Presented By:
John D. McDonald, P.E.
Smart Grid Business Development
Leader-North America
Global Smart Grid Strategy Group
GE Energy Connections-Grid Solutions
TechCon 2017
Abstract
The purpose of this talk is to familiarize participants with a vision for the future of energy. The talk starts with a discussion of key industry/societal trends in transmission, distribution and the consumer. The “smarter grid” will highlight the intelligence that has already been implemented, and the new intelligence being added now, emphasizing the importance of a “strong grid” before a “smart grid.” The Smart Grid technology roadmap will discuss six Smart Grid solutions, showing the technology components integrated together for each solution (including asset optimization). Three key visionary concepts to be covered are the greater value of the integration of key technology components and the importance of interoperability, the impact of high penetration of rooftop solar PV on the distribution system, and Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) integration and enterprise data management.
Introduction
We are in the midst of great changes in the electric power industry, as you well know. As we assess the threats and opportunities presented by these changes, I’d like to share my view of the elements of successful adaption for power utilities. It is not a stretch to think in terms of Darwin’s notion of the survival of the fittest. Adaptation to change is the means by which we survive and, better yet, the means by which we can thrive.
Power utilities have a window of opportunity in which to determine their direction and take steps to realize it. However, windows of opportunity by definition open and close. The nature of opportunity demands a sense of urgency. The means to thrive include clear, strategic thinking and a rich toolkit, but we must seize the day. Disruptive forces give no quarter. We must proactively shape our own destiny. The alternative is to allow others to shape our future for us. I would suggest that a reactive stance will not lead to successful adaptation amid the challenges we face.
Let us examine some of the trends and challenges we face, then I will share my thoughts on the holistic, integrated solutions and the technology roadmap that I believe can lay the foundation for successful adaptation.
1. Trends and Challenges
You may be familiar with the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 2003 characterization of the North American power grid as “the supreme engineering achievement of the 20th century.” The NAE ranked the grid ahead of electronics, computing, telecom networks, the Internet and a score of other advancements, including cars, planes and space flight. (Note that today, in an era of technology convergence, grid modernization includes integrating electronics, computing, telecom networks and the Internet.) If utilities develop a clear strategy for adaptation, based on a solid technology foundation, there is no reason the grid could not become the supreme achievement of the 21st century as well, particularly in an increasingly digital – and, therefore, electricity-based – society. Simply put, electric power business models and infrastructure in the digital age will look markedly different than the centralized grid and Big Iron of the past.
Successful adaptation will require navigating new trends and challenges, so let us begin by briefly noting just five that have arisen over the past decade or so: the customer, extreme weather, cybersecurity, new technologies and a shifting regulatory landscape.
1.1 The Customer
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the 20th century “ratepayer” became the 21st century utility “customer” or “consumer,” but it reflects a shift in outlook by electric utilities. What opened our eyes to turn ratepayers into consumers? Although the reasons are many, I will describe just a few contributing factors.
By the dawn of the 21th century, consumers had become increasingly sophisticated in their emerging digital lifestyle, aided by personal computers and ever-smarter mobile devices. As a result, their expectations for service and value increased. As utilities invested in grid modernization, they had to explain the value proposition of new technology to myriad stakeholders. Engaging ratepayers as customers and consumers made sense, especially since options for power began to materialize. Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems were becoming affordable. Third-party service providers began to flourish. And extreme weather events were on the rise, planting doubts about the grid’s resiliency. The challenge now is to listen to consumers, understand their needs and perceptions and develop attractive value propositions and service options that will enable utilities to retain them as customers.
1.2 Extreme Weather
I mentioned extreme weather in the context of consumers, but utility customers, of course, include a variety of commercial/industrial concerns and civic institutions including law enforcement, hospitals, schools and universities, traffic systems and so forth. Therefore, the impacts of extreme weather events are felt across society and the documented severity and increased frequency of these events has raised the challenge of grid hardening and resiliency to a national priority.
Hardening the grid will depend on localized risk assessments and may take different forms in different places. Improving grid resiliency – and reliability on “blue sky” days – will require a strong grid foundation and a set of holistic integrated solutions that I will describe in a moment. Technically, this is a challenge that can be met. Perhaps the bigger challenge is to create a positive business case for improving reliability and resiliency whose value propositions are understood and embraced by stakeholders.
1.3 Cybersecurity
Less than a decade after the NAE lauded the 20th century grid, its cousin, the National Research Council (NRC), called attention to the increased potential for terrorism or other malevolent acts that could have widespread, disruptive impacts on the grid. We’ve certainly seen an acceleration of research, development and implementation of physical and cybersecurity measures for the grid, particularly in Operations Technology/Information Technology (OT/IT) systems. Yet a significant number of thought leaders believe that the science of cybersecurity remains in its infancy, as attested to by continuing headlines about cyber breaches in domains other than electric power. The protection of critical infrastructure will remain a high priority and a challenge for the power industry, particularly as the concept of the Internet of Things is implemented.
1.4 New Technologies
The past decade has been a whirlwind of developments in terms of new technologies that impact utilities and their roadmaps. At a high level, we are seeing a shift from electro-mechanical devices to electronics and power electronics. While this trend produces vast new capabilities, it also shortens the technology refresh cycle from multiple decades down to perhaps a decade or so. We are seeing the regulatory and popular demand for greater reliance on renewable and other distributed energy sources, reflected in ambitious renewable portfolio standards. Whether it is utility-scale wind or solar or customer-based solar, utilities face the challenge of integrating intermittent energy sources. The same is true of microgrids, initially viewed by utilities as an external wild card but increasingly embraced as a solution to various utility challenges.
Another development is the increasing sophistication to processor-based devices, sensors and controls, which in turn, drive the advent of Big Data. The proliferation of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), for instance, is bringing enhanced visibility, monitoring and control and automation to the distribution network. The corresponding challenge is to turn that data into actionable business intelligence.
1.5 A Shifting Regulatory Landscape
A decade ago, the passage of the federal Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) spelled out the U.S. government’s support for research and development, standards and interoperability in the service of grid modernization. EISA’s Title XIII encouraged the states to demand proof that utility investments in modernization would be cost-effective, secure and improve reliability. The flurry of utility spending to match smart grid grants offered under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) often led regulators and consumer advocates to demand that utilities demonstrate a positive business case with definable consumer benefits when making those investments. The challenge, in the post-ARRA environment, is to develop a positive, standalone (non-subsidized) business case for grid modernization projects.
At the same time, various states have proceeded with different forms of deregulation and with new regulatory means to reward utilities for consumer and societal benefits rather than volumetric sales. California (S.B. 17) and New York (NY REV), among other states, have embarked on a complete review and revamping of the regulatory approach to power utilities. The resulting trend is towards a more market- and results-based regulatory framework. The challenge for utilities is to review and revamp their business model and technology roadmap with an eye to a more market- and results-based future.
1.6 The Shift from Devices/Systems to Solutions
The last trend and challenge I will mention is the thesis of this keynote: the shift from merely adding devices and systems to the grid, to the development and implementation of holistic solutions. Proactively developing and implementing the most efficacious set of holistic, integrated solutions will enable utilities to successfully adapt to our changing power industry landscape. The challenge, of course, is to embrace holistic solutions and translate them into phased grid modernization projects whose value in sum is greater than its parts.
So let us look at what proactive adaptation might look like and its implications for a utility’s business, its organization and its technology roadmap. I will contribute a vision and an overview, but as you look around the room and interact with colleagues at this conference, remember that a specific solution to a specific challenge may well come from other utilities. As you seek holistic solutions and implement the technology that enables them, it will help to develop an appetite for change. This may be one of the most stubborn challenges of all. The pursuit and implementation of holistic solutions will inevitably require changes in your organization’s culture, business processes and technology. Successful adaptation, like grid modernization, is an ongoing journey, not a destination – and it is hard work.
2. A Vision for the Future of Energy
Despite the changing landscape described earlier, and the appearance of new, disruptive market entrants, electric power utilities remain the incumbents who operate and maintain the grid that we all currently depend on. What does a vision for the future of energy look like for a utility?
The successful utility of the future must determine, today, how its business model, going forward, can address a more market-oriented landscape with morphing regulatory and consumer demands. This implies the development of compelling value propositions and service options that engage customers and consumers. This means competing or cooperating with partners, products, services and skill sets beyond utilities’ core capabilities. It means optimizing both operations and the enterprise through holistic solutions and the use of data analytics. On the operations side, it means enabling a flexible, self-healing and reconfigurable power network for increased reliability on blue sky days and resiliency in the aftermath of extreme weather, natural disasters or malicious attacks. It also means integrating a utility’s own distributed energy resources (DER) and accommodating customer-owned DER. The utility of the future will use social media to engage its customers and draw them into participating in outage notification and swifter service restoration.
Internally, meeting these challenges will demolish traditional utility siloes and flatten a utility’s organizational structure as enterprise-wide cooperation is required to maximize return on investment in holistic solutions and eliminate redundant systems. Everyone in the utility who can create value from data will have secure access to it. IT and OT personnel may not sing “Kumbaya” together, but they will be mutually dependent in support of both operations and the enterprise.
This is not a utopian vision. It is a candid look at where utilities need to be in five years. Frankly, regulators and customers will come to expect nothing less. A number of utilities are well on their way to realizing this vision, while others will benefit from a review of pragmatic steps to move in the right direction. Let us explore what I call “the fundamentals of successful adaptation.”
3. The Fundamentals of Successful Adaptation
3.1 Adding Smarts to T + D + C
Although the current utility business and regulatory paradigm draws distinctions between power generation, transmission and distribution, these distinctions are going to blur as we begin to regard the power system as an integrated, end-to-end network. Let us agree that the grid is already smart; at least it has been for my five decades in the power business. Now that we are adding more sophisticated sensors to transformers in T&D substations and integrated volt/VAr control at both the T&D level and renewables at the T&D&C (C is for customer) levels, we are really making a smart grid even smarter. As holistic solutions tend to apply across T&D&C, we will come to regard those three areas of the network as a single entity. In other words, we are making a smart grid smarter by adding visibility/monitoring and control to formerly opaque, uncontrolled elements, much of it in the distribution and consumer domains but with relevance to transmission as well.
In terms of grid management, that means new abilities for and a focus on energy (generation and transmission) optimization, asset optimization, demand optimization and delivery (distribution) optimization. Before we address these advanced capabilities, however, let us start with the fundamentals of a sound grid foundation.
3.2 “Strong” before “Smart”
A foundation for the successful utility of the future requires a communication network that links all operational and enterprise aspects of the utility’s business. This network must be fully and seamlessly integrated with a robust IT infrastructure that supports enterprise-wide data management, analytics and applications. The result is an information and communication technology (ICT) foundation that represents a “strong grid” – a prerequisite for building a “smarter grid.” This ICT foundation must serve the enterprise, as well as, operations. It forms the basis for meeting the trends and challenges noted earlier as well as enabling future functionalities and applications we cannot yet imagine. Building an ICT foundation for both the enterprise and operations will rely on the cooperation of IT and OT and that is just the beginning of cultural and organizational change for a utility in pursuit of holistic solutions and successful adaptation.
3.3 Data Management and the Horizontal Utility
Data management is the next step and it, too, requires cultural, organizational and technological change. In this instance, technology forces our hand. The continued proliferation of intelligent electronic devices (IED) and other sensors on the power network provides operational data and non-operational data. The use of operational data is standard practice, but the value of putting non-operational data to work tends to be under-appreciated. Both must be exploited to not only achieve the best return-on-investment for those four- and five-figure IEDs but to enable utility-wide, holistic solutions and value creation by enterprise business units. In the enterprise’s case, value creation means innovating on new customer service options as well as developing material improvements in planning, power quality, asset management, maintenance, engineering and other enterprise units.
Just as building an ICT foundation requires IT/OT cooperation, so holistic data management brings down silos in the enterprise and irrevocably joins operations and enterprise. Allow me to sketch how data management and organizational change dovetail.
As noted, IEDs produce both operational and non-operational data. Operational data typically is routed to the control center for real-time monitoring and control purposes. In contrast, non-operational data can be collected, concentrated and routed across the enterprise firewall, where it is stored, processed and accessed on-demand by stakeholders on the corporate network. Data-based insights gained through software applications can then be presented via a dashboard or other Graphical User Interface (GUI) that serves the purpose.
This process involves several steps. First, every IED and its non-operational data points are mapped. Then those data maps are matched with end users through the creation of an enterprise data requirements matrix – that is, every enterprise stakeholder, apprised of the IEDs on the power network and the non-operational data available (the data maps), determines which data is of value to them. Data from the IEDs is then routed to the enterprise via various communications networks with the appropriate response, bandwidth and latency requirements. A subset of operational data from the SCADA historian is also sent across the enterprise firewall to complement non-operational data. A federated data mart sits atop a utility’s existing systems, devices and data repositories and responds to requests by enterprise users. Rather than take you through the technical details on how all this is accomplished, please refer to the endnotes for supporting, in-depth publications. Figure 1 illustrates this arrangement.
It is important to note here that the process of creating an enterprise data mart requires every enterprise stakeholder’s involvement. The guiding principle is that every stakeholder who can create value from data should have secure access to that data. One important implication is that no operations or enterprise group should plan for or purchase technology without an organization-wide review of the needs of and benefits to all stakeholders. A holistic solution may involve the design and implementation of new devices and systems that span traditional bailiwicks. Thus the pursuit of solutions inevitably requires flattening a utility’s organizational structure and that leads to cultural and organizational change, including desiloing. Just as importantly, the development and implementation of holistic solutions eliminates the potential for technology redundancy (once bred by siloes) and improves the business case for every investment. In practical terms, accomplishing this may require a third-party to play a neutral role in guiding cultural and organizational change. Longer term, a more horizontal utility might provide incentives by basing individual compensation on enterprise-wide successes rather than on personal or bailiwick-level achievements.
So you begin to see how an ICT foundation, IED integration and advanced data management provide both operations and enterprise with visibility and insights. This contributes not only to improvements in the traditional utility responsibilities for safe, reliable, affordable power provision, but also to enterprise value creation and the adoption of applications that can support adaptation to external forces. In the long run, the resulting shift in culture and organization in a traditionally siloed utility can only be a good thing. In fact, the integration of formerly disparate functionalities into a single IED may well lead to the elimination of several utility departments and produce the need for a new skill set such as, , a “super IED specialist.”
If all this sounds like a daunting challenge, you are right – but consider a contemporary, alternative scenario. Utilities that implemented smart meters and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) communications in the ARRA era – but did not consider the future requirements of distribution automation (DA) – have saddled themselves with expensive, time-consuming workarounds. If these utilities had proactively required cooperation between a utility’s metering group and its distribution engineering group in this integration opportunity, they could have avoided duplicative efforts and unlocked significant value in both systems.
4. Six Solutions for the Technology Roadmap
Thus far we have discussed the ICT foundation of a smarter grid and a holistic approach to data management that is future oriented and supports a utility’s successful adaptation to internal change and external forces. Now let’s delve deeper into our theme of holistic, integrated solutions as they apply to your technology roadmap.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I was asked why some utilities took less time than others to restore service and what the slower utilities could do to shorten restoration time. The answer is six holistic, integrated solutions critical to successful adaptation: asset optimization, demand optimization, smart meters and communication, distribution optimization, transmission optimization and workforce and engineering design optimization, all tied together by an interoperability framework. A software services infrastructure supports the interoperability framework that all six solutions need to exchange data. This point is illustrated in Figure 2.
In addition to these six integrated solutions, achieving grid resiliency means investing in five key technology components: smart meter and AMI integration with GIS, OMS and ADMS. These are some of the components of a holistic distribution optimization solution. The integration of these five technology components enables Distribution Automation (DA), a suite of applications that run atop a utility’s SCADA platform (resulting in an Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS)), that include fault detection isolation and restoration (FDIR), integrated volt/VAr control (IVVC), optimal feeder reconfiguration (OFR) and distribution power analysis (DPA).
The key to success is how well these five components are integrated. Integration is not to be taken lightly; it requires time, effort and money. At a 2015 workshop on ADMS at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), utilities implementing ADMS reported that 30 percent of the project cost is the cost of the ADMS and 70 percent of the project cost is integration of the ADMS with other systems and devices in the utility enterprise. The more effective the integration, the greater the reliability on blue sky days and the greater the resilience in the face of grid failures due to internal factors or external forces.
The six integrated solutions were conceived after talking with many utility executives and technical leaders to determine their business and technical needs. These solutions represent the strongest business cases for utilities to meet present and future challenges. In this way, the integrated solutions facilitate a utility to successfully adapt to industry and society trends. One of those trends is the need to integrate renewables. The transmission optimization solution helps with integration of large-scale renewables to the transmission system. The distribution optimization solution helps with the integration of smaller-scale renewables to the distribution system, including those that originate with the end-use consumer.
4.1 Integrating Renewables
As noted, utility adoption of its own renewables and DER is often mandated by regulators, legislators or ballot initiatives in the form of RPS targets. Solar and wind installations at all levels (T&D&C) are also driven by market forces as renewable kilowatt-hour (kWh) costs have begun to achieve parity with the costs of fossil-fuel generation. These trends involving utility-scale, customer- and third-party-owned renewables and DER appear likely to continue into the future. A proactive utility stance must achieve balance between renewable/DER plant integration optimization, control and protection technologies.
To manage the impacts of interconnecting renewables and DER, utilities should consider scale and the similarities and differences between solar and wind. At the transmission level, utility-scale solar PV and concentrating solar power (CSP) and wind plants must be integrated into the high-voltage power network at 69kV and above. At the distribution level, solar PV is typically injected on the grid at 13.8kV and 34.5kV. Customer-scale renewables and DER – including solar PV, small-scale wind, bio-gas, advanced- and micro-turbines, batteries and fuel cells – must be integrated at much lower voltages.
PV integration must occur at all levels (T&D&C) and typically it is distributed and closer to load. Utility-scale wind most often enters the power network at the transmission level and is sited farther from load. Both solar and wind are highly variable and challenging to forecast. Both have grid integration requirements and use similar power electronics for operation, monitoring and control. (Wind has complex aeromechanical systems and controls that are absent in PV systems.)
Due to renewables and DER’s intermittency, energy storage systems are used to capture and store power when renewable/DER production is high and load is low. To determine the appropriate energy storage system, a utility must determine the intended application from a time perspective. If the application is “power” measured in kilowatts, then an energy storage system may be used to ride-through renewable/DER intermittency. If a utility’s application is “energy” (kilowatt hours), a utility must pay attention to the integral or area beneath that power curve. And energy storage system chemistries are not all optimal across various time-based applications. If instantaneous power is needed, lithium-ion is the choice. If an energy application over a longer timeframe is the goal, sodium-sulphur-based energy storage is likely most optimal.
Renewable/DER integration is also driving the market for power electronics to avoid excess wear and tear on electro-mechanical devices that might have to cope with intermittency and variability by operating far more often than their design intends, shortening their life cycle. Earlier, I suggested that utilities may find solutions by talking to each other. Recent cases in California and Arizona where policy drove high uptake of customer-owned solar PV illustrate my point. In both cases, high uptake led to voltage volatility on particular distribution feeders as fog and cloud cover blocked the sun’s rays periodically. This triggered the operation of electro-mechanical load tap changers at distribution substations and voltage regulators on feeders so often it reduced their useful life. Power electronics’ distributed intelligence can assess more variables in power quality on distribution feeders and reduce automated, mechanical actions. As market uptake occurs, the cost of power electronic-based solutions will drop. If this scenario is not familiar to you today, it may well need solving in the near future. Thus the value of seeking out best practices and lessons learned from your colleagues.
4.2 Integrating the Customer
Figure 3 provides a graphic illustration of how customers are integrated into the smart grid context. What it does not show is how customers can be integrated with a utility’s OMS via social media for swifter restoration time after an outage. This is a trend worthy of your attention.
Consider the following argument. Customer engagement will likely shape future utility practices and business models and customer satisfaction will be a component of successful utility adaptation going forward. Three years ago, a GE survey of U.S. utility customers found that 70 percent preferred communicating with their utility via a mix of mobile phones, texts, emails and their utility’s website – but not landline phones. Utilities’ traditional reliance on landline phones for customer outage reports is already obsolete. That is a challenge.
The solution is to provide customers with an incentive to tie their Twitter “handle” (and those of the entire household) to their customer record and physical address. Then any consumer in a household can report an outage without being home. New software is able to analyze tweets for outage information and feed that into an OMS. As more customers participate, the more accurate a utility’s determination of an outage’s location and extent. Customers may even provide smartphone photos of grid damage, providing visual information on its cause. Research reflects that engagement and participation increase customer satisfaction, so when customers realize that their participation is directly tied to swifter service restoration, satisfaction will rise. The utility’s reliability indices improve as well. Once a utility has engaged its customers in this fashion they may be more likely to participate in other utility programs. I would suggest that there is a direct line between customer engagement, participation and satisfaction and a utility’s successful adaptation.
4.3 The Role of Standards
As utilities move from adding devices and systems to adopting holistic, integrated solutions, the value of standards rises. Standards ensure interoperability, which avoids costly vendor lock-in, grows markets and enables economies of scale, lowering costs, reducing barriers to modernizing the grid and boosting innovation. For a graphic illustration of this point, see Figure 3 above in which the white boxes represent technologies made by different vendors that must be integrated variously in the control center, in substations and on distribution feeders so they can talk to each other and exchange information with each other. Without standards, interoperability and integration may be impossible or simply extremely arduous, time-consuming and expensive and certainly not supportive of successful adaptation or even regulatory approval.
Historically, the first phase of smart grid standards began prior to ARRA, though ARRA funding accelerated their development. In the U.S., the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) coordinated the development of standards where gaps existed. It identified 16 foundational standards for grid modernization, featured in Figure 4.
Today, the trend is towards reaching consensus on one global standard where overlapping standards still exist. Standards development remains very active, particularly in areas that we have identified as utility challenges, including safe, stable interconnections for customer renewables/DER, providing energy usage information to consumers via Internet connections and for customer-level home energy management (HEM) systems.
Conclusion
We have discussed the trends and challenges in the future of energy and how a utility can successfully adapt by implementing holistic, integrated solutions. I have tried to be forward-looking, positive, pragmatic and solution-oriented. There is another side to this discussion and I will leave you with a poignant thought. The threat of a “death spiral” for utilities is very real. If a utility has not engaged its customers and both improved the end-use consumer value proposition with new service offerings for greater value and successfully communicated that value, other parties will. Here is a simple scenario: if solar PV prices continue to fall (they will) and utility customers adopt solar power and feel self-sufficient with their own generation, without need for a utility and the grid, that utility has failed to engage its customers and provide new value streams. As a result, those utilities will see a declining customer base and declining revenue, which will place greater burdens on its remaining customers, who will then be driven to follow the exodus. If, on the other hand, the utility succeeds in engaging and explaining value propositions to its customers, they would not think of going it alone. In any business, the lack of a compelling value proposition spells doom. Utilities are no different. Whether your customers feel they need their utility is up to you. Windows of opportunity do not stay open forever.
References
[1] George Constable, Bob Somerville, A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Achievements that Transformed Our Lives (Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2003)
[2] “Observed Outages to the Bulk Electric System, 1992-2012,” EIA in “Economic Benefits of Increasing Electric Grid Resilience to Weather Events,” Executive Office of the President (August 2013) http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/08/f2/Grid%20Resiliency%20Report_FINAL.pdf
[3] Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System (Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2012) passim
[4] See David Malkin, Paul A. Centolella, “Results-based Regulation: a modern approach to modernize the grid,” white paper, GE and Analysis Group, 2014
[5] John D. McDonald, “The Future of Energy: Smart Grid and Beyond,” Powerpoint presentation at Harvard University, 21 October 2016, slide 12
[6] See the following publications: John D. McDonald, “Transformer Monitoring, Communications Networks and Data Marts: Extracting Full Value from Monitoring and Automation Schemes to Aid Enterprise Challenges,” keynote address, TechCon Australia 2015, page #s n/a; John D. McDonald, “Managing Big Data: Challenges & Winning Strategies,” Electric Energy T&D (May/June 2014) passim; John D. McDonald, “Extracting Value from Data: Distribution Automation and IEDs,” Electricity Today (May 2013) passim
[7] John D. McDonald, “Integrating DA With AMI May Be Rude Awakening for Some Utilities,” Renew Grid (Feb. 20, 2013) passim
[8] John D. McDonald, “Distribution automation for disasters, ‘blue sky’ days,” Global Renewable News (September 2013) passim
[9] John D. McDonald et al, “Refining a Holistic View of Grid Modernization,” final chapter in Smart Grid: Infrastructure, Technology and Solutions, Second Edition (Boca Raton: CRC Press, in press, 2017) pages n/a
[10] John D. McDonald, “Solar Power Impacts Power Electronics in the Smart Grid,” Power Electronics (Aug. 22, 2013) passim
[11] GE/Harris Poll, “Grid Resilience Survey,”(2014)
[12] John D. McDonald, “Integrated system, social media, improve grid reliability, customer satisfaction,” Electric Light & Power (Dec. 1, 2012) passim
[13] John D. McDonald et al, “Refining a Holistic View of Grid Modernization,” op cit.
