NIST Smart Grid Update 

February 2013

 Welcome from Dr. George Arnold, NIST, National Coordinator for Smart Grid 

Interoperability

 NIST and Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) Partnership Evolves as 2013 Begins

 NIST Announces Federal Funding Opportunity for “Smart Grid Interoperability Standards 

Cooperative Agreement Program”

 NIST Helps Organize Upcoming IEEE Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies 

(ISGT 2013)

 “Electromagnetic Compatibility and Smart Grid Interoperability Issues” White Paper 

Released

 Smart Grid Federal Advisory Committee Reviews Cybersecurity Issues During December 

Meeting

 New Guide Will Allow Electric Utilities to Develop Green Button Web Tools

 White House Seeks Applicants for Presidential Innovation Fellows for NIST Smart Grid 

Program

Welcome from Dr. George Arnold, NIST, National Coordinator 

for Smart Grid Interoperability

Dear Smart Grid Colleague,

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been serving—and will continue to 

serve—an important mission in the growth of the smart grid. The Energy Independence and 

Security Act of 2007 (EISA) assigned NIST the "primary responsibility to coordinate development of 

a framework that includes protocols and model standards for information management to achieve 

interoperability of smart grid devices and systems." Over the past four years, we’ve made very 

significant progress with this assignment, and NIST has developed a productive, multi-faceted, and 

dynamic smart grid program.

In order to help you stay up to date with all that we are doing, we’re starting this e-newsletter. We 

hope this update will complement the news that many of you will receive from other sources, 

including SGIP 2.0’s newsletter (see below for more about SGIP 2.0). 

We’ll strive to make this update informative and useful. And we’ll strive to keep it concise, because 

we know that you are dealing with the same information overload that challenges each of us 

working in the smart grid ecosystem.

You are receiving this initial update because of your interest and involvement with interoperability 

and smart grid standards. We hope you’ll want to continue to receive this sort of information and 

will also forward it to colleagues who may also find it useful. (If your professional responsibilities 

have taken you in a different direction, and the topics in this newsletter are no longer relevant for 

you, please see the end of this newsletter for details on how to unsubscribe.)

Thank you for your interest—and for the time, energy, and creativity you are contributing to bringing 
our electric grid into the 21st century.

Best regards,

George Arnold

National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability

Director, Smart Grid and Cyber Physical Systems Program Office

Engineering Laboratory

NIST and Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) Partnership 

Evolves as 2013 Begins

Over the past three years, a major focus for NIST has been the 

establishment and operation of the Smart Grid Interoperability 

Panel (SGIP). Since its founding in December 2009, NIST has 

funded this public-private partnership, and the SGIP’s many 

successes have been remarkable. By bringing a very diverse 

group of smart grid stakeholders together in a process built on 

consensus and transparency, the SGIP has created a 

standards coordination process that is broader, faster, and 

stronger.

Over the past year, NIST and SGIP leadership have been working together on a business 

sustainment plan to transition SGIP to an industry-financed legal entity that continues a working 

partnership with government. In recent weeks, this transition process has accelerated, and SGIP is 

now functioning as an independent organization, SGIP 2.0, Inc. (To learn more about SGIP 2.0, 

visit its website, sgip.org.) 

NIST is a founding member of SGIP 2.0 and will continue to be a strong supporter and active 

participant. To strengthen the long-term NIST-SGIP partnership, NIST Director Pat Gallagher and 

SGIP Governing Board Chairman John McDonald recently signed a Memorandum of 

Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations.

NIST Announces Federal Funding Opportunity for “Smart 

Grid Interoperability Standards Cooperative Agreement 

Program”

At the same December meeting where the MOU was signed (see above), Dr. George Arnold 

announced that NIST had posted a Federal Funding Opportunity for a “Smart Grid Interoperability 

Standards Cooperative Agreement Program.” NIST solicited proposals from eligible applicants for a 

program with substantial NIST participation that will support continuous innovation of the electrical 

grid through the coordination and acceleration of standards development and harmonization and 

advancement of the interoperability and security of smart grid devices and systems. NIST 

anticipates funding one multi-year project with a budget and performance period through the end of 

fiscal year 2015 for up to $2,750,000, subject to the availability of funds. With a January 15 

deadline for submitting proposals, the received proposals are now under review. The final selection 

is anticipated to be announced in March.
NIST Helps Organize Upcoming IEEE Conference on 

Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT 2013)

The fourth annual Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies, sponsored by the IEEE 

Power and Energy Society (PES), will be held February 24 - 27, 2013 at the Washington Marriott 

Wardman Park in Washington, DC. The conference provides a forum to discuss state-of-the-art 

innovations in smart grid technologies and applications. International experts will present keynote 

talks, tutorials, panel sessions, and technical papers.

NIST will be well represented at the meeting, with Dr. George Arnold serving as the technical 

program chair of this year’s conference. In addition, three panels will be chaired by NIST staff, 

including George Arnold, Marianne Swanson, and Jeffrey Voas.

For more details and registration, visit the conference website. 

“Electromagnetic Compatibility and Smart Grid 

Interoperability Issues” White Paper Released

After dozens of virtual and face-to-face meetings over a two-year period, the SGIP Electromagnetic 

Interoperability Issues Working Group has reached a milestone with the publication of its 118-page 

white paper. The working group, chaired by NIST’s Galen Koepke, was established to investigate 

enhancing the immunity of smart grid devices and systems to the detrimental effects of natural and 

man-made electromagnetic interference, both radiated and conducted.

As described in the white paper, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is an integral process needed 

for the design of devices that are used in the operation of the smart grid. The paper looks at EMC 

issues and standards in a variety of different environments—both within the electric utility system 

and within power customer settings. The paper also discusses high power electromagnetic events, 

such as geomagnetic storms, intentional EM interference (IEMI) from portable transmitters, and EM 

pulses associated with high altitude nuclear detonation (HEMP).The paper is intended as a guide to 

apply documented EMC principles to better ensure the operation and interoperability of the smart 

grid in its intended electromagnetic (EM) environments. The white paper is available online and is 

free to all interested parties.

Smart Grid Federal Advisory Committee Reviews 

Cybersecurity Issues During December Meeting

At its day-long December 18 meeting, held in Gaithersburg, the Smart Grid Federal Advisory 

Committee spent the morning session hearing from a series of speakers with expertise in gridrelated cybersecurity. The afternoon session included a review of last summer’s workshop on smart 

grid research priorities, as well as a review of activities related to the transition of SGIP to an 

industry-financed legal entity (see above). On the morning of December 19, committee members 

were invited to tour several NIST laboratories that are working on smart grid-related projects. 
Details about the committee’s membership, meeting agendas, and meeting presentations are 

available online.

New Guide Will Allow Electric Utilities to Develop Green 

Button Web Tools

A new guide for Web developers recently released by NIST will make it easier for electric utilities 

and vendors to give customers convenient, electronic access to their energy usage data with tools 

and applications developed as part of the new “Green Button” initiative.

Included in the new guide is information on:

 The composition of Green Button data and how it fits together

 How to make Green Button data accessible to users via XML style sheets, which render the 

data comprehensible to the consumer; and

 Sample source code showing what data to begin with, as well as examples of finished data 

sets

The User Guide, which provides a good overview for those utilities not yet using Green Button, is 

freely available online. For specific information on the User Guide, please 

visit http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/tech-beat/tb20130206.cfm#button. For general information 

on the Green Button program, please visit http://www.greenbuttondata.org/.

White House Seeks Applicants for Presidential Innovation 

Fellows for NIST Smart Grid Program

On February 5, the White House launched Round 2 of the Presidential Innovation Fellows program. 

This high-profile program pairs top innovators from the private sector, non-profits, and academia 

with top innovators in government to collaborate on projects that aim to save lives, save taxpayer 

money, and fuel job creation. NIST expects to host three fellows; they will work in two of the nine 

new Presidential Innovation Fellow Projects, with each fellow’s “tour of duty” lasting 6-12 months.

Two of the NIST fellows will work on Cyber-Physical Systems, and the third fellow will work on the 

Green Button Initiative. These positions will be full time with a 6-12 month paid 

appointment. Applications to be a Round 2 Fellow will be accepted through March 17, 2013. For 

more information on the program, or to apply, visit http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb20130206.cfm#pif.

Back to the top