The First Facility Management Blog

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced on May 18 significant progress that should help expedite development of a nationwide “smart” electric power grid.

The giant task of developing smart grid standards is underway.

A Smart Grid would replace the current, outdated system and employ real-time, two-way communication technologies to allow users to connect directly with power suppliers. Before it can be constructed, however, there needs to be agreement on standards for the devices that will connect the grid.

Read TFM’s May 2009 coverage of smart grid development, “Getting Smart With Energy”.

After chairing a meeting of industry leaders at the White House, Locke and Chu announced the first set of standards that are needed for the interoperability and security of the Smart Grid and $10 million in Recovery Act funds provided by the Energy Department to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to support the development of interoperability standards.

Secretary Chu also announced that based on feedback from the public and Smart Grid stakeholders, the Department of Energy (DOE) is increasing the maximum award available under the Recovery Act for Smart Grid programs. The maximum award available under the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program will be increased from $20 million to $200 million and for the Smart Grid Demonstration Projects from $40 million to $100 million. In making awards, DOE will ensure that funding is provided to a diversity of applications, including small projects as well as end-to-end larger projects.

“President Obama has made a smart electrical grid a key element of his plan to lower energy costs for consumers, achieve energy independence and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Secretary Locke said. “Today, we took a significant step toward developing the open and transparent interoperability standards necessary to realize the Smart Grid vision.”

“The Smart Grid is an urgent national priority that requires all levels of government as well as industry to cooperate,” Secretary Chu said. “I’m pleased that industry leaders stepped forward today and are working with us to get consensus.  We still have much to do, but the ultimate result will be a much more efficient, flexible power grid and the opportunity to dramatically increase our use of renewable energy.”

The May 18 meeting was designed to encourage industry executives to work to expedite the adoption of standards in advance of a major two-day, public standards workshop the next day in Washington, DC.

The initial batch of 16 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-recognized interoperability standards that have been announced are designed to help ensure that software and hardware components from different vendors will work together seamlessly, while securing the grid against disruptions. Spanning areas ranging from smart customer meters to distributed power generation components to cybersecurity, the list of standards is based on the consensus expressed by participants in the first public Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Interim Roadmap workshop, held April 28-29 in Reston, VA.

The Energy Department also announced that the $10 million it received to support the development of interoperability standards under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been provided to NIST to help accelerate their efforts to coordinate these standards.

Initial Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Framework, Release 1.0

The initial set of Smart Grid interoperability standards will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days with the 30 day comment period to follow. Publication of the standards in the Register will be announced on the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Project Web site. Comments may be submitted to smartgrid@nist.gov.

Standard — Application

• AMI-SEC System Security Requirements — Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and Smart Grid end-to-end security
• ANSI C12.19/MC1219 — Revenue metering information model
• BACnet ANSI ASHRAE 135-2008/ISO 16484-5 — Building automation
• DNP3 — Substation and feeder device automation
• IEC 60870-6 / TASE.2 — Inter-control center communications
• IEC 61850 — Substation automation and protection
• IEC 61968/61970 — Application level energy management system interfaces
• IEC 62351 Parts 1-8 — Information security for power system control operations
• IEEE C37.118 — Phasor measurement unit (PMU) communications
• IEEE 1547 — Physical and electrical interconnections between utility and distributed generation (DG)
• IEEE 1686-2007 — Security for intelligent electronic devices (IEDs)
• NERC CIP 002-009 — Cyber security standards for the bulk power system
• NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-53, NIST SP 800-82 — Cyber security standards and guidelines for federal information systems, including those for the bulk power system
• Open Automated Demand Response (Open ADR) — Price responsive and direct load control
• OpenHAN — Home Area Network device communication, measurement, and control
• ZigBee/HomePlug Smart Energy Profile — Home Area Network (HAN) Device Communications and Information Model

The International Code Council (ICC) has approved 23 building and fire code changes based on recommendations from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The recommendations were part of NIST’s investigation of the collapses of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York on 9/11.

With the changes implemented, future buildings (especially tall structures) should be increasingly resistant to fire, more easily evacuated in emergencies, and safer overall, states the October 1, 2008 release from NIST. The changes, adopted at the ICC hearings held Sept. 15 to 21, 2008, in Minneapolis, MN, will be incorporated into the 2009 edition of the ICC’s I-Codes (specifically the International Building Code, or IBC, and the International Fire Code, or IFC), a model code used as the basis for building and fire regulations promulgated and enforced by U.S. state and local jurisdictions. Those jurisdictions have the option of incorporating some or all of the code’s provisions but generally adopt most provisions.

“We applaud this historic action by the ICC—and the tremendous effort by NIST and its WTC investigation team that led to it,” said Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. “The lessons learned from the tragic events of 9/11 have yielded stronger building and fire codes for a new generation of safer, more robust buildings across the nation.”

The new codes address areas such as:

• Increasing structural resistance to building collapse from fire and other incidents
• Requiring a third exit stairway for tall buildings
• Increasing the width of all stairways by 50% in new high-rises
• Strengthening criteria for the bonding, proper installation and inspection of sprayed fire-resistive materials (commonly known as “fireproofing”)
• Improving the reliability of active fire protection systems (i.e., automatic sprinklers)
• Requiring a new class of robust elevators for access by emergency responders in lieu of an additional stairway
• Making exit path markings more prevalent and more visible
• Ensuring effective coverage throughout a building for emergency responder radio communications.

Not Approved, But To Be Reconsidered
There were nine building and fire code change proposals consistent with the NIST WTC investigation recommendations that were not approved for the 2009 edition of the I-Codes but will be considered for resubmission at a later date after being amended. These are:

• Requiring buildings more than 420 feet high to be designed to survive a building contents fire to burnout without more than local failure of the structural frame.
• Requiring structures not to suffer a collapse disproportionate to a local initiating failure caused by an accident or incident.
• Requiring a risk assessment and acceptable mitigation of risks for buildings more than 420 feet high with an occupant load greater than 5,000; for buildings with an occupant load greater than 10,000; and for buildings determined to be at higher than normal risk.
• Requiring use of a new standard for conducting wind tunnel testing.
• Requiring installation of stairway communication and monitoring system at every fifth floor of each exit stairway. Also requiring, in buildings more than 75 feet high, a video surveillance system in each exit stairway, elevator lobby, elevator hoistway and elevator machine room to enhance situational awareness of emergency responders.
• Requiring fire safety and evacuation plans for all occupancies and buildings where required by the International Fire Code (the International Building Code is more widely adopted across the country than the IFC; this would ensure all situations are covered).
• Requiring detailed schematic building plans, including an approved Building Information Card, to be located in fire command centers to show the type of construction, stairway access and pressurization, fuel oil tank and hazardous materials locations, standpipe availability and locations, in addition to typical floor plan and details of the building core, means of egress, elevator locations, fire protection systems, firefighting equipment and fire department access.
• Limiting the length of horizontal transfer corridors used to connect a stairwell to 50 feet or less in buildings more than 75 feet high.
• Allowing the option to design buildings more than 420 feet high using the ICC Performance Code, instead of the high-rise provisions of the International Building Code. This change will allow the performance-based NIST WTC recommendations to be considered in a holistic manner.

A chart tracking the progress toward implementing all of the NIST WTC recommendations can be found at http://wtc.nist.gov.