22 categories of
Smart Grid stakeholders.
At its first meeting in December 2009, the board appointed Steve Widergren, a principal engineer at
l
preside over meetings of the entire SGIP.
More information about the NIST Smart Grid program is available at www.nist.gov/smartgrid. For
more information on the SGIP, go to http://collaborate.nist.gov/twikisggrid/bin/view/SmartGrid.SGIP.