On May 18, 2009, DOE Secretary Steven Chu announced that the Department is increasing the maximum award available under the Recovery Act for Smart Grid programs. Secretary Chu and Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke also announced the first set of 16 interoperability standards for the Smart Grid.

Title 13 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 required the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) to coordinate the development of Smart Grid Interoperability Standards. On April 28-29, NIST hosted a public Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Interim Roadmap workshop. The list of announced standards is based on the consensus expressed by participants in that workshop.

Based on feedback from the public and Smart Grid stakeholders, DOE increased the maximum awards available under the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program from $20 million to $200 million and for Smart Grid Demonstration Projects from $40 million to $100 million.

Secretary Locke and Secretary Chu also announced the availability of $10 million in Recovery Act funds provided by DOE to the NIST to support the development of interoperability standards. The standards and funding will help ensure that software and hardware components from different vendors will work together seamlessly, while securing the grid against disruptions.

The announced standards are:

  • AMI-SEC System Security Requirements — Advanced metering infrastructure 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 communications
  • IEEE 1547 — Physical and electrical interconnections between utility and distributed generation
  • IEEE 1686-2007 — Security for intelligent electronic devices
  • 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 Device Communications and Information Model

Public comments on the initial standards will be accepted for 30 days after their upcoming publication in the Federal Register. The date of publication will be posted on http://www.nist.gov/smartgrid/.