This Technical Specification defines the interface, in terms of information flow, between industrial facilities and the “smart grid??. It identifies, profiles and extends where required, the standards needed to allow the exchange of the information needed to support the planning, management and control of electric energy flow between the industrial facility and the smart grid.
Industry is a major consumer of electric power and in many cases this consumption can be scheduled to assist in minimizing overall peak demands on the smart grid. In addition, many industrial facilities have in-house generation or storage resources which can also assist in smart grid load management. While some larger industrial facilities already manage their use and supply of electric power, more widespread deployment, especially by smaller facilities, will depend upon the availability of readily available standard automated interfaces.
Standards are already being developed for home and building automation interfaces to the smart grid; however the requirements of industry differ significantly and are addressed in this Technical Specification. For industry, the operation of energy resources within the facility will remain the responsibility of the facility operator. Incorrect operation of a resource could impact the safety of personnel, the facility, the environment or lead to production failure and equipment damage. In addition, larger facilities may have in-house production planning capabilities which might be co-ordinated with smart grid planning, to allow longer term energy planning.
Specifically excluded from the scope of this Technical Specification are the protocols needed for the direct control of energy resources within a facility where the control and ultimate liability for such direct control is delegated by the industrial facility to an external entity (e.g. distributed energy resource (DER) control by the electrical grid operator).