Jewell participates in Smart Grid Implementation Workshop

Ward Jewell, professor in electrical engineering, attended the Smart Grid Implementation Workshop in Washington, D.C., June 19-20. The workshop will help form the Department of Energy's vision of the next generation electric power grid.

The workshop Web site is http://www.energetics.com/smartgrid08/index.html.

Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 calls for the U.S. Department of Energy to undertake a variety of activities to accelerate the development, demonstration and deployment of smart grid technologies, services and practices nationwide. This can only be accomplished through the concerted and coordinated efforts of electric utilities, equipment manufacturers, software developers, service providers, federal and state agencies, national laboratories, universities, consumers and other stakeholders. An important step involves reaching a common understanding of smart grid characteristics, the value created for the electric system, consumers and society, and a set of criteria and metrics for evaluating progress toward implementation.

Toward this end, the workshop convened smart grid experts and practitioners from across the country to discuss the vision of the future for the smart grid, key characteristics of smart grid systems, and the metrics that can be used by government and industry for tracking progress.