NIST (the National Institute for Science and Technology in the USA) has released this week a report from EPRI (the Electric Power Research Institute).  The report, titled, "Report to NIST on the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Roadmap," is to serve as "input into the first phase: engaging utilities, equipment suppliers, consumers, standards developers and other stakeholders in a participatory public process to identify applicable Smart Grid interoperability standards, gaps in currently available standards and priorities for new standardization activities", as stated within the pages that proceed the report.

LonMark International has been involved in the NIST Smart Grid effort since the very beginning in early 2007.  To-date, sitting at over two years into the process, there is a great deal that's been hashed-out and accomplished but much more on the plate for everyone.  This is a monumental undertaking with many things at stake for many players -- the least of whom is the end consumer; the one that must not be forgotten in the process.

NIST has done a fine job of pulling this together with EPRI and their team of contractors, with utilities and local governments, and with groups like LonMark through Domain Expert Working Groups (DEWGs) that comprise various experts in several vertical markets related to grid interaction with buildings, homes, factories, and vehicles; further: policy makers, transmission and distribution folks, and experts in CyberSecurity.
I write about this today to bring attention to the report for greater dissemination and review.  The report identifies many gaps in the winding chain of standards, protocols, and ad hoc fusions of solutions.  That's its goal, really: to help identify what's already there, what's not there, what can we piece together, and what must be created. Our community -- the LonWorks Controls Networking Community -- knows LonWorks controls networking the best, of course.  It is, therefore, our job to help point-out where LonWorks can be used to make the grid smart; to make it all that NIST wishes it to be without having to create everything from scratch. After all, there are 10s-of-millions of electric meters installed today with LonWorks and roughly 100 million devices in total with LonWorks inside.  That's a fairly good start, in my mind.  But not everyone knows those facts and not everyone knows LonWorks is open, freely licensed, and also a set of international standards.

I could go on (and I probably will as time itself goes on) but you can look into what LonMark is doing -- and how you can get involved -- by checking the LonMark Energy Solutions page: http://www.lonmark.org/energy

I hope this weblog proves useful for the LonWorks community and serves to be informative.  Let us know how we can help you with opportunites such as these.

- Jeremy J. Roberts,
LonMark International