NASPI News Flash

New! June 25, 2009 U.S. DOE Press Release, Obama Administration Announces Availability of $3.9 Billion to Invest in Smart Grid Technologies and Electric Transmission Infrastructure.
The following Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) were posted on June 25, 2009
1) U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory Recovery Act - Smart Grid Demonstrations Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0000036, response date: 08/26/2009 03:00 PM ET (PDF 328KB)
2) U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Smart Grid Investment Grant Program Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0000058, response date: 08/06/2009 08:00 PM ET (PDF 348KB)
3) U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory Advanced SynchroPhasor Research Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0000035, response date: 05/13/2009 at 8:00:00 PM ET (PDF 137KB), Amendment 001 (PDF 152KB), and Amendment 002 (PDF 151KB)

Learn more about NIST's Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Project, NIST's Twiki Smart Grid Interim Report web site, and a "Report to NIST on the Smart Grid Interoperability Standards Roadmap" (PDF 5,985KB).

The Department of Energy hired Quanta Technologies to develop the specifications for an architecture for NASPInet, the communications infrastructure planned to collect and deliver phasor data between PMUs, data concentrators and analytical tools. Comments need to be received by July 15, 2009. Learn more about NASPInet.

NASPI presentation to NERC Operating Committee, March 17, 2009 (PDF 6681KB).

United States of America Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Smart Grid Policy. NIST smart grid issues summary (PDF 308KB).

- Synchrophasor Technology Roadmap (3/09 PDF 64KB)
- Synchrophasor Fact Sheet (3/09 PDF 179KB)
- Phasor Data Applications Table (3/09 PDF 98KB)

North American SynchroPhasor Initiative

The mission of the North American SynchroPhasor Initiative is to improve power system reliability and visibility through wide area measurement and control.

Synchrophasors are precise grid measurements now available from monitors called phasor measurement units (PMUs). PMU measurements are taken at high speed (typically 30 observations per second – compared to one every 4 seconds using conventional technology). Each measurement is time-stamped according to a common time reference. Time stamping allows synchrophasors from different utilities to be time-aligned (or “synchronized”) and combined together providing a precise and comprehensive view of the entire interconnection. Synchrophasors enable a better indication of grid stress, and can be used to trigger corrective actions to maintain reliability.

The NASPI community is working to advance the deployment and use of networked phasor measurement devices, phasor data-sharing, applications development and use, and research and analysis. Important applications today include wide-area monitoring, real-time operations, power system planning, and forensic analysis of grid disturbances. Phasor technology is expected to offer great benefit for integrating renewable and intermittent resources, automated controls for transmission and demand response, increasing transmission system throughput, and improving system modeling and planning.

NASPI is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, and North American electric utilities, vendors, consultants, federal and private researchers and academics. NASPI activities are funded by DOE and NERC, and by the voluntary efforts of many industry members and experts.

For more information, please contact:

Learn more about NASPI's vision and mission.

North American SynchroPhasor Initiative