The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law by United States President Obama on February 17, 2009. The Act includes measures to modernize our nation's infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need.
The Department of Energy (DoE) has been charged with orchestrating the wholesale modernization of the United State's electrical power grid. The technologically advanced electrical grid will be "smart." (For a publication that explores the nature, challenges, opportunities, and necessity of implementation, visit the DoE website to view The Smart Grid: An Introduction.
Heading the Smart Grid effort is the DoE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has "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..."
In April 2009, the new National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability Office launched a three-phase plan to expedite development and promote widespread adoption of Smart Grid interoperability standards and includes: Phase 1 - Roadmap and Smart Grid Release 1; Phase 2 - Public-Private Partnership for Longer- Term Evolution; and Phase 3 - Testing and Certification Framework.
SAE International is a leading standards organization identified in the Phase 1 NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards paragraph 5.13 for "Interoperability Standards to Support Plug-In Electric Vehicles." The following existing SAE standards were identified in Phase 1 as standards that can be used now to support Smart Grid development:
Having been identified as collaborators in paragraph 5.12 "Energy Storage Interconnection guidelines" of that report, SAE is working with other organizations and consortia such as ISO, IEC, utility companies, IEEE, EPRI, ZigBee Alliance, HomePlug Power Alliance, automotive OEMs and suppliers, and many others in the development of specifications and standards to address the requirements of the SmartGrid strategy.
Additionally, SAE International is a voting member of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP), a membership-based organization created to provide an open process for stakeholders to participate in providing input and cooperating with NIST in the ongoing coordination, acceleration, and harmonization of standards development for the Smart Grid.