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Smart Grid and Time Synchronization

Precision timing and time synchronization are topics vital to the future of smart grid operations, especially in electric power substations. In the recently published Newton-Evans, “Assessment and Overview of the World Market for Time Synchronization in Electric Power Substations,” we asked 17 vendors what time references their substation IEDs support. Fourteen out of 17 said that their products support IRIG-B, and 13 indicated NTP (Network Timing Protocol). Precision Timing Protocol (PTP) and Pulse Rates are offered and supported by 9 of these manufacturers while PTP with Power Profile is supported by 7. Just over one-third (35%) reported using direct GPS signals, while nearly one-quarter (23.5%) of the group reported “other” time references were used or offered with their substation equipment.

timerefsupported

The participating manufacturers represent the majority of substation-based intelligent electronic devices (other than protective relays) used in conjunction with substation modernization programs. A number of these respondents also manufacture synchrophasor products including phasor measurement units and phasor data concentrators. Among the other product classes represented are: metering products; communications switches; fault and event recorders; protective relays; automation processing platforms; equipment monitors, and a range of IEC 61850 and DNP 3 supported equipment and devices.

Utility and Consultant Survey Observations
There was strong support for this time synchronization study received from 57 utilities in 24 countries. In addition to the utilities, six leading international engineering consulting firms provided key members of their substation consulting teams to participate in the study. The survey included 14 questions related to substation timing issues and current approaches to synchronize and distribute timing information.

Current Market for Precision Time Clocks
The multi-industry use of precision clocks (masters and slaves) is estimated to be in the range of $200-250 Million as of 2012, with moderate to good growth anticipated by clock manufacturers as well as by utility users. The mid-to-long term market outlook indicates growing interest in adoption of precision timing protocol (PTP) IEEE 1588.

Global sales of time synchronization devices for use in electric power substation (and all other electric power) applications are estimated to be in the range of $35-50 Million for 2012.

This 64 page report, “Assessment and Overview of the World Market for Time Synchronization in Electric Power Substations: A Utility and Industry Survey-Based Report on Precision Timing Requirements” is now available for $975.00 on our reports page. Samples from the report are available.

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Newton-Evans Research Study of Precision Timing Requirements For Substation Modernization and Synchrophasor Installations Underway

Newton-Evans is currently conducting a two-pronged study to determine the perceived importance and likely trends affecting substation timing and time synchronization requirements.

Survey completion time estimate: 10-15 minutes

For Transmission Asset Owners and ISOs/RTOs:
This survey requests information on timing references used by utilities and plans to implement IEEE 1588, IEC 61588, and Power Profile C37.238-2011. Time synchronization is becoming ever more important in the development of transmission networks making use of substation modernization, smart substations, and other substation automation upgrades.

Here is the survey link for use by qualified transmission and substation engineers who wish to participate in our important study.
http://s.zoomerang.com/s/SubsTimeSynch_survey

For Substation Equipment and Intelligent Device Manufacturers:
This survey requests information on time references supported by substation devices, the role of GPS, support of PTP, and PTP adoption trends.
Here is the survey link for use by manufacturers of intelligent substation devices that require time synchronization.
http://s.zoomerang.com/s/PTP_vendor_survey

Thank you for your interest in this important study. All interested participants will receive an Executive Summary of our findings from both surveys.

Respondent Confidentiality: Always Guaranteed by virtue of our membership of more than 20 years in the Council of American Survey Research Organization

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Did You Know…

…On a typical day, the Newton-Evans “Events” calendar is viewed by readers in 12-20 countries?

…Newton-Evans has surveyed more than 1,500 utility engineering and operations officials on more than 15 topics over the past year alone? . . . While the majority of our survey respondents are typically from North American utilities, we have had survey participation from utility officials located in more than 40 countries in the past 12 months.

…At any time, Newton-Evans will likely have multiple (from 3, 4 or 5) concurrent market/product/technology studies underway with utilities, industrials, consultants and/or suppliers to better understand the North American, international or global electric power delivery and smart grid marketplace?

…While the company has a large array of multi-client reports and studies available (see the Reports section of the website), more than one-half of our business is conducted for individual clients (proprietary research and consulting services).

…Similarly, the company undertakes both qualitative and quantitative research, often combining both approaches in a single study. For those studies where low cost is a vital consideration, secondary research combined with supply-side interviews will often be a cost-effective approach to meet the informational needs of our clients.

…Newton-Evans’ research activities and observations are shared with industry media on an ongoing basis. During 2012 and so far into 2013, the Newton-Evans’ staff has authored many important articles included in a number of industry leading publications. Here is a sample listing of a few of our recent contributions and editorial summaries or news concerning our reports

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U.S. Sales of Medium Voltage Equipment, Components and Related Services Accounted for More than $10 Billion in 2011, Forecast to Increase to $11.5 Billion in 2014.

Newton-Evans Research Publishes Set of U.S. Electric Power T&D Market Summaries for 18 specific medium voltage distribution equipment categories.

The Newton-Evans Research Company has announced the publication of a series of 18 electric power distribution market two-page snapshot market summaries. The new series of market overview reports (executive market summaries) includes supplier listings, representative products, estimated market size for each topic, vendor market share estimates, and a market outlook through 2014. Electric utilities accounted for nearly two-thirds of purchases of the medium voltage product categories in this series. A majority of the included equipment and products were produced in the United States.

The Medium Voltage equipment series is priced at $1,500 for all 18 market summary reports, or at $150.00 for individual report summaries. Each snapshot report include estimates of U.S. market size, supplier market share and outlook through 2014 for these categories:
MV01 – Air Insulated Metal Clad Switchgear
MV02 – MV Motor Controllers
MV03 – MV Gas Insulated Switchgear
MV04 – Automatic Circuit Reclosers
MV05 – Outdoor Distribution Circuit Breakers (5-38kv)
MV06 – Load Interrupter Switchgear
MV07 – Overhead Disconnect Switches (15-38kv)
MV08 – Sectionalizers
MV09 – Fused Cutouts
MV10 – Pad Mounted Switchgear
MV11 – Submersible Switchgear
MV12 – Bus Duct and Bus Bar
MV13 – Substation Class Pad Mounted Capacitors
MV14 – Current/Instrument Transformers
MV15 – Fault Current Limiters
MV16 – Fault Current Indicators and Faulted Circuit Indicators
MV17 – Current Limiting Fuses and Fuse Links
MV18 – Surge Arresters.

Other U.S. T&D market snapshot series currently available include power transformers (11 market segment snapshots), protective relays (8 market segment snapshots) and substation automation components (13 market segment snapshots). The next series to be released covers Distribution Automation in 12 market summaries, and is planned for publication later in July, 2012.

Click Here for a brochure or to place an order for any of the related report series or more than 50 currently available individual T&D report summaries online. For subscriptions to all of the currently available report series, please call or email us for special introductory pricing offers info@newton-evans.com

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ConnectivityWeek 2012 Gathers 100+ Speakers Defining the Energy 2.0 Market

ConnectivityWeek 2012 to bring in more than 100 top speakers from utilities, technology, government and energy consumption.

Top keynote speakers include United States Chief Technology Officer, California Public Utility Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy, Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), and more, to help define market for Energy 2.0.

ConnectivityWeek 2012 is gathering top speakers representing utilities, energy consumers, government and technology players to spark the dialogue that will help define the market for Energy 2.0, May 22-24, 2012, in Santa Clara, Calif.

Kicking off the conference as part of the May 22 opening Green Button plenary are Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the U.S.A. Todd Park and California Public Utility Commissioner Catherine Sandoval.

Following this Green Button-focused plenary, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary Pat Hoffman will announce winners of the highly anticipated “Apps for Energy” contest, which has been put together by the DOE and its partners: Grid 21, Itron and PG&E. Hoffman will be joined onstage by Karen Austin, SVP and CIO of PG&E; Bill Reichert, Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures; and more.

The breadth of speakers at ConnectivityWeek 2012 comprise the Energy 2.0 landscape and include representatives from energy supply, technology, electricity consumption verticals, and government
Where and When

ConnectivityWeek 2012 will take place May 22-24, 2012 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

For more information on this conference visit www.connectivityweek.com/2012/

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New Substation Automation U.S. Market Overview Reports

The Market Summary Series for Substation Automation is now available for purchase (see our reports page). These reports are an effective, low-cost approach for management to quickly obtain an assessment and overview of key attributes of each industry segment, including 2011 estimates of U.S. market size for utilities (by type) and for industrials; key players, and the near-term outlook for the segment.

Each report includes definitions of what is included in the segment, lists of market participants and their estimated 2011 revenue, a market share assessment (pie chart), 2011 market size range estimates, history and outlook of estimated spending changes out to 2014.

These 2-page summary reports are available for $195 each, or get all 13 Substation Automation reports in one .pdf document for $975. View our reports page for more details.

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Newest Report: Utility Data Communications Market Study in 3 Volumes

Despite economic uncertainty, Outlook for Investment on Utility Telecommunications Upgrades during 2012-2014 remains positive, influenced by a new generation of field automation applications and advanced metering.

Study Finds Growth in Wireless Investment to Outpace Increases in Wireline Data Communications Over Near-Term and Mid-Term

Slow Rulings Related to Rate Restructuring and Real-Time Pricing Initiatives Viewed as Holding Back Some Near-Term Investment in Electric Utility Communications Upgrades.

JANUARY 3, 2011 ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Newton-Evans Research Company, Inc. announced completion of a three-volume report series focusing on data communications in the electric power industry. Survey findings from over 100 electric utilities worldwide indicate:

1) 88% of utility respondents agree that open protocols provide a degree of protection from premature obsolescence of products, but 58% of indicated they have experienced products that are supposedly standardized/open/interoperable which have not functioned as expected or promised by the vendor.

2) Only 11% of all respondents think that the use of synchrophasor technology will be a main driver in Smart Grid communications requirements, and 10% believe that synchrophasors will be the catalyst to adopt IEC standard 61850. (However, 48% said they were “neutral” regarding either statement.)

3) When asked, “What are some of the key data communications issues facing your utility?” responses to this question ranged from “Cost,” “Reliability,” and “Security” (the three most frequently mentioned) to other issues like technology obsolescence, bandwidth, interoperability, lack of standardization, spectrum availability, NERC CIP compliance, latency, terrain-topography , and scalability. See the accompanying illustration.

4) A follow up question to this was, “What do vendors need to do to address these issues?”. The most frequently identifiable sentiment could be paraphrased as, “Be more attentive to Utility requirements, communicate more, work together.” This was followed by comments mentioning “Standardization.” It is clear from this feedback that utilities expect increased cooperation from their communications equipment suppliers and services providers than they may have experienced to date. On the other hand, if vendors need to adapt their solutions and tailor their products and services to fit the situational needs of varying utility profiles, then they have their work cut out for them. Collaborative research and development may provide a feasible compromise solution.

Volume One of the three volume study includes detailed survey findings on grid operational telecommunications usage patterns and plans from over 100 electric utilities in 24 countries.
Volume Two contains profiles for 22 of the leading communications solutions providers and includes more than 30 smart grid communications-centric project summaries from around the world. Volume Three provides an in-depth assessment and outlook for the smart grid telecommunications market and summary of key market influences.

Level 1 – Reliability, Cost, Security
Level 2 – Bandwidth, Spectrum, Staffing
Level 3 – Protocols, Interoperability, Migration Paths
Level 4 – Obsolescence, NERC CIP, Carrier Limitations, Standards

Additional information on the three volume study Global Study of Data Communications Usage Patterns and Plans in the Electric Power Industry: 2011-2015 is available from Newton-Evans Research Company, 10176 Baltimore National Pike, Suite 204, Ellicott City, Maryland 21042. Phone 1-410-465-7316 or visit www.newton-evans.com to access the report brochure. The three-volume report is priced at $3,750.00 and can be ordered and downloaded online. Khrissy Newton can also be reached at knewton@newton-evans.com to provide any additional information regarding the new report series.

 

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Excerpts from Volume One of “Global Study of Data Communications Usage Patterns and Plans in the Electric Power Industry: 2012-2014”

The findings presented and excerpted from this three-volume study are based on a global research survey sent out by Newton-Evans over the course of the second, third and fourth quarters of 2011. One hundred and two utility officials involved in Operations and Telecommunications Planning and Design responded to the survey. These utilities combined serve over 153 million end use customers globally; 30 million in the U.S. alone. Volume Two includes many case studies of smart grid communications projects and Volume Three provides a fresh outlook for telecommunications expenditures and trends over the 2012-2014 period.

What are some of the key datacomm issues facing your utility?
In summary, when reviewing the comments received from most of the participating utilities, there is almost a different issue or sets of issues facing each utility when it comes to key data communications challenges. Newton-Evans’ analysts have grouped the large number of responses into several categories. The most frequently mentioned issue across all 81 comments was Cost (mentioned in 22 comments) followed by Reliability (mentioned in 16 comments) and Security (15 comments.) Other issues mentioned included zoning approval for new radio towers, communications carriers facing the same economic pressures as utilities, choosing a DA communications technology, the impact of data management on computing and human resources, lack of ability to manage disparate systems with utility resources, and others.

Continue reading Excerpts from Volume One of “Global Study of Data Communications Usage Patterns and Plans in the Electric Power Industry: 2012-2014”

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Findings from Worldwide Smart Grid Market study

A brochure describing the smart grid study and cost can be found on our BROCHURES page.

According to the latest study by Newton-Evans Research Company, 84% of electric utilities are including smart meters as part of their smart grid plan. While this may be unsurprising (considering the important role metering plays in the smart grid), only 49% of electric utilities surveyed said they are including a dynamic pricing plan as part of their smart meter rollout.

Utilities in North America lean more towards “no,” while 64% of international utilities report that “yes,” dynamic pricing is integral to their smart meter implementation. Within North America, IOUs and especially Canadian utilities were slightly more likely to be implementing dynamic pricing along with smart meters (54% and 75% answering “yes” respectively.) See the table below for more detail.

The Worldwide Smart Grid Market in 2011: A Reality Check and Five Year Outlook Through 2015
Electric utility viewpoints and observations in this study are based on input received from 112 electric utilities in 31 different countries. Public Utility Commissions in the United States were also surveyed, and secondary research was conducted to determine the status of smart grid policy in India, Brazil, Mexico and China. This three volume report is available for $3,750 on our reports page or by phone (+1 410 465 7316 or 800 222 2856).

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The Worldwide Smart Grid Market in 2011: A Reality Check and Five Year Outlook Through 2015

The brochure describing the smart grid-reality check  study can be found on our BROCHURES page  http://www.newton-evans.com/?page_id=1258.

The new 150+ page Smart Grid 3-part report is available from July 25 onward:

July 25, 2011—Ellicott City, Maryland. The Newton-Evans Research Company has announced publication of its newest three volume study of “smart grid” research topics.    The study is based on inputs from utilities, regulators and industry equipment manufacturers, systems integrators and consulting firms, as well as highlights from recently completed Newton-Evans studies.

Volume One includes assessment of survey results obtained from utilities in more than 30 countries, together with inputs from regulators from throughout the United States, as well as regulatory findings from China, India, Brazil and Mexico.  Survey topics included utility views and regulatory filings related to real-time pricing, vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-building topics.

Volume Two includes sections that describe the current status and outlook for smart grid building blocks including control systems, substation automation, protection and control, outage management, distribution automation, smart infrastructure and automated metering.  The role of communications networks as the integrating force for smart grid development is also detailed.

Volume Three is an attempt to realistically portray the market as it stands in 2011 and as it may look by 2015.  The outlook for specific smart grid developments in each world region and in key countries within several world regions is profiled.  The regional outlooks have been smoothed by taking into account regional variables including GDP, population, economic growth rates, and electrical infrastructure assets (including power generation capacity, actual production, as well as transmission and distribution substations).  The volume also includes survey findings from research conducted with more than 30 global and regional market leaders active in development of the smart grid on the near-term and mid-term outlook for smart grid developments.

Brief overviews of key embryonic aspects of smart grid development are provided.  Included are renewables integration, energy storage, home energy management, and electric vehicle charging stations.  Emerging roles of demand response, synchrophasor developments and visualization tools are also summarized.  This new report series is entitled The Worldwide Smart Grid Market Outlook in 2011: A Reality Check and Five Year Outlook Through 2015.  The study represents a continuing commitment of nearly 35 years of research into the equipment and technologies in use and under development in support of the electric power industry around the world.  Since 1978, Newton-Evans Research Company has been a global leader in power industry automation and electricity infrastructure market studies and has assisted many of the world’s leading utilities in their quest for comparative technology benchmarking information.

The July, 2011 report series is in three volumes and is priced at $3,750.00.  The report is available for immediate download from the company’s website at www.newton-evans.com  or by phone to: 410-465-7316.

 

 

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Progress Report on Newton-Evans Smart Grid Outlook Research Program

In April, 2011, we began a significant undertaking to learn the latest information about the “real world” of smart grid development initiatives among the nation’s and the world’s electric power utilities. We hope to better understand the shape of the demand curve for smart grid initiatives once the multi-billion dollar government stimulus funds already awarded become depleted. What will the domestic follow-on look like? Will new funding come from utilities, the public, the industry’s solutions providers, or one or more levels of government? Will collaborative efforts shorten development and piloting cycles?

Click here to read more.

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Sale: 15% Off Two Major Newton-Evans Studies

Through March 31st, Newton-Evans will be taking 15% off all volumes of the following report series:

  • The World Market for Substation Automation and Integration Programs in Electric Utilities: 2011-2013

  • The World Market Study of SCADA, Energy Management Systems and Distribution Management Systems in Electric Utilities: 2010-2012

See our Market Research Reports page for pricing or to order either of these reports during the sale.

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Increases in Substation Related Automation and Integration Program Spending Reported by North American Electric Power Utilities

The Newton-Evans Research Company has released findings from the North American volume of its newly published four volume research series entitled: The World Market for Substation Automation and Integration Programs in Electric Utilities: 2011-2013. The new study compares the current round of research findings with earlier tracking studies conducted by the firm.

Newton-Evans Research estimates the current North American spending for substation automation and integration programs at more than $500 million, with an overall potential market size of nearly $10 billion. Global potential is estimated at about $38-$40 billion. This amount includes spending for a wide range of intelligent substation-resident equipment and devices and the manpower to undertake the systems integration efforts required.

The years 2008-2009 were slow growth – or at best moderate growth – years in most categories of intelligent electronic equipment sales related to the modern, increasingly digital, electric power substation. Fewer retrofit programs were undertaken except for the most critical of substations. The pool of funding for substation automation projects increased somewhat by virtue of a portion of the stimulus funds made available by the U.S. Department of Energy, with most of this amount likely to be spent in 2011-2012.

Additional topics being covered in the four volume series of substation automation studies include strong coverage of multiple communications topics, vendor security certification requirements, external systems linkages to the substation, preferred equipment suppliers, and an assessment of where North America’s electric power substations are positioned along a three-phase path to complete automation.

Level of automation of substations reported in North American survey sample
transmission substations automated

distribution substations automated

Respondents indicated a total of 1,567 transmission substations and 5,154 distribution substations in operation as of the 4th quarter of 2010. These represent a 9% sample of U.S. and Canadian combined totals of transmission voltage substations and nearly 10% of all distribution voltage substations.

It seems surprising that as of 2010, there were significant numbers of transmission substations reported to have no IEDs and no automation, although retrofit programs over the 2011-2013 period will likely improve the status of more than one-half of those currently non-automated substations.

Of 5,154 distribution substations in operation at participating utilities, nearly 36% were reported to be without any automation. Just over one-half (52%) of these distribution substations were classified as Stage 1 sites (having some IEDs, RTUs, and two-way communications). About 12% were reported to be “fully automated.”

The finding that 60 new transmission substations and 170 new distribution substations are on the drawing board for construction by 2013 provides some cautious optimism for EPC firms, as this level of planning is a sign of re-investment in grid-essential infrastructure.

The World Market for Substation Automation and Integration Programs in Electric Utilities: 2011-2013 Volume 1, North American Market is available for $2,500. To order volumes of these reports as they become available, and to view pricing details for all our reports, visit our Market Research Reports page. For samples or to view the table of contents, send a request to info@newton-evans.com with the subject line “Substation Automation Market 2011.”

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In the News . . . Mid-October Update

On October 12, 2010, IBM Corporation and Kyoto Publishing announced the publication of the IBM report titled Generating Insights: Accelerating Into a New Era in Energy. The report explores how the global electric utility industry continues to be reinvented through new technologies and confronting opportunities regarding business strategy, technology innovation, customer interface, regulation, security and consumer demand.

A series of IBM authors and contributors from Oracle, Juniper Networks, Black & Veatch, Southern California Edison, the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition, and the Newton-Evans Research Company make up this compilation of white papers in the tenth annual Energy & Utilities project. The project includes papers on topics such as: Collaborating for a Smarter Grid; The Impact of Smart Grid on Climate Change; Smart Grid Security and Architectural Thinking; The New Era In Distributed Generation; Smart Nuclear Power; Keeping the Lights on While Transforming Electric Utilities; and the Newton-Evans contribution, Re-Investing in Electric Power Utilities to Build A Smarter Grid. 

The full IBM report can be downloaded (after sign-up) at http://www.generatinginsights.com/

Also, Chuck’s article, Sailing the Seven “C’s” With CISCO and Itron has been featured in the October 2010 issue of PowerGrid International magazine. Click here to read the October 2010 issue.

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Sailing the Seven “C’s” With CISCO and Itron

by Chuck Newton

The September 1, 2010 announcement of a formal collaboration between CISCO and Itron was notable in several respects. First, the simple announcement was termed “collaboration” instead of “joint venture” or even a formal “partnership.” It was also described as non-exclusive, but was a very important step forward nonetheless for both companies, especially for Itron, and serves as a good omen for the AMI portion of “smart grid” communications in general, thus likely to benefit other AMI market participants that offer communications solutions as part of their go-to-market strategies.

CISCO is a $35 billion company, with an estimated $2-3 billion (Newton-Evans estimate) found within energy-related vertical industry sales of its communications equipment. Itron itself will close in on being a $2 billion corporation again in 2010, with about 50% of revenues derived from electric power industry AMR/AMI sales and services. Continue reading Sailing the Seven “C’s” With CISCO and Itron

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The Potential Role of Technology Transfer for Managing the Emerging Smart Grid…

A Look at Commercial Aviation’s Cornerstone Operations Control System to Provide Regional and Nationwide Operations Management for Electric Power

I want to take this opportunity to provide our web site visitors and our Market Trends Digest readers (upcoming spring 2010 edition) with some summary information about what we believe to be one of the country’s most advanced implementations of something akin to what we have been discussing for the past few years as an emerging requirement for the national’s smarter electric grid operations.  The FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure System (or FTI) is perhaps the best example I have seen of a system of effective management tools for nationwide situational awareness and visualization so vital to the daily operation of a communications-centric community as air traffic.  

Recently I had an opportunity to tour the FAA’s Telecommunications Infrastructure control center.  I came away from this “system of systems” quite impressed,  this after visits to perhaps 60-65 major utility and pipeline operations control centers in several countries in the course of my career.  In fact, this particular system is probably the largest (encompassing the entire United States) and without a doubt, one of the more sophisticated and most complex communications control and network management systems in existence. 

Continue reading The Potential Role of Technology Transfer for Managing the Emerging Smart Grid…

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Density of Distribution Network Intelligent Electronic Devices Seen as Key to Selection of DA Communications Approach

March 13, 2010 —Ellicott City, Maryland. The Newton-Evans Research Company today announced the publication of its newest report titled, “Distribution Automation: Trends, Developments and Retrospectives 2007-2018.” This report is a compilation of findings from several recently completed Newton-Evans’ market and technology studies and includes new and updated tables on smart field device density, communication approaches planned for adoption for DA, DA market size projections, DA adoption rates, and CAPEX and O&M budget trends for DA. Continue reading Density of Distribution Network Intelligent Electronic Devices Seen as Key to Selection of DA Communications Approach

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Potential Synergies of an Areva T&D Acquisition by General Electric: Why Alstom-Schneider and Toshiba are Also in the Bidding

As many regular readers of Newton-Evans’ reports already know, there are three major contenders for the $7 billion Transmission and Distribution business units of Areva Corporation. These are the American firm General Electric, the French corporate combination of Alstom and Schneider Electric, and the Japanese company, Toshiba.

Newton-Evans Research believes the greatest benefit to the electric power industry may result if General Electric’s offer becomes the winning bid. The reason: Areva T&D fills several product/equipment gaps in GE’s T&D product line and related automation offerings. A successful acquisition by General Electric would provide the firm with world-leading combined market shares in substation automation, protection and control and T&D control systems (energy management and SCADA). GE would become a major player in several growing portions of the transmission equipment business, establishing a stronger foothold in the North American and international transmission market segments described below. Together these segments are worth $25-40 billion on a worldwide basis. Areva T&D earned about $3.5 billion in HV equipment sales in 2008-2009. Continue reading Potential Synergies of an Areva T&D Acquisition by General Electric: Why Alstom-Schneider and Toshiba are Also in the Bidding

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Critical Issues In Protective Relaying: Engineering Perspectives From 24 Countries

The newest study of electric power grid protection and control, published by Newton-Evans Research on October 30, 2009 is now available for on-line purchase. The 81 page report is based on extensive surveys of protection and control engineers and P&C management from around the world. The survey was designed by engineers to include study of key topics of interest to the P&C community. Issues covered in the study  include equipment/device issues; tripping and control practices, settings and analysis, testing frequencies and methods.

One theme that emerges from the varying responses is that there is no particular “right” way or “wrong” way to go about designing and implementing a particular relay scheme. Some utilities design schemes in a certain way, while others do it another way. What our project manager labels “Philosophy of Engineering” is evident in this study, especially in the choices made by P&C engineers as they apply relays to their systems.

This report includes more respondent comments than any previous relay survey conducted by Newton-Evans. We encourage you to read through these list compilations, as there is a wealth of information contained therein. What is a major issue for one engineer is not even a concern for another engineer.

As one example of utility diversity, it is fascinating to see in Section D: Strategy/Policy Issues the variety of ways Utilities are structured to handle the responsibilities of their Relay Organization, as well as to review the tactics used to attract and retain the next generation of relay engineers. Some Utilities have extensive training programs for young talent, while many do nothing or do not even recognize it as a potential problem. Continue reading Critical Issues In Protective Relaying: Engineering Perspectives From 24 Countries