Workshops

Workshops

October 21 morning
 

Workshop 1: Closed-Loop Wide Area Applications, Communications, and Security

Abstract: Electric power grids worldwide are getting increasingly stressed each year for a number of factors, including renewable integration and inadequate growth in transmission capacity. Further, the lack of adequate visibility has been a major contributing factor in all recent major blackouts. These factors can partially be mitigated by closed-loop applications, including distributed control and system integrity protection schemes (SIPS). These applications by nature have extreme communications requirements -- latency of 1-2 power cycles, extremely high availability, and sometimes a rate of hundreds of Hz -- across hundreds of miles or more. 

This industry-focused workshop will help attendees better understand this brave new world that requires different thinking, protocols, etc. The first session will be a panel session on these kinds of applications. The second session will provide an overview of communications issues needed to support this, including an overview of the emerging (but not fully implemented) NASPInet concept as well as a case study with GridStat. The final session will be on the security issues and mechanisms that are required -- naive (but common) applications of existing security mechanisms such as RSA effectively rule out low enough delivery latencies. As a whole, the attendees will get a concrete glimpse into how and why business as usual will not apply to these new and necessary applications. 

 

08:30 - 09:20
Dr. Greg Zweigle, Principal Research Engineer, Schweitzer Engineering Labs Inc.
Applications of Closed-Loop Wide Area Protection and Control


09:20 - 10:00
David Bakken, Professor, Washington State University
Communications for Closed-Loop Cyber Physical WAMPAC


10:10 - 10:30
COFFEE BREAK


10:30 - 11:00
Thoshitha Gamage, Research Assistant Professor, Washington State University
Security Issues and Tradeoffs for Closed-Loop WAN Applications


11:00 - 11:40
John Reynolds, Chief Architect, Security Fabric Alliance.
The Security Fabric for Critical Infrastructures


11:40 - 12:00
Panel, Q&A


October 21 morning
 

Workshop 2:  Smart Grid at Scale – The UBC Living Lab

Abstract: At UBC we view our entire campus as a living laboratory , a “city scale” sand box in which to explore, creatively and collaboratively, solutions to todays challenges and market opportunities.  The session will describe the UBC Living Lab initiative and provide details on specific projects supporting the development of integrated smart-grid technology on the campus.

 

08:30 - 09:00 
Iain Evans, Associate Director, Strategic Partnerships UBC
UBC's Living Lab Initiative - Driving Innovation


09:00 - 09:30
Cliff Mui, Director, Product Development, Nexterra Systems Corporation
Carbon-Neutral Community Scale Co-Generation


09:30 - 10:00
Geoff Davenport, President, International Business, Corvus Energy
The role of Energy Storage in the Energy Grid


10:00 - 10:30
COFFEE BREAK


10:30 - 11:00
Victor Goncalves, Director of Engineering, Alpha Technologies
Energy Management


11:00 - 11:30
Guneet Bedi/Robert Flesher, Cisco Systems
Converged Networks- Distributing Power and Data


11:30 - 12:00 
David Leboe, Project Manager, Powertech Labs
Integrating Electric Vehicles with the Power Grid

 

October 21 afternoon

Workshop 3: Joint WWRF/SmartGridComm workshop on Wireless Communications and the Smart Grid


This workshop will discuss both the roles that wireless communications can play in the smart grid of the future, and the use of the smart grid to power future wireless systems including cellular systems and machine-to-machine communications. Speakers will be drawn from both industry and academia, and come from Europe, North America and Asia. Topics covered include the optimal management of energy in a system of cellular base stations, networking issues arising from using wireless sensors and meters in a smart grid, R&D activities within major industry players in this domain, standardization, and more

13.30-14.00 -Fiona Williams, Ericsson:
Smart Energy Field Trials: Insights from a Private Public Partnership and the FINESCE project.


14.00-14.30 -Chuck Adams, Distinguished Standards Strategist, Futurewei Technologies:
IEEE Strategic Smart Grid Standards Infrastructure Development - Integrating Power, Communications, IT, and Applications Requirements

14.30-15.00 -Xavier Costa Perez, Chief Researcher, NEC Europe:
Getting fit for the Smart Grid: Wireless Standardization Efforts

15.00-15.30 -Coffee Break

15.30-16.00 -Martha Russell, Executive Director, mediaX at Stanford University

16.00-16.30 -Lim Teng Joon, National University of Singapore:
Energy Management at Cellular Base Stations in a Smart Grid

16.30-17.00 -Mischa Dohler, King's College London
Shift of SmartGrid Industries


The Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF) is meeting in Vancouver concurrently with SmartGridComm and has partnered in sponsoring this workshop at the SmartGridComm venue for attendees of both events. The workshop was jointly organized by Prof. Teng Joon Lim (National University of Singapore), Prof. Panagiotis Demestichas and Mr. Andreas Georgakopoulos (both of University of Piraeus, Department of Digital Systems). Prof. Demestichas and Mr. Georgakopoulos represent WWRF, and Prof. Lim represents the IEEE Comsoc Technical Sub-Committee on Green Communications and Computing (TSCGCC).


October 21 afternoon

Workshop 4:  Smart Grid Cyber Security

Although power utilities across North America operate within their own jurisdictional frameworks, their networks are moving toward a higher level of interconnection as a consequence of the roll out of Smart Grid technologies. As such, attacks on their critical infrastructure may not be contained within jurisdictional borders. Security and resiliency of electrical power infrastructure needs to be ensured through a federally supported coordination, collaboration and standardization program.  Issues that need to be thoroughly examined are:

  • What communication security threats are most critical for electrical utilities?
  • How vulnerable are existing communication standards and protocols?
  • Are vendor implementations of these standards truly interoperable?
  • How willing are vendors to embrace standards and move away from proprietary solutions?
  • What security best practices exist to help utilities today?
  • What security technologies are needed in the future?
  • What role can policy makers play?
Our panel will discuss these, and other related issues with smart grid cyber security, and provide plenty of time for Q&A.

Confirmed Speakers:

1:30 – 1:40 -  Dr. Hassan Farhangi, Director, BCIT Group for Advanced Information Technology
Welcome and Opening Remarks

1:40 – 2:00 – Bob Lockhart, Research Director, Navigant Research
Smart Grid Communications Security – What Utilities Are Actually Doing

2:00 – 2:20 – Neil Rerup, Enterprise Security Architect, BC Hydro
Cybersecurity Technology Strategy Development for Utilities

2:20 – 2:40 – Patrick C Miller, Managing Partner, The Anfield Group
Securing the Grid – A Discussion on Dependence

2:40 – 3:00 – Justin W Clarke, Principal Consultant, Cyclance
Understanding the Smart Grid Attack Surface – Risks, Hypothetical Attacks, and Protective Countermeasures

3:00 – 3:30 – Coffee Break

3:30 – 3:50 – Frank Turbide, Technical Analyst, Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC), Public Safety Canada
Briefing to Critical Infrastructure Sector Organizations on the CCIRC


3:50 – 5:00– Panel Discussion, moderated by Dr. Hassan Farhangi