GridWise Architecture Council announces awards, sets forum

CHICAGO –The GridWise Architecture Council, a team of cross-industry energy experts that is establishing guidelines for the architecture of a future smart electric system, has honored two individuals and two organizations for advancing interoperability among intelligent systems in electric power.

The group also announced plans for the first GridWise Architecture Council Forum on Interoperability: the Grid Interop Forum to be held Oct. 31-Nov. 2 in Albuquerque, N.M.

The GridWise Applied awards of recognition and appreciation were presented May 24 at the GridWise Expo in Chicago to Toby Considine, an embedded control systems expert at the University of North Carolina; Joe Desmond, former California Energy Commission chairman; Site Controls, a provider of Internet-based clean energy and business intelligence solutions; and Cimetrics, a supplier of systems integration technology to the building automation industry.

According to GWAC Chairman Jack McGowan, the council recognizes that many organizations are, and should be, involved in transforming the electric power infrastructure into one that is intelligent, transactive, and supports a high degree of interoperability between the multitude of systems that constitute it.

“Without this support, the GridWise vision of the future cannot be obtained,” McGowan said, adding that recognition of “real-world applications of GWAC’s interoperability principles provides a necessary incentive and sets an example for other organizations to move in a similar direction.”

Considine was recognized for influencing standards bodies and business groups. Desmond was recognized for promoting public policy and influencing regulatory directions.

Site Controls (http://www.site-controls.com) was honored for aggregating building energy resources to respond to electricity market signals and to integrate this response with other building functions. Cimetrics (http://www.cimetrics.com) develops tools that will allow consumers’ resources to respond to electricity market signals and to integrate those responses with other business functions.

The Grid Interop Forum will set directions for improving the interoperation of the automation systems that will coordinate to provide a more efficient and reliable electric system. GWAC Administrator Steve Widergren urged electric service providers, buildings and manufacturing automation managers, along with system suppliers and electricity regulators to participate.

Advancing a framework for integrating the many elements of the electric system will be among the top agenda items at the forum, which follows the Interoperability Workshop held in April in Washington, D.C. Proceedings of the workshop, as well as the call for papers and other information about the forum will be available soon on the GWAC Web site (http://www.gridwiseac.org), Widergren said.

The GWAC consists of practitioners and leaders with broad-based knowledge and expertise in power, information technology, telecommunications, financial systems and other fields who are 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.

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