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Silver Spring V.P. Shares Thoughts on Standards, IP-Based Meters, and Obsolescence Concerns
By Will McNamara, Principal Consultant, KEMA
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I recently had the opportunity to talk with Eric Dresselhuys at Silver Spring Networks about current market dynamics and the ongoing challenges toward achieving technology standards and protocols. Silver Spring Networks At Silver Spring Networks develops, IP-based networking products (software solutions, intelligent endpoints, and network infrastructure) for utilities. Silver Spring Networks' solution is an IP-based network built on open standards.
Dresselhuys, vice president for Silver Spring Networks, has more than 10 years of experience in advanced metering and communications sales and marketing. He has held various roles in customer development, new product development and product introductions. Mr. Dresselhuys has presented a number of technical and commercial papers related to advanced metering and smart grid technologies. Eric was a founder of OpenAMI and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the DRAM Collation (Demand Response and Advanced Metering) and has served on the Automatic Meter Reading Association’s (AMRA) Marketing and Development committee.
McNamara: Looking from a macro perspective, what do you think have been the main advances or gains in the AMI / Smart Grid sector in 2007?
Dresselhuys: The discussion has evolved dramatically, away from a metering-centric world view to a more holistic Smart Grid world view. This is having a profound impact on how utilities are approaching the market. The discussion has become much more strategic, with C-Level engagement and the recognition that this change requires a different technology view. There is increasingly a broad realization that only IP-based networking technologies can address the wide array of applications needed for a truly smart grid
McNamara: Do you believe that AMI will continue to serve as the presumed foundation or backbone infrastructure for the Smart Grid?
Dresselhuys: I think of AMI as the ‘initial tenant’ of the Smart Grid. Metering is the application that extends to the very edge of the utility network and, increasingly, into the home. As a result, AMI drives pervasive networking throughout the service territory, laying the groundwork for truly Smart Grid. That said deploying AMI does not automatically lay the foundation for the Smart Grid. Utilities we talk to are interested in Distribution Automation, Outage/Restoration Management, a Variety of Distributed Storage and Generation applications, you name it. If the utility chooses the wrong Networking technology for metering, they may find themselves unable to support the broader Smart Grid vision they seek.
McNamara: What are your thoughts about the use of truly open application protocols vs. vendor proprietary standards under ANSI C12.22?
Dresselhuys: At Silver Spring, we believe that proven, open standards make sense at every level of the Smart Grid. Application protocols are important, but they are only one part of a truly open system. Any discussion about standards needs to start with the network, as it touches every device on the Smart Grid and will need to support a variety of application standards, including the ANSI metering standards, but also industry standards such as DNP3.0 and IEC61850. The IP protocol suite is ideally suited for the Smart Grid, as it is proven to scale, widely understood by utility personnel and is being constantly innovated in a transparent forum for all to use. We expect that up to $1 Trillion will be invested in R&D on IP solutions of the next 10 years – all at no cost to the utility industry.
McNamara: Do you think the sector is moving quickly enough toward establishing standards, and what needs to be done in your estimation to move that process along?
Dresselhuys: We’ve seen a great acceleration in the development and adoption of standards over the last year and I think this trend will continue. That said there are an abundance of proven standards around networking that are available today. The standards work going forward should be focused on application profiles and data modeling (e.g. CIM), as well as standardizing the physical interfaces between networks and devices.
McNamara: Do you think that the industry as a whole is doing enough to address interoperability between communication systems and software systems?
Dresselhuys: A lot is being done, but there is always room for improvement. Most modern software systems are already built to communicate over IP-based networks.
McNamara: Looking ahead, what other drivers or considerations should influence interoperability—such as markets and regulations?
Dresselhuys: The only group that or should drive interoperability are the customers – utilities. Within the network aspects of the Smart Grid, the question isn’t ‘why IP?’, it’s ‘why not IP?’ – IP networks have driven device and application interoperability in the IT, Networking, Telecommunications and Cable industries and they will have the same impact on the Utility industry.
McNamara: Some market pundits are proclaiming that IP-based AMI meters are “overkill” and unnecessary as long as interoperability is achieved? What are your thoughts on this?
Dresselhuys: We heard that a bit, but never from a utility. IP is proven, cost-effective, open and extensible, leveraging the collective experience of 20+ years from dozens of industries. What part of that is ‘overkill’? I have yet to hear a compelling case against IP from anyone who knows networking.
McNamara: Many utilities that KEMA has worked with have expressed concerns about predicting the time span in which technology becomes obsolete and also to what extent technological obsolescence will result in financial and regulatory issues. How would you advise utilities to address this concern?
Dresselhuys: I believe careful planning, combined with a systems-engineering approach, can effectively mitigate the risk of system obsolescence. Clearly there is a lot of innovation coming into the market, offering a greater variety of products than ever before. From a systems perspective, the challenge is to create an evolutionary approach to incorporating these devices into your Smart Grid. A couple of simple, but important principles can help guide this approach:
A) Open Networking: By deploying an open, standards-based network – which means IP - utilities can easily incorporate new devices and applications onto their networks. Devices being introduced for both the Smart Grid and other general-market applications are developed for use on IP-based networking. As new carrier technologies, such as WiMax, are introduced, they seamlessly integrate because they are IP-based technologies.
B) Buy “Forward”: Utilities need to ensure that they are building solutions with sufficient capacity to support a reasonable expansion of use. This may come from an increase in data (e.g. moving from hourly data to 15-minute data), system growth or new devices and applications.
C) Commercial Flexibility: Although Open Standards are critical, open commercial structures are at least important. Many vendors, even those that claim standards, offer little flexibility in the commercial terms of their offering. Utilities should ensure that they have access to multiple sources of supply,
McNamara: What new solutions is Silver Spring Networks exploring that you would like to share?
Dresselhuys: Our efforts are largely focused on increasing the ecosystem of products, applications and devices supported by our Smart Energy Network. Much of this work is focused on Distribution Automation and Home Area Networking, but considerable effort is focused on integration with the many new metering products entering the market. We believe this is driving unprecedented value into the Smart Grid and with the pace of innovation is accelerating, utilities can anticipate an ever-increasing variety of options in the years to come.
Contact the author at will.mcnamara@kema.com.
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Download the January 2008 Issue
Use the link below to download the PDF of the full issue of the January 2008 Automation Insight to view the complete print versions of the articles.
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[download] Automation Insight Jan 2008 (.pdf 334 kb)
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