GRIDWISE ARCHITECTURE COUNCIL CONCLUDES SUCCESSFUL CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION WITH WIDE CROSS-INDUSTRY SUPPORT

GridWise Architecture Council Concludes Successful Constitutional Convention with Wide Cross-Industry Support

WASHINGTON, DC – The GridWise™ Architecture Council (GWAC), a focused team of cross-industry experts articulating the guiding principles that constitute the architecture of a future, intelligent, energy system, announced today the successful conclusion of the Constitutional Convention held December 6-7, 2005, in Philadelphia, PA.

More than 110 delegates attended the convention designed to establish consensus surrounding fundamental principles and amass buy-in from a broad base of stakeholders in the application of information exchange to the effective operation of the future electric power system.

Major support for the constitution was announced in speeches from noted electricity community stakeholders, including Nora Mead Brownell, Commissioner of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); Joe Desmond, Chairman of the California Energy Commission; Tom Welch, Vice-President, PJM Interconnections, and Rik Drummond, GWAC chair. Further support from key smart grid initiatives included the U.S. Department of Energy, EPRI IntelliGrid, GridWise Alliance, GridApp, and NRECA MultiSpeak.

“I am extremely pleased with the event’s turnout and the clearly palpable dedication to strengthening the nation’s electric power grid,” Drummond, said. “The Constitution’s statements of principle accurately reflect this support to enhance interoperation of information systems across the electric system. I am encouraged by the consensus and willingness of all participants to work together for the betterment of our nation’s power grid.”

Convention delegates attended breakout sessions dedicated to each of the four areas identified as critical components to a well-rounded constitutional agreement: Technologies, Public Policies, Constitution Governance, and Business and Industry Models. Each breakout session developed a list of actions and commitments for continued support of the Constitution.

The event included the personification of Benjamin Franklin leading the delegates in a signing ceremony of the GridWise Constitution, a document that will guide critical future information technology advancement over the next 10-30 years to realize a healthy, self-sustaining, highly interoperable electric supply system.

GridWise is a vision for the future electric system built upon the fundamental premise that information technology will profoundly transform the planning and operation of the power grid, just as it has changed business, education, and entertainment. It will form the "nervous system" that integrates new distributed technologies—demand response, distributed generation, and storage—with traditional grid generation, transmission, and distribution assets to share responsibility for managing the grid as a collaborative "society" of devices. For more information, please visit www.gridwise.com.

The GridWise™ Architecture Council assembles a focused team of experts to articulate the guiding principles that constitute the architecture of a future, intelligent, transactive, energy system and see that GridWise evolutionary directions remain true to these principles.

The Architecture Council comprises practitioners and leaders with broad-based knowledge and expertise in power, information technology, telecommunications, financial systems, and additional relevant sectors working together toward a coordinated GridWise vision—the transformation of the nation's energy system into a rich, collaborative network filled with decision-making information exchange and market-based opportunities. For more information, please visit, www.gridwiseac.org.

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