Smart Grid Standards, Co-simulation, Test-beds, and Field Trials


Symposium Co-chairs

Lin Zhang, Tsinghua University, China
Mike Coop, ThinkSmartGrid, USA
Giocanna Dondossola, RSE, Italy


Scope and Motivation

Under the umbrella of smart grid initiatives in different countries, Electric Utilities are actively looking to add advanced features to their grid including intelligent devices, sensors, and two-way communication capabilities.  The impact of the integration between the information and communication technologies (ICT) and the power technologies (PT) is mutual.  On the one hand, enabled by the communication capability,  the PT are evolving towards increasing efficiency, reliability and situational awareness, which facilitate greater flexibility in Demand Response (DR) and the usage of renewable and distributed energy resources.  While on the other hand, applications in the power system creates new challenges for ICT, such as increased security concerns, stricter synchronization requirements, tighter latency constraints, coexistence issues in complex electrical-magnetic environments, etc.
 
The integration of the ICT with power systems will only be successful if the new systems are based on the appropriate set of interoperability and related standards.   In addition, some key issues like security or privacy will demand not only standards but also new regulatory frameworks and roles that are in many cases controlled by local, state and public utility commissions.  Moreover, to meet the enormous challenges of creating the Smart Grid, researchers and practitioners need a set of tools and methods to investigate and quantitatively analyze the complex interactions between different components of the electricity grid and evaluate the impact of new ideas and technologies.  There is a significant need for (quasi) real-time visibility into the state of the power grid under the conditions of two-way power flows, intermittency of renewable generation sources, significant micro-generation connections, and the large volume of data being collected from smart meters and other sensing devices being added to the grid.  Recently, the interest has also emerged in methods and tools that address smart grid performance analysis as an integrated power + ICT system.  A new interesting research area is the development of performance/security evaluation methods combining the wide coverage of model based analysis/simulation with measurements from realistic experiments.
 
The symposium aims to bring together researchers to exchange research ideas and practical experiences in all aspects of smart grid Standards, Modeling and Simulation, Test-beds and Field Trials, in particular with a ‘horizontal’ view that cuts across the traditional silos and addresses interoperability in the system-of-systems created through smart grid deployment.
 
Topics of Particular Interest

The symposium aims to address all relevant issues of smart grid standards, interoperability issues, simulation and modeling methods, test-beds, field trials, and experiences in deploying smart grid systems and solutions.  This includes (but is not limited to) the following aspects:
  • Communication Architectures
  • Impact of Smart Grids on Communication Protocols
  1. Evolutions of IP
  2. Evolutions of wireless networks
  3. Timing and synchronization
  4. New mechanisms for energy transaction, storage, renewable
  • Standards for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)
  1. Data models, data profiles
  2. Data management frameworks
  3. Security and applications
  • Standards for Demand Response
    1. Energy usage information
    2. New signaling protocols
  • Coexistence of Power Line Communications (PLC) Standards
  • Integration and/or coupling of simulation to join models of both the power grid network, distributed systems and communication networks infrastructure
  • Static and dynamic models for generators, transmission & distribution system components, and loads
  • Modeling of communication network characteristics and protocols with relevance to Smart Grids
  • Smart Grid Data Analytics
  • Market impact on smart grid performance (Retail Market Competition, Dynamic Pricing & Demand Response, Impact of Wholesale Market Competition, etc.)
  • Generation, Load, and Price forecasting in deregulated markets
  • Steady state & transient simulation of the grid
  • Standards for Plug-in-Electric Vehicles (PEVs) and Field Trials
  • Interoperability and Test-beds (e.g. interoperability of wireless standards, AMI networks)
  • Security: Standards, Assessments, Field Trials and Deployment Issues
    • Evaluation frameworks combining model-based analysis with experimental measurements 
  • Privacy: Standards, Regulatory Issues and Experience with Deployment
  • National and Regional Utility Policies and Procedures

Technical Program Committee (TPC) Members


James T Caldwell                                                    E3RS
Mike Coop                                                                 ThinkSmartGrid
Shuguang Cui                                                           Texas A&M University
Geert Deconinck                                                       KULeuven
Yong Ding                                                                  Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Giovanna Dondossola                                             RSE
Dennis Holstein                                                        OPUS Consulting Group
Bhaskar Krishnamachari                                        University of Southern California
Husheng Li                                                                University of Tennessee
Chen-Ching Liu                                                        Washington State University
Hans-Peter Schwefel                                               Forschungszentrum Telekommunikation Wien
Alexandra von Meier                                                California Institute for Energy and Environment
David Daxiao Yu                                                       Marvell Semiconductor
Lin Zhang                                                                   Tsinghua University
Yue Zhao                                                                   Stanford University
Oliver Yu                                                                     Smart Grid Task Force, US China Green Energy Council
Samuel Qing-shan Jia                                             Tsinghua University


Submission Guidelines

Submission deadlines and format requirements are the same for all symposia, see here.
Paper submission needs to be performed through EDAS: http://edas.info/N13823