FERC vs NERC: A grid control showdown over cyber security

“
The utility side of this strategy
has in the past included implementing
a SCADA system and an AMR
system with interval meters. Today
it means analyzing life-cycle costs
when considering technology choices
in general, and adopting a meter
data management system in particular.
By participating in NRECA’s
multi-utility, stimulus-funded
project, DMEA will also assess its
members’ interest in prepaid accounts,
in-home energy displays and direct
load control measures.
Members and smart grid 2.0
On the membership side, which
Metheny dubs “smart grid 2.0,” the
co-op must answer the basic member
question: “What’s in it for me?”
“If we provide members with energy usage information, that puts control in
the members’ hands,” Metheny said. “We’re testing now to determine how many
members would use such a system.”
Engaging DMEA’s membership and providing them with energy management
tools underscores the co-op’s essential mission, according to Dan McClendon,
the co-op’s general manager.
“We try to give people the education and the technical tools to manage their
electricity use to help themselves and the group,” McClendon said. “But education
doesn’t happen overnight.”
DMEA’s consistent outreach should pay dividends as the conversation with
its membership becomes more complex. While
the co-op has conducted a direct load control
If we provide
pilot program for hot water heaters since 2005,
topics such as prepay, time-of-use rates, in-home
members with
displays and, inevitably, future rate increases are
coming to the table.
energy usage
Smart grid 3.0 will be when the two sides interact
productively, perhaps employing distributed
information, that
generation, energy storage, dynamic pricing,
electric vehicles—you name it, co-op managers
puts control in the
say. Moving forward will require consensus.
Mark Kurtz is DMEA’s newly hired smart grid
members’ hands. ”
coordinator. While he recognizes the co-op’s
diverse membership, he says they’re not that far
apart on concerns about environmental impacts and interest in energy efficiency.
He knows that messaging around future initiatives will be crucial.
“‘Smart grid’ has a bit of tar on it now,” Kurtz said. “We’ll build message
around ‘empowering the consumer.’ So our messaging will be: ‘Your bill may
increase by x amount, but if you use these tools, you can mitigate that increase.’”
Sticking with the basics
Preparing for a newfangled future is all well and good, but down at the Elk Creek
Mine near Somerset, the main concerns remain cost and reliability—and predictability.
Mine operator Oxbow Mining LLC uses nearly 40 million kWh per
year to produce its high-BTU, low-sulfur coal, which serves power plants east of
the Mississippi. Along with Arch Coal, Inc., the two mines are the co-op’s largest
customers and the county’s highest taxpayers.
Electricity costs directly influence Oxbow’s cost per ton and thus revenue and
profit. Reliability is critical to operations; the mine has no meaningful backup
power. Predictability, however, involves visibility into the future on costs and
business sustainability. So the mines have vital reasons for keeping track of
DMEA’s direction.
“DMEA has been good to notify us of proposed changes, including rate
increases, in the past,” said Rob Bowman, a financial analyst at the mine and
a newly minted member of the co-op’s advisory board.
Sticking with bottom-line basics, while reaching for the best practices of the
future, has garnered DMEA its share of attention from the outside world.
“A large part of our success is how we share and promote our experiences,”
said McClendon, the general manager. “We let the world know what we’re trying
to do. We build relationships at the state and federal level. They hear our story.
Among our co-op peers, more and more of them are working on the kinds of
things we’re working on. So I’m glad our story is getting out.”
Phil Carson is editor-in-chief of Intelligent Utility Daily.
WWW.INTELLIGENTUTILITY.COM 11