2009 Rube Goldberg SmartGrid Contest

In celebration of the planning and designing that lie behind a successful SmartGrid, Arcadian Networks and RE Magazine are sponsoring the first annual Rube Goldberg® SmartGrid Contest™.

Applications
Utilities are invited to submit entries that detail how they plan to transform their existing field networks (i.e., Rube Goldberg networks) into “SmartGrid” networks of the future. All entries should include the entry form and other data that best present your case. Supportive information can take the form of:

-YouTube compatible videos
-PowerPoint presentations
-Word documents

Submissions should describe in detail the field networks’ current state and challenges. Please describe how you are addressing those challenges and propose changes that will create a future SmartGrid.

Awards & Categories
Awards for this contest will be given in 4 areas:
-fixed data
-SCADA, substation automation, distribution automation, AMI/AMR, video cameras
-fixed voice
-substation communications, VOIP
-mobile data
-AVL/GIS, workorder entry, intelligent routing
-mobile voice
-trunk mobile radio, integrated dispatch, mutual aide
All awards will be presented at TechAdvantage 2009, New Orleans, LA, February 13 -16, 2009.

Prizes
Everybody wins! Awards include:
-top prizes will range from handheld PCs from OQO ($1,000 value) to Cabela’s gift cards ($200 value)
-eight cooperatives will be honored in 4 areas (see above – “Award – Categories”)
-all submissions will generate a $150 donation to the NRECA International Foundation by Arcadian Networks in the name of the participating cooperative

Judges
Winners will be selected by individuals with broad substantive backgrounds within the energy, regulatory, engineering and consulting sectors. Descriptions of their backgrounds can be seen at: “2009 Rube Goldberg Judges”.

Discussions of Contest - Use this blog post to discuss ideas and challenges with other contestants

For more details and your chance to enter please click on the title of this entry.

Greenhouse gas regulation will expedite SmartGrid deployment

The recent debate on greenhouse gas regulations in the Senate ended quickly, but was viewed as the opening round of legislative maneuvering that will continue for the next several years before a bill is inevitably approved and signed into law. Much of the focus of the debate is centered around how much carbon will be reduced, how fast, and who will have to do it. While the carbon limits and trading schemes for transferring credits are critical issues, a secondary debate is beginning to develop as to how to pay for and incentivize new technology that is essential to either achieving carbon reductions or smoothing the transition to a low carbon economy.

One of the technologies viewed as being critical to carbon reduction is implementation of a smart grid by utilities that include the distribution level, and ultimately a smart meter and Home Area Network (HAN) deployment. With the long lead time required for hardware changes to fossil generators and the extended deployment period for meters, achieving maximum efficiencies from existing utility footprints will depend on real time information that will allow utilities to optimize their load mix and balance it with demand. Excessive levels of undelivered power will not only have the traditional fuel penalty, but will also require utilities to obtain potentially expensive carbon offsets. By extension, the underestimating of wind generation’s contribution to the grid will result in similar outcomes.

Because of the speed and value a smart grid can offer, it is expected to be an early response strategy for many utilities. The GridWise Alliance and other industry thought leaders are currently developing incentive proposals in the hopes of laying the groundwork for technology incentives to speed the rate of carbon reduction.

Mark Maddox; Senior VP of Government Affairs, Arcadian Networks mark.maddox@arcadiannetworks.com

Jake Rasweiler, VP of Network Engineering lists the pros and cons of broadband communications

Pros:

• The consolidation from a hodgepodge of diverse networks to a standards-based IP telecommunications network
• To provide an upgrade or replacement of aging/obsolete/unsupportable technologies
• Relief from the capacity limitations of legacy networks
• The ability to upgrade from one way to bidirectional communications
• Remote access for field technicians
• An improvement in the monitoring and management of remote devices
• High reliability
• There are a multiple of service options available that range from a turnkey implementation and management to a basic network support. Many financial options also exist relating to lease vs. buy and capex options.
  

Cons:

• The increase of features can be more complex to manage than the older communication systems. At times, outside expertise may be needed to deploy and manage the network. Arcadian Networks’ flexible plans allow the customers to take on as much of the management responsibility as they so choose.
• In order to capture the total benefits of the network, arising from its increased capabilities, a more sophisticated business model is suggested. This is in contrast to the business models built for legacy systems that typically target single applications. Arcadian Networks can assist customers in developing new ROI models to capture the full benefits.

Can digital forensic science be the key to energy efficiency and independence?

It’s Monday, February 25th and I’m (hypothetically) traveling on business to Miami, FL. I’m staying in this great hotel. The TV’s got a million different channels, there’s an integrated video game, DVD player and free internet connection. Work and play via one remote control – can life get any better? Well it apparently did, pop on the TV and surf the channels to one of my favorite TV shows – CSI Miami http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi_miami/ . Gotta love these shows; life tragedies unfold before your eyes via a succession of nearly incomprehensible circumstances. Enter a handful of smart people, some killer forensic science and woola; the plot unfolds – bad guys go to jail, grieving families find peace; and good guys start rehearsing for next-weeks’ installment. According to Wikipedia digital forensic science is defined as “… the application of proven scientific methods and techniques in order to recover data from electronic / digital media. DF specialist work in the field as well as in the lab”. Check out the Wikipedia entry on forensics – some great history here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensics ...


So what’s the link with energy?
Well, on Tuesday, February 26th (the morning after my hypothetical trip to Miami) at about 1:00pm a minor glitch in Florida’s electrical grid somehow triggered a chain reaction (not hypothetically) that caused a nuclear plant to shut down and briefly cut power in patches from Daytona Beach through the Florida Keys. Up to 3 million people — about a fifth of Florida’s population — lost power at various points during the afternoon, though there were no safety concerns at the nuclear plant. An equipment malfunction in a substation near Miami disabled two power distribution lines between Miami and Daytona Beach, and in response, Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant south of Miami stopped operating around 1 p.m.. That’s what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Kenneth Clark said (according to Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN2924017620080229 ….). CNN covered the story three days later - http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/29/florida.outage/index.html as follows: preliminary results of an investigation show that Tuesday's massive power outage in Florida was caused by human error, Florida Power and Light President Armando Olivera said Friday. A field engineer was diagnosing a switch that had malfunctioned at FPL's Flagami substation in west Miami. Without authorization, the engineer disabled two levels of relay protection, Olivera said. "This was done contrary to FPL's standard procedures and established practices," he said. Standard procedures do not allow the simultaneous removal of both levels of protection. "We don't know why the employee took it upon himself to disable both sets of relays," he added. A fault occurred during the diagnostic process, and because both levels of relay protection had been removed, the fault caused an outage ultimately affecting 26 transmission lines and 38 substations, Olivera said. One of the substations affected serves three of the generation units at Turkey Point -- a natural gas unit and both of the plant's nuclear units. Both the nuclear units automatically shut down due to an under-voltage condition, he said. Also affected were two other generation plants in FPL's system. The total impact to the system was a loss of 3,400 megawatts of generating capacity. "The employee realized something had gone wrong, but I think it's fair to say the employee didn't recognize the extent or magnitude of the problem," Olivera said. The affected region ranged from Miami to Tampa, through Orlando and east to Brevard County, home to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center.


So what can be done about this?
A lot. First the skills issues. Human error is not an excuse; it’s actually the most avoidable circumstance. How? Training and instantaneous access to skills and proper oversight. At what cost? Low cost – through private broadband wireless mobile services which help “virtualize” people and assets so the right skills and oversight can virtually be transported to the problem regardless of time or location.

Second, when will our nation’s utilities and oil and gas companies invest in information technologies that bridge the gap between policy and practice? FPL claims an equipment malfunction in a substation near Miami disabled two power distribution lines after the engineer disabled two levels of relay protection; which “was done contrary to FPL's standard procedures and established practices". Great – they had the right standardized procedures and practices; they just didn’t have the safeguards and methods to enforce them – it’s like building a multi-lane super highway and not budgeting for police, service lanes and towing! Again, broadband wireless services to the rescue. Whether machine-to-machine communications to enable “self-healing” of the grid; or person-to-person communications to provide oversight and redundant coverage of critical procedures; or machine-to-person communications to issue alerts to other parties so that they understand that policies and procedures are deviating from the norm – automatically; or person-to-machine communications to proactively intervene and stop the non-compliant actions from causing the grid to collapse! Wireless networks cover the full range of capability needed by today’s electric utilities to not only recover faster from such events but to avoid them all together.

Detecting, diagnosing and repairing electric grid problems requires a new breed of digital forensics – broadband wireless networking. Preventing problems requires the same communications infrastructure, policies and procedures as responding to them. In addition that same communication infrastructure can help optimize the deployment of people and assets; weed out redundancies and lay the foundation for all kinds of automation and new levels of security. Optimizing the grid; and making the people who support it more efficient and capable saves time and money. Our money and time as well as the utilities’!

This article is the first in a series; you’ll be hearing more from our management team and we hope to be hearing from you as well!

Check out how the press covered the FPL event….

1) http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN2924017620080229
2) http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1717878,00.html
3) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aZNsQWFCrd44&refer=us
4) http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/29/florida.outage/
5) http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/03/last_weeks_flor.html
6) http://www.energycentral.com/centers/energybiz/ebi_detail.cfm?id=474
7) http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/29/florida.outage/index.html

Ed Solar; CEO, Arcadian Networks ed.solar@arcadiannetworks.com

Coming soon!

Hey - we're just launching this blog!

Stay tuned for submissions from Gil Perez, our chairman; Ed Solar, our president and chief executive officer; Jake Rasweiler, our vice president of engineering and network operations; Joe Zarb, our vice president of marketing; as well as our partners, customers, prospects and advisory board members!!!

Wireless Ingenuity to the Last Mile!

Arcadian Networks provides “last mile” wireless carrier services to the energy sector (electric, water, and gas utilities and oil and gas companies). The company’s 700 MHz licensed spectrum delivers a converged IP network with voice and data communications for fixed and mobile applications. The real-time communications platform reduces operational costs, improves resiliency, and transforms electric grids into efficient “smart grids” and oil fields into optimized “smart fields”.