NavigationView AgendaView PeopleView Vendors | | Steve Widergren contributes to new solutions for reliable operation of electric power systems. Common throughout his career is the application of information technology to power engineering problems including, simulation, control, and system integration. He is a principal engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and from 2009-12 was Plenary Chair for the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel , a group established by NIST to advance interoperability of smart grid devices and system through the coordination of standards and best practices. He was the founding administrator for the GridWise Architecture Council – a group formed to enable interoperability of automated systems related to the electric system. Prior to joining the Laboratory, Steve worked for PG&E, AEP, and ALSTOM where he engineered and managed energy management systems products for electric power operations and supported power system computer applications. Application areas include information modeling, SCADA systems, and power system reliability assessment tools. Steve received his BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He is actively involved in the IEEE Power & Energy Society and participates in standards efforts that bridge power engineering with information technology. JavaScript Content DisabledThis page is limited to content that does not use JavaScript. JavaScript version | John Cooper Steve - we met in Austin earlier in the year, I'm glad to see you'll be in Santa Clara next week - we should grab some time to talk and I'll fill you in on the book we have coming out in June.Steve Widergren Hi John: I'll be there on Tuesday afternoon through Thursday. Talk to you then.Steve 2 years ago |
| Steve Widergren The sessions will bring people up to speed on smart grid priority standards work, the SGIP, and the progress being made, but are there specific topics or concerns you'd like addressed? Please share your questions. |
| Steve Widergren I appreciate Dan's and Marco's excellent comments and related questions. I regret we did not have time to respond to these topics. Though Marco's note was written to Russ, I wanted to say that from my point of view, conformance testing and ultimately interop testing should be about better getting products that support certain standards to connect and work. That does not imply "one-fit-all". We already see multiple standards supported in the context of an interface. There are likely good reasons for this situation. As technology and methodology advances and matures, implementations will need to address co-existence or adaption.Marco Graziano My reference to a "one-fit-all" approach was to conformance testing, not standards. For more mature standards or for instance a hardware bus, a conformance test makes sense. In the case of more innovative technologies it is more questionable. We would not have the Internet has we know it today if in the 70's or 80's vendors had to pass a TCP/IP conformance test. 4 years ago |
| Steve Widergren Hi Lynn: The path to a smarter grid requires a workforce skilled in understanding power system engineering, industrial systems, and automated buildings, as well as infomation technology and communications. Smart grid is a paradigm shift. The use of technology to improve efficiency, enhance reliability, and address environmental issues should be cost effective. This means a culture shift from the way many things are managed today. That involves retraining a significant portion of the existing workforce and replacing retiring contributors with people skilled in IT, communications, as well as electrical engingeering. By doing things smarter, we should see a better coordinated, technically trained workforce,. One area where I see overall job growth is the effective use of our natural resources. When environmental impacts are made more economically tranparent, they will fuel a labor pool that deploys and manages technology to higher levels than we economically justify today. The make-up of this pool includes engineers (my bias shows here), economists, operations researchers, and project managers among others. Computer science will pervade most of these disciplines with methods and tools to apply to the many related problem domains. Regarding your question about the linkage with training and standards, the workforce transcends decisions about standards. A skilled labor force will adapt to the standards of the day. Standards will evolve as technology and business evolves. Investments in standards and guidelines should help deployments go forward more reliably and cost effectively. The additions and changes to the workforce need to start now and should not be tied to the specifics of progress with standards. |
| Lynn Sargent Hi Steve,Thank you for inviting comments and opinions. Interoperability is as crucial a discussion as preparing the workforce for implementing the work on a "smarter, more agile and cost effective" grid. What specific training would you recommend for individuals who want to embark on a career in this industry? Do you have any sense for how many workers will be needed and within which occupation (management, project managers, IT engineers/technicians, lineworkers, etc)? What are the basic skillsets required? Should training be addresses in tadem with standards discussions or after standards have been established? Any feedback would be much appreciated.Thank you,T. Lynn Sargentlynn.sargent@denvergov.org |
| Steve Widergren Please seek us out with news stories (triumphs, disasters, announcements), opinions, and related interesting commentary. Who knows, any tid bit may make it into the event summary. |
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