NIST Tells FERC That Smart Grid Standards Are Ready For Review

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has delivered to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) a handful of smart grid interoperability and cybersecurity standards that NIST says are ready for consideration by regulators.

The five "foundational" standard sets, produced by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), focus on "the information models and protocols important to efficient and reliable grid operations, as well as cybersecurity," NIST says.

The standards include the following:

• IEC 61970 and IEC 61968: Common Information Models (CIMs) for data-exchange between devices and networks on transmission (IEC 61970) and distribution (IEC 61968) domains;

• IEC 61850: substation automation, communication and interoperability;

• IEC 60870-6: information-exchange between control centers; and

• IEC 62351: cybersecurity for communication protocols.

The five IEC standards were among the 25 standards identified as "ready for implementation" in NIST's "Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 1.0," which was issued in January. However, these specifications required a cybersecurity review that could not be completed until NIST finalized its initial "Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security," which were published last month.

SOURCE: NIST

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