HANDBOOK ON GREEN INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Chapter 26:
Survey on Smart Grid Communications:
From an Architecture Overview to
Standardization Activities
1Periklis
Chatzimisios, 2Dimitrios G.
Stratogiannis, 2Georgios I. Tsiropoulos and
1Giwrgos Stavrou
1Alexander
TEI of Thessaloniki
2 National Technical University of Athens
1
Outline
 Introduction
 Smart Grid Definition
 Smart Grid Description
 Participating Entities
 Power Parts
 Smart Grid Analysis
 Layers of Analysis
 Smart Grid Capabilities and Features
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Introduction
 The convergence of the existing power delivery infrastructure
with ICT will lead to:
 An innovative energy distribution grid
 Upgrade of the existing power grid by integrating a high speed,
reliable, secure data communication network.
 New capabilities and significant advantages
 Variety of applications and services
 Fields of Impact
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Automation facilities
Advanced data collection
Broadband telecommunications
Intelligent appliance interoperability and control
Security and Surveillance
Distributed power generation
Effective integration of renewables and diversified production mix
Environmental Policies
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Smart Grid Definition
 The next generation power grid is based on the evolution of
communication networking infrastructure integrated in the
electrical grid enhancing data exchange and automated management
in power systems.
 The communication network should be able to meet the
specifications and needs of the power grid and system
communications providing advantages such as
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flexibility,
resilience,
sustainability,
scalability,
cost-effectiveness,
interoperability and
 interaction of the participating entities,
 Thus, the name Smart Grid is entitled to the next
generation power distribution network
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Smart Grid Description
Participating Entities:
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energy providers
policy makers
regulation authorities
enterprises
Power Grid Parts
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Generation
Transmission
Distribution (Substations)
Customers
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Smart Grid Analysis
Physical Power Layer
 Generation system: Power generation in plants
 Transmission: Delivers power from plants to substations
 Distribution: Delivers power from substations to the consumers
Transport Control Layer
 Integrated high speed communication network
 Supports secure data collection and transport
 Permits the interaction and communication among entities
involved
 Advanced sensing and measurement equipment
Application Layer
 Includes all the services provided to end users such as
automated metering, broadband access etc.
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Smart Grid
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Smart Grid Capabilities
Key Characteristics:
 Advanced Interoperability
among entities and parts of
power grid.
 Improved Grid management and
optimized operation
 Improved Situational Awareness
and Communications in the power
grid
 Advanced Services for EndUsers
 Carbon emissions reduction
supporting environmental
protection efforts – green
specifications
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Smart Grid Features (1)
Improved Power Grid management and
optimized operation
 Integration of distributed generation and renewables
in a full scale network.
 Support of diversified energy production mix
according to environmental policies
 Decision Making regarding the Grid Operation taking
into account operational parameters from throughout
the network
 Real-time Avoidance Mechanism for power demand
exceedance and power failures .
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Smart Grid Features (2)
Advanced Interoperability in Smart Grid
 Interconnection among all participating entities,
establishing communication and cooperation.
 Installation and support of different kinds of
generation and storage equipment supporting
decentralized production
 Coordination between providers and consumers to
optimize power utilization.
 Dynamic pricing able to be adjustable according to
current supply and demand.
 Improved corporate asset management by integrated
control equipment
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Smart Grid Features (3)
Improved Situational Awareness and
Communications
 Data collection regarding the operational
conditions of the power grid entities.
 Advanced sensing equipment
 Monitor and control by exchanging information
among entities involved in power grid processes.
 Prediction / Detection faults in power grid
improving reliability and avoiding service
disruption.
 Immediate response on power demand variations.
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Smart Grid Features (4)
Advanced Services for Users
 Automated Metering Infrastructure allowing
real-time measurements and collection of
important data via smart meters
 Dynamic pricing aiming at keeping competent
prices in favor of customers.
 Smart Home Appliances
 Advanced communication networks and facilities
for broadband access to all users via BPL
implementation
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General State of Smart Grid Application
Main Concept: Evolution a network into a smart grid
 + offer services with high quality
 + increased consistency
 - difficult to be realized
Difficulties
 technical challenges
 conceal the potential opportunities of a smart grid to
customers
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Parameters of Economic Market and Social Aspects
 Power supply companies
 focused mainly on the wholesale market of power
 power stock exchange
 Densely populated VS sparsely populated regions
 market is less effective
 high transportation cost
 limited number of
• competitive suppliers
• economically offers
 The state funds partially or in whole the investment
 The power market cannot operate efficiently
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Automated Metering Description
A Smart Grid system is expected to utilize
smart meters at any customer location
These advanced meters will establish a two
way communication measuring power
consumption and collecting crucial information
such as:
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voltage and current monitoring
current load
waveform recordings
power requirements
variations under peak conditions
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Automated Metering in Energy Production
Smart meters can measure electricity usage
and collect data for the service provider.
Significant role in the decentralized electricity
production
 integration of renewable energy production units
since they will measure the part of the generated
energy consumed by the household and the part
returned to the main network
Distribution automation abilities in the areas of
protection and switching
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Pricing and Automated Metering
The two main factors that affect billing are
 the power consumption
 the market price
Three pricing techniques:
 time of use where certain constant prices are used
 critical peak pricing where prices are altered only on
power peaks.
 real time pricing where price differentiation
according to the day-of or day-ahead cost of power is
provided to the service provider
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Communications for Smart Metering
 Smart meters at any customer location
 Access point data will be forwarded to
the control section of the power grid.
 Various wireless networking technologies
such as IEEE 802.11 WLANs, 3G UMTS,
IEEE 802.16 WiMAX can be applied.
 BPL Communications can be a very
promising solution for smart grid since
there will be no charging for data
transmission and it will minimize
dependence from networking
technologies.
 IP-based system that will transfer all
the data collected
 ANSI C12.22 standard
 Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
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A High Level Overview of Smart Grid
External
Portal
Enterprise
Metering System
WAN
Collector
Meter
LAN
Meter
$
!
Normal NOR
Critical PEND
MAL
Emergency
Program ACTI
RID
ING
Emergency
Peak
Event OV
Stage 1 VEStage 2 ER E
Current
Temp
03/03/2007
8:48am
HAN
Stat
us
19
Progr
AW
am:
AY
Example
Members
Exam
Techn
Retailers
Aggregators
Regulators
Customers
Providers
Intern
World
ebXM
IEC 6
MDMS
CIS/Billing
OMS
WMS
EMS/DMS
IEC 6
IEC 6
Web S
Multis
Messa
Routers
Towers
Ground Stations
Repeaters
Rings
SONE
MPLS
Frame
Satell
Microw
IEC 6
DNP3
Relays
Modems
Bridges
Access Points
Insertion Points
WiMA
BPL /
Wirele
ADSL
Cellul
Cable
Thermostats
Pool Pumps
Field Tools
PCs
Building Automation
ZigBe
WiFi
LonW
BACn
Home
OpenH
Smart Grid communications infrastructure (1)
 The Smart Grid communications infrastructure
is composed of:
 “core” (or backbone)
 “middle-mile” (or backhaul)
 “last-mile” (or access, distribution)
 “homes” and “premises”
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Smart Grid communications infrastructure (2)
 The “core” network supports the connection
between numerous substations and utilities’
headquarters. The backbone network requires high
capacity and bandwidth availability and is usually
built on optical fibers.
 The “middle-mile”, referred as Wide Area Network
(WAN), connects the data concentrators in AMI
with substation/distribution automation and control
centers associated with utilities’ operation. This
sector needs to provide broadband media as well as
easy and cost-effective network installation.
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Smart Grid communications infrastructure (3)
 The “last-mile” covers the areas of Neighborhood
Area Network (NAN) and AMI since it is
responsible for both the data transport and
collection from smart meters to concentrators.
There are many available wired and wireless
technologies that must provision broadband speed
and security.
 The “premises” network supports Home Area
Network (HAN) dedicated to effectively manage
the on-demand power requirements of the endusers and associated building automation. It is
predominantly based on the IEEE 802.15.4, IEEE
802.11 and PLC standards.
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Standards and Interoperability (1)
 Interoperability can be defined as “the ability of two or
more systems or components to exchange information,
to use the information that has been exchanged and to
work cooperatively to perform a task”.
 Smart Grid includes technology deployments that must
connect large numbers of smart devices and systems
involving hardware and software.
 Interoperability actually enables integration, effective
cooperation as well as two-way communication among the
many interconnected elements of the electric power
grid.
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Standards and Interoperability (2)
 To achieve interoperability, internationally
recognized communication and interface standards
should be developed by Standards Development
Organizations (SDOs) and Specification Setting
Organizations (SSOs).
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Standards and Interoperability (3)
 Interoperability standards include some of the
following:
 Recognition of the need for a standard in a particular area
 Involvement of users to develop the business scenarios and
use cases that drive the requirements for the standard
 Review of existing standards in order to determine if they
meet or not the need
 Finalization of the standard and full implementation of the
standard by vendors
 Significant interoperability testing of the standard by
different vendors under different scenarios
 Amending or updating the standard in order to reflect
findings during the interoperability tests
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Standardization activities around the world (1)
 The main standardization bodies for Smart Grid are:
 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
 International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
 European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
(CENELEC)
 American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
 State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC)
 UCA International Users Group (UCAIug)
 Vendor Collaborations
 HomePlug Powerline Alliance (www.homeplug.org)
 Z-Wave Alliance (www.z-wavealliance.org)
 ZigBee Alliance (www.zigbee.org)
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Standardization activities around the world (2)
 Other major Smart Grid standardization roadmaps
and studies :
 German Standardization Roadmap E-Energy / Smart Grid
 International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) Smart Grid
Focus Group
 Japanese Industrial Standards Committee (JISC) roadmap
to international standardization for smart grid
 Korea’s Smart Grid Roadmap 2030 from the Ministry of
Knowledge Economy (MKE)
 CIGRE D2.24
 Microsoft SERA
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NIST Priority Action Plans (PAPs) (1)
Priority Action Plan (PAP)
Standard(s) or Guideline(s)
PAP 0 - Meter Upgradeability Standard
NEMA Meter Upgradeability Standard
PAP 1 - Role of IP in the Smart Grid
Informational IETF RFC
PAP 2 - Wireless Communications for the
IEEE 802.x, 3GPP,3GPP2, ATIS, TIA
Smart Grid
PAP 3 - Common Price Communication
OASIS EMIX, ZigBee SEP 2, NAESB
Model
PAP 4 - Common Scheduling Mechanism
OASIS WS-Calendar
PAP 5 - Standard Meter Data Profiles
AEIC V2.0 Meter Guidelines (addressing use of
ANSI C12)
PAP 6 - Common Semantic Model for
Meter Data Tables
PAP 7 - Electric Storage Interconnection
Guidelines
PAP 8 - CIM for Distribution Grid
Management
PAP 9 - Standard DR and DER Signals
PAP 10 - Standard Energy Usage
Information
ANSI C12.19-2008, MultiSpeak V4, IEC 61968-9
IEEE 1547.4, IEEE 1547.7, IEEE 1547.8, IEC
61850-7-420, ZigBee SEP 2
IEC 61850-7-420, IEC 61968-3-9, IEC 6196813,14, MultiSpeak V4, IEEE 1547
NAESB WEQ015, OASIS EMIX, OpenADR, ZigBee
SEP 2
NAESB Energy Usage Information, OpenADE,
ZigBee SEP 2, IEC 61968-9, ASHRAE SPC 201P
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NIST Priority Action Plans (PAPs) (2)
Priority Action Plan (PAP)
Standard(s) or Guideline(s)
ZigBee SEP 2, SAE J1772, SAE J2836/1-3 , SAE
J2847/1-3, ISO/IEC 15118-1,3, SAE J2931, IEEE
P2030-2, IEC 62196
IEC 61850-80-5, Mapping DNP to IEC 61850,
DNP3 (IEEE 1815)
PAP 11 - Common Object Models for
Electric Transportation
PAP 12 - IEC 61850 Objects/DNP3
Mapping
PAP 13 - Time Synchronization, IEC 61850 IEC 61850-90-5, IEEE C37.118, IEEE C37.238,
Objects/IEEE C37.118 Harmonization
Mapping IEEE C37.118 to IEC 61850, IEC 61968-9
PAP 14 - Transmission and Distribution
Power Systems Model Mapping
IEC 61968-3, MultiSpeak V4
DNP3 (IEEE 1815), HomePlug AV, HomePlug C&C,
PAP 15 - Harmonize Power Line Carrier
IEEE P1901 and P1901.2, ISO/IEC 12139-1,
Standards for Appliance Communications in G.9960 (G.hn/PHY), G.9961 (G.hn/DLL), G.9972
the Home
(G.cx), G.hnem, ISO/IEC 14908-3, ISO/IEC
14543, EN 50065-1
PAP 16 - Wind Plant Communications
IEC 61400-25
PAP 17 - Facility Smart Grid Information New Facility Smart Grid Information Standard
Standard
ASHRAE SPC 201P
PAP 18 - SEP 1.x to SEP 2 Transition and
Zigbee
Coexistence
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Conclusions (1)
 Smart Grids have received considerable
attention worldwide in recent years.
 A number of organizations, standard bodies and
countries worldwide have launched significant
efforts to encourage the development of the
Smart Grid.
 The development and use of international
standards is an essential step towards this
direction.
 Interoperability is the key to the Smart Grid,
and standards are the key to interoperability.
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Conclusions (2)
 There are various standardization activities by
the key players involved in the standardization
process.
 Many standards and rules for Smart Grid have
been already put in place.
 Standardization activities will offer significant
advantages to power grid parts, to energy
providers, policy makers, regulation authorities,
enterprises and customers.
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Thanks for your
attention!
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