Tag Archives: D2

  1. Home
  2. Posts tagged "D2"
Loading
loading..

Energy Standard for Data Centers

Consulting-Specifying Engineer (March 4, 2025): Why and how to adopt the IECC for energy-efficient designs

2024 Update to ASHRAE Position Statements

List of Titles, Scopes and Purposes of the ASHRAE Catalog

Public Review Draft Standards

The parent title of this standard is ASHRAE Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings  and is continually under revision; frequently appearing in electrical engineering design guidelines, construction specifications, commissioning and O&M titles in our industry and others.

ASHRAE 90.4 defines an alternate compliance path, specific to data centers, while the compliance requirements for “non-data center” components are contained in ASHRAE 90.1 .  The 90.4 structure also streamlines the ongoing maintenance process as well ensures that Standards 90.1 and 90.4 stay in their respective lanes to avoid any overlap and redundancies relating to the technical and administrative boundaries.  Updates to ASHRAE 90.1 will still include the alternate compliance path defined in ASHRAE 90.4. Conversely the 2022 Edition of 90.4-2022 refers to ASHRAE 90.1-2022; cross-referencing one another synchronously

Links to noteworthy coverage from expert agencies on the 2022 revisions:

Addendum g modifies Sections 3 and 6 to support the regulation of process heat and process ventilation

HPC Data Center Cooling Design Considerations

ASHRAE standard 90.4 updates emphasize green energy

ASHRAE updated its standard for data centers

How to Design a Data Center Cooling System for ASHRAE 90.4

Designing a Data Center with Computer Software Modeling

This title resides on the standing agenda of our Infotech 400 colloquium; hosted several times per year and as close coupled with the annual meetings of ASHRAE International as possible.  Technical committees generally meet during these meetings make decisions about the ASHRAE catalog.  The next all committee conference will be hosted January 20-24, 2024 in Chicago.  As always we encourage education industry facility managers, energy conservation workgroups and sustainability professionals to participate directly in the ASHRAE consensus standard development process.  It is one of the better facilities out there.

Start at ASHRAE’s public commenting facility:

Online Standards Actions & Public Review Drafts

Energy Standard for *Sites* and Buildings

Update: May 30, 2023

Proposed Addendum g makes changes to definitions were modified in section 3 and mandatory language in Section 6 to support the regulation of process heat and process ventilation was moved in the section for clarity. Other changes are added based on comments from the first public review including changes to informative notes.

Consultation closes June 4th

Update: February 10, 2023

The most actively managed consensus standard for data center energy supply operating in education communities (and most others) is not published by the IEEE but rather by ASHRAE International — ASHRAE 90.4 Energy Standard for Data Centers (2019).  It is not required to be a free access title although anyone may participate in its development.   It is copyrighted and ready for purchase but, for our purpose here, we need only examine its scope and purpose.   A superceded version of 90.4 is available in the link below:

Third ISC Public Review Draft (January 2016)

Noteworthy: The heavy dependence on IEEE power chain standards as seen in the Appendix and Chapter 8.  Recent errata are linked below:

https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/technical%20resources/standards%20and%20guidelines/standards%20errata/standards/90.4-2016errata-5-31-2018-.pdf

https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/technical%20resources/standards%20and%20guidelines/standards%20errata/standards/90.4-2019errata-3-23-2021-.pdf

We provide the foregoing links for a deeper dive “into the weeds”.  Another addendum has been released for consultation; largely administrative:

ASHRAE 90.4 | Pages 60-61 | Consultation closes January 15, 2023.

It is likely that the technical committee charged with updating this standard are already at work preparing an updated version that will supercede the 2019 Edition.  CLICK HERE for a listing of Project Committee Interim Meetings.

We maintain many titles from the ASHRAE catalog on the standing agenda of our Mechanical, Energy 200/400, Data and Cloud teleconferences.   See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Originally posted Summer 2020.

 

ASHRAE International has released four new addenda to its energy conservation consensus document ASHRAE 90.4-2016 Energy Standard for Data Centers.  This document establishes the minimum energy efficiency requirements of data centers for design and construction, for the creation of a plan for operation and maintenance and for utilization of on-site or off-site renewable energy resources.

It is a relatively new document more fully explained in an article published by ASHRAE in 2016 (Click here).   The addenda described briefly:

Addendum a  – clarifies existing requirements in Section 6.5 as well as introduce new provisions to encourage heat recovery within data centers.

Addendum b  – clarifies existing requirements in Sections 6 and 11 and to provide guidance for taking credit for renewable energy systems.

Addendum d  – a response to a Request for Interpretation on the 90.4 consideration of DieselRotary UPS Systems (DRUPS) and the corresponding accounting of these systems in the Electrical Loss Component (ELC). In crafting the IC, the committee also identified several marginal changes to 90.4 definitions and passages in Section 8 that would add further clarity to the issue. This addendum contains the proposed changes for that aim as well as other minor changes to correct spelling or text errors, incorporate the latest ELC values into Section 11, and to refresh information in the Normative Reference.

Addendum e adds language to Section 11 intended to clarify how compliance with Standard 90.4 can be achieved through the use of shared systems.

Comments are due September 6th.   Until this deadline you may review the changes and comment upon them by by CLICKING HERE

Universitat de Barcelona

 

Proposed Addendum g

Education facility managers, energy conservation workgroups and sustainability professionals are encouraged to participate directly in the ASHRAE standard development process.   Start at ASHRAE’s public commenting facility:

Online Standards Actions & Public Review Drafts

The ASHRAE catalog is a priority title in our practice.  This title appears on the standing agenda of our Infotech sessions.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

"One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, "My little computer said such a funny thing this morning" - Alan Turing

Issue: [12-54]

Category: Telecommunications, Infotech, Energy

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Robert G. Arno, Neal Dowling, Jim Harvey, Mike Hiler, Robert Schuerger, Larry Spielvogel

Workspace / ASHRAE

 

2029 National Electrical Code

Public input on the 2029 Revision will be received until April 9th. Over the next weeks and months — typically meeting twice a day every Tuesday — we will pull forward our previous proposals and draft original proposals relevant to the education and healthcare electrotechnical infrastructure of educational settlements.  Link to Proposed Reorganization.

Photo at 2723 State Street Office*

Mike was part of the National Electrical Code Quarter Century Club but was at another conference and not able to receive the award at the June conference.  University of Michigan support began in 1993.  IEEE support began in 2014.

*New Office (a short walk across the street) starting October 1: 455 East Eisenhower, Ann Arbor, MI 48108

Current Issues and Recent Research

Today we examine Second Draft transcripts of the Special Equipment Chapter 6 (CMP-12) and product inspection, testing and certification listings that appear Annex A (CMP-1).

 

Once every eighteen months we spend a week drilling into the National Electrical Code by submitting new proposals or comments on proposed revisions.  Today we review the actions taken by the technical committees on the First Draft.   Responses to committee actions will be received until August 26th.

2026 National Electrical Code Workspace

Premise Wiring

Interconnected Electric Power Production Sources “Microgrids”

National Electrical Definitions

Kitchen Wiring

Solarvoltaic PV Systems

Hospital Plug Load

Data Center Wiring

Electrical Inspector Professional Qualifications

Critical Operations Power Systems

Arenas, Lecture Halls & Theaters

Appliances

Emergency and Standby Power Systems

Luminaires, Lampholders, and Lamps

Electric Vehicle Power Transfer System

Art, Design & Fashion Studios

Wiring for Luminaires in High Ceiling Occupancies

Energy Standard for *Sites* and Buildings

Addendum av to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2022, Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. This addendum creates more exacting provisions for envelope alterations. The new format is intended to better communicate the requirements, triggers, and allowances associated with performing an envelope alteration to promote energy efficiency within the impacted area(s).  Consultation closes October 6.

ANSI Standards Action Weekly Edition | Given ASHRAE’s revision redlines are frequently uploaded here

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is an ANSI-accredited continuous-maintenance standards developer (a major contributor to what we call a regulatory product development “stream”).   Continuous maintenance means that changes to its consensus products can change in as little as 30 days so it is wise to keep pace.

Among the leading titles in its catalog is ASHRAE 90.1 Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.  Standard 90.1 has been a benchmark for commercial building energy codes in the United States and a key basis for codes and standards around the world for more than 35 years.  Free access to ASHRAE 90.1 version is available at the link below:

READ ONLY Version of 2022 ASHRAE 90.1

Redlines are released at a fairly brisk pace — with 30 to 45 day consultation periods.  A related title — ASHRAE 189.1 Standard for the Design of High Performance Green Buildings — first published in 2009 and far more prescriptive in its scope heavily  references parent title 90.1 so we usually them as a pair because 189.1 makes a market for green building conformance enterprises. Note the “extreme prescriptiveness” (our term of art) in 189.1 which has the practical effect of legislating engineering judgement, in our view.

25 January 2023: Newly Released ASHRAE 90.1-2022 Includes Expanded Scope For Building Sites

ASHRAE committees post their redlines at the link below:

Online Standards Actions & Public Review Drafts

Education estate managers, energy conservation workgroups, sustainability officers, electric shop foreman, electricians and front-line maintenance professionals who change lighting fixtures, maintain environmental air systems are encouraged to participate directly in the ASHRAE consensus standard development process.

We also maintain ASHRAE best practice titles as standing items on our Mechanical, Water, Energy and Illumination colloquia.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Issue: [Various]

Category: Mechanical, Electrical, Energy Conservation, Facility Asset Management, US Department of Energy, #SmartCampus

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Larry Spielvogel, Richard Robben

Under Construction:  ASHRAE WORKSPACE

More

The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics. - Bertrand Russell

ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2019: Energy Standard For Buildings

ARCHIVE 2002-2016 / ASHRAE 90.1 ENERGY STANDARD FOR BUILDINGS

US Department of Energy Building Energy Codes Program

ASHRAE Guideline 0 The Commissioning Process

Why Software is Eating the World

* Many standards-developing organizations aim to broaden their influence by entering the product standard and certification domain. Although our primary focus is on interoperability standards (within a system of interoperable products), we also consider market dynamics when product performance specifications are incorporated by reference into public law.

Data Center Operations & Maintenance

"One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, "My little computer said such a funny thing this morning" - Alan Turing

Information and communications technology (ICT) is a fast-moving economic space in which a mix of consensus, consortia and open-source standards form the broad contours of leading practice.   ICT standards tend to follow international developments — more so than, say, fire safety standards which are more familiar to education facility leadership.  All school districts, colleges, universities and university-affiliated health care systems have significant product, system, firmware and labor resources allocated toward ICT.

The Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI) is a professional association supporting the advancement of the ICT community in all markets.   This community is roughly divided between experts who deal with “outside-plant” systems and “building premise” systems on either side of the ICT demarcation (or Point-of-Presence).   BICSI standards cover the wired and wireless spectrum of voice, data, electronic safety & security, project management and audio & video technologies.  Its work is divided among several committees as shown in the landing page of its standards setting enterprise, linked below:

BICSI International Standards Program

The stars on the map above indicate where BICSI Standards are currently in use (CLICK ON IMAGE).

Education communities are stewards of significant information and communication technology infrastructure.  Accordingly, we track the development of BICSI 009 Data Center Operations and Maintenance Best Practices.   This title provides requirements, recommendations, and best practices for the operation and maintenance of data centers including but not limited to standard operating procedures, emergency operating procedures, maintenance, governance, and management.  Those comments are now being integrated into a revised standard to be released as soon as the restrictions of the pandemic are eased.  For more information you may communicate directly with Jeff Silveira (jSilveira@bicsi.org)

As of this posting, all BICSI best practice titles are stable and current; though our recent communication with its leadership indicates that BICSI standards setting has been slowed by the pandemic.

A fair amount of content in BICSI standards are inspired by movement in safety concepts of the National Electrical Code; particularly on matters involving wiring, grounding and lightning protection.  We maintain all BICSI best practice titles on the standing agenda of our Infotech 200 teleconference.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to the public.   On this topic we collaborate with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee meets four times monthly in European and American time zones; also open to the public.

 

Issue: [19-30]

Category: Telecommunications, Infotech

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Michael Hiler

 

LEARN MORE:

 

Workspace / BICSI

 

 

 

 

 

 

Data Center Wiring

The bookwheel, also known as a revolving bookcase, was invented by an Italian scholar and polymath named Agostino Ramelli. Ramelli was born in 1531 in Ponte Tresa, a town in present-day Italy, and he lived during the Renaissance period.

Ramelli’s invention, described in his work titled “Le diverse et artificiose machine del capitano Agostino Ramelli” (The Various and Ingenious Machines of Captain Agostino Ramelli), was published in 1588. This book showcased a collection of 195 mechanical devices.  

Ramelli’s work contributed to the growing interest in mechanical inventions during the Renaissance period. His bookwheel design remains a fascinating example of early engineering and ingenuity, highlighting the desire for knowledge and practical solutions in the pursuit of learning and scholarly endeavors.

2026 NEC Articles 645-646-647 Information Technology Equipment, et. al First Draft Report

2026 NEC Articles 645-646-647 Information Technology Equipment, et. al Second Draft Report

“Bookwheel” Early Data Center

The standard of care for wiring safety for data centers —  a continually expanding presence in education communities even before the pandemic  — is established in National Electrical Code Articles 645 (Information Technology Equipment), Article 646 (Modular Data Centers) and Article 647 (Sensitive Electronic Equipment).   You will notice that these articles cover the topic comprehensively and bear the imprint of competing Producer-Interest groups.  There are no User-Interest representatives on Code-Making Panel 12 that represent the final fiduciary in education communities even though education communities are one of the largest markets for information and communication technology systems.

The current version of NFPA 70 is linked below:

2026 National Electrical Code

2023 National Electrical Code

Transcripts  of technical committee action during the 2026 revision (CMP-16) are linked below because they will inform our recommendations for the 2026 National Electrical Code.  Keep in mind that the Technical Correlating Committee is moving content around the Code in order to make the NEC easier to use by experts.

CMP-16 First Draft Report | Public Input with Committee Response 

CMP-16 Second Draft Report

The transcripts of technical committee action during the 2023 revision are linked below because they will inform our recommendations for the 2026 National Electrical Code.

Code‐Making Panel 12 Public Input Report

Code-Making Panel 12 Public Comment Report

National Electrical Code CMP-12

We will use these in our exploration of what we might propose for improvements in the 2026 revision.  Public comment on the First Draft of the 2026 Edition will be received until August 28th.

The issues that have been in play in these articles of the NEC are familiar to veterans of the “food fight” – occupancy classification, cable specifications, fire protection, ventilation, energy consumption, surge protection, licensing of engineers. etc.  We look for market-making excesses by opposing stakeholders that seek to limit their risk while raising the (financial) risk to education communities.

We encourage our colleagues to participate in the NFPA code development process directly.  We also encourage stakeholders in education communities — students, faculty and staff  to join us during any of the teleconferences we co-host with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee 4 times monthly in both European and American time zones.   See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.

"One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, "My little computer said such a funny thing this morning" - Alan Turing

 

Related standards:

NFPA 75: Standard for the Fire Protection of Information Technology Equipment

2024 International Building Code: Special Detailed Requirements Based on Occupancy and Use

2024 International Building Code: Section 304.1 Business Group B

Healthcare Organization Management

Open consultations:

ISO FDIS 16473 Healthcare organization pandemic response information management standard | Comments due September 4th

VF_40_2025_-_Re-allocation_of_ISO_TC_304_ | Comments due July 17th

ISO_DIS 20364 Pandemic Response Standard Draft Open for Public Consultation Comments due July 1

ISO Healthcare Management Comments on Smart Hospital Standard due January 15

 Send Mike a message to coordinate comments (maanthon@umich.edu)

“Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière” 1887 André Brouillet

ISO Technical Committees | ANSI (U.S. Participation in ISO Activities)

Many large research universities have significant medical research and healthcare delivery enterprises. The leadership of those enterprises discount the effect of standards like this at their peril. It is easy to visualize that this document will have as transformative effect upon the healthcare industry as the ISO 9000 series of management standards in the globalization of manufacturing.

Scope

Standardization in the field of healthcare organization management comprising, terminology, nomenclature, recommendations and requirements for healthcare-specific management practices and metrics (e.g. patient-centered staffing, quality, facility-level infection control, pandemic management, hand hygiene) that comprise the non-clinical operations in healthcare entities.

Excluded are horizontal organizational standards within the scope of:

    • quality management and quality assurance (TC 176);
    • human resource management (TC 260);
    • risk management (TC 262);
    • facility management (TC 267), and;
    • occupational health and safety management (TC 283).

Also excluded are standards relating to clinical equipment and practices, enclosing those within the scope of TC 198 Sterilization of health care products.

This committee is led by the US Technical Advisory Group Administrator —Ingenesis.   The committee is very active at the moment, with new titles drafted, reviewed and published on a near-monthly basis,

 

DPAS ballot for ISO PAS 23617- Healthcare organization management: Pandemic response  (respiratory) —Guidelines for medical support of socially vulnerable groups – Comments due 16 October

ISO-TC 304 Healthcare Organization Management- Pandemic response – Contact tracing – Comments due August 3, 2023

[Issue 14-99]

Contact:  Lee Webster (lswebste@utmb.edu, lwebster@ingenesis.com), Mike Anthony (mike@standardsmichigan.com), Jack Janveja (jjanveja@umich.edu), Richard Robben (rrobben1952@gmail.com), James Harvey (jharvey@umich.edu), Christine Fischer (chrisfis@umich.edu), Dr Veronica Muzquiz Edwards (vedwards@ingenesis.com)

Category: Health, Global

Workspace / ISO 304 Healthcare Administration

More

Journal of Healthcare Management Standards: Operational Resilience of Hospital Power Systems in the Digital Age

ISO Focus Special Issue on Healthcare

ISO/TC 48 Laboratory equipment

ISO/TC 212 Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems

ISO/TC 198 Sterilization of health care products

How do standards contribute to better healthcare?

  • The American National Standards Institute — the Global Secretariat for ISO — does not provide content management systems for its US Technical Advisory Groups.  Because of the nascent committee, inspired by the work of Lee Webster at the University of Texas Medical Branch needed a content management system, we have been managing content on a Google Site facility on a University of Michigan host since 2014.Earlier this spring, the University of Michigan began upgrading its Google Sites facility which requires us to offload existing content onto the new facility before the end of June.  That process is happening now.  Because of this it is unwise for us to open the content library for this committee publicly.  Respecting copyright, confidentiality of ISO and the US Technical Advisory Group we protect most recent content in the link below and invite anyone to click in any day at 15:00 (16:00) UTC.  Our office door is open every day at this hour and has been for the better part of ten years.

Freely Available ICT Standards

United States Technical Advisory Group Administrator: INCITS

“Le Lac Léman ou Près d’Evian au lac de Genève” 1883 François BocionISO and IEC Joint Technical Committee 1  is the work center for international information and communications technology (ICT) standards that are relevant to education communities.  In accordance with ISO/IEC JTC 1 and the ISO and IEC Councils, some International Standards and other deliverables are made freely available for standardization purposes.

Freely Available International Standards

We at least follow action, and sometimes contribute data and user-interest perspective, to the development of standards produced by several ANSI-accredited ICT standard developing organizations — ATIS, BICSI, IEEE, INCITS, TIA among them.  US-based organizations may communicate directly with Lisa Rajchel, ANSI’s ISO/IEC JTC 1 Senior Director for this project: lrajchel@ansi.org.  Our colleagues at other educational organizations should contact their national standards body.

We scan the status of Infotech and Cloud standards periodically and collaborate with a number of IEEE Societies.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

More

The ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee for Information Technology (JTC 1)

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 36 Information technology for learning, education and training

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 Data management and interchange

Management of Assets in Power Systems

“Mount Fuji from Lake Yamanaka” Takahashi Shōtei (1871-1945) | Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The Japanese Standards Association is the Global Secretariat for a standardization project devoted to the discovery and promulgation of common methods and guidelines for coordinated lifetime management of network assets in power systems to support good asset management.  In addition, this may include the development of new methods and guidelines required to keep pace with development of electrotechnologies excluding generation assets; covered by other IEC standards.

There has, and will continue to be significant investment in electricity assets which will require ongoing management to realise value for the organizations. In the last 5 years, there has been USD 718 billion investment for electricity, spending on electricity networks and storage continued, reaching an all-time high of USD 277 billion in 2016. In the United States (17% of the total) and Europe (13%), a growing share is going to the replacement of ageing transmission and distribution assets.  A more fully dimensioned backgrounder on the business environment that drives the market for this title is available in the link below:

IEC/TC 123 Strategic Business Plan

Begun in 2018, this is a relatively new project with three stabilized titles:

IEC 60050-693 ED1: Management of network assets in power systems – Terminology

IEC 63223-2 ED1: Management of network assets in power systems – Requirements

IEC TS 63224 ED1: Management of network assets in power systems – Practices and case studies

Electropedia: The World’s Online Electrotechnical Vocabulary

It is early in this project’s lifecycle; far too early to find it referenced in public safety and energy laws in the United States where it would affect #TotalCostofOwnership.   Where we should, we follow the lead of the USNC/IEC for the United States, while still mindful that many of our IEEE colleagues follow the lead of their own national standards body.

Because this project fills an obvious gap in good practice literature we maintain this project on our 4 times monthly electrotechnology colloquium that we co-host with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee.   See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

World Standards Day 2023 webinars on latest information technologies

The importance of functional safety | 2023-10-11  IEC Editorial Team

 

USNC/IEC Workspace

 

Electrical Resource Adequacy

 “When buying and selling are controlled by legislation,
the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
— P.J. O’Rourke

 

“Federal Power Act” | June 10, 1920, Chapter 285 of the 66th Congress] 

Comment on FERC Action

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is an independent agency within the U.S. federal government that regulates interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. It oversees wholesale energy markets, pipeline infrastructure, and hydroelectric projects, ensuring fair rates and reliability. While independent, FERC operates under the Department of Energy’s umbrella but does not take direct orders from the executive branch.

FERC enforces energy laws, approves infrastructure projects, and regulates market competition. FERC plays a crucial role in balancing economic, environmental, and energy security concerns, aiming to maintain a stable and efficient energy system across the United States.  Since the U.S. shares interconnected electricity grids with Canada and Mexico, FERC’s decisions on transmission rules and pricing affect energy flows and grid reliability in both countries.

Our interest lies in closing a technical gap that exists upstream from the building service point and downstream from the utility supply point. Some, not all of it, can be accomplished with titles in the IEEE catalog.

Given the dominance of vertical incumbents in the electric power domain, we have submitted a tranche of reliability concepts into the ASHRAE, NFPA and ICC catalogs — not so much with the expectation that they will be gratefully received — but that our proposals will unleash competitive energies among developers of voluntary consensus standards.

One of our proposals was heard at the April-May meetings of the International Code Council.  We are happy to discuss the outcome of that proposal any day at the usual hour.

Commissioner-Led Reliability Technical Conference Agenda: October 16, 2024, 10:00 AM

 

Nothing happened in August

Technical Conference RE: Large Loads Co-Located at Generating Facilities: November 1, 10AM EDT

Echo Chamber Synonyms: mutual admiration society, self congratulatory club,

back patting session, congratulatory loop, closed loop of praise, reciprocal praise fest,

feedback bubble, endless validation cycle, compliment carousel.

Predictive Reliability Analysis of Power Distribution Systems Considering the Effects of Seasonal Factors on Outage Data Using Weibull Analysis Combined With Polynomial Regression

February 2024 Highlights 

Failure Rate Prediction Model of Substation Equipment Based on Weibull Distribution and Time Series Analysis

January 2024 Highlights

Transmission Planning Using a Reliability Criterion

Readings / The Administrative State

In power system engineering, availability and reliability are two important concepts, but they refer to different aspects of the system’s performance.

Reliability:

  • Reliability refers to the ability of a power system to perform its intended function without failure for a specified period under given operating conditions. It is essentially a measure of how dependable the system is.
  • Reliability metrics often include indices such as the frequency and duration of outages, failure rates, mean time between failures (MTBF), and similar measures.
  • Reliability analysis focuses on identifying potential failure modes, predicting failure probabilities, and implementing measures to mitigate risks and improve system resilience.Availability:
  • Availability, on the other hand, refers to the proportion of time that a power system is operational and able to deliver power when needed, considering both scheduled and unscheduled downtime.
  • Availability is influenced by factors such as maintenance schedules, repair times, and system design redundancies.
  • Availability is typically expressed as a percentage and can be calculated using the ratio of the uptime to the total time (uptime plus downtime).
  • Availability analysis aims to maximize the operational readiness of the system by minimizing downtime and optimizing maintenance strategies.

Reliability focuses on the likelihood of failure and the ability of the system to sustain operations over time, while availability concerns the actual uptime and downtime of the system, reflecting its readiness to deliver power when required. Both concepts are crucial for assessing and improving the performance of power systems, but they address different aspects of system behavior.

 

November 2023 Highlights | FERC insight | Volume 10

Determining System and Subsystem Availability Requirements: Resource Planning and Evaluation

Comment: These 1-hour sessions tend to be administrative in substance, meeting the minimum requirements of the Sunshine Act. This meeting was no exception. Access to the substance of the docket is linked here.

Noteworthy: Research into the natural gas supply following Winter Storm Elliot.

December 2022 Winter Storm Elliott Grid Operations: Key Findings and Recommendations (Joint Inquiry)

 

August 14, 2003

 UPDATED POLICIES ON U.S. DECARBONIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSITIONS

June 15:FERC Finalizes Plans to Boost Grid Reliability in Extreme Weather Conditions

On Monday June 13th, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission commissioners informed the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that the “environmental justice” agenda prohibits reliable dispatchable electric power needed for national power security. One megawatt of natural gas generation does not equal one megawatt of renewable generation. The minority party on the committee — the oldest standing legislative committee in the House of Representatives (established 1795) — appears indifferent to the reliability consequences of its policy.

Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission

“Our nation’s continued energy transition requires the efficient development of new transmission infrastructure. Federal and state regulators must address numerous transmission-related issues, including how to plan and pay for new transmission infrastructure and how to navigate shared federal-state regulatory authority and processes. As a result, the time is ripe for greater federal-state coordination and cooperation.”











 

Bibliography:

Natural Gas Act of 1938

Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978

Glossary of Terms Used in NERC Reliability Standards

The Major Questions Doctrine and Transmission Planning Reform

As utilities spend billions on transmission, support builds for independent monitoring

States press FERC for independent monitors on transmission planning, spending as Southern Co. balks

Related:

Homeland Power Security

At the July 20th meeting of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Tristan Kessler explained the technical basis for a Draft Final Rule for Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements, On August 16th the Commission posted a video reflecting changes in national energy policy since August 14, 2003; the largest blackout in American history.

Stationary Energy Storage Systems

Should every campus building generate its own power? Sustainability workgroups are vulnerable to speculative hype about net-zero buildings and microgrids. We remind sustainability trendsniffers that the central feature of a distributed energy resource–the eyesore known as the university steam plant–delivers most of the economic benefit of a microgrid. [Comments on Second Draft due April 29th] #StandardsMassachusetts

“M. van Marum. Tweede vervolg der proefneemingen gedaan met Teyler’s electrizeer-machine, 1795” | An early energy storage device | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries

We have been following the developmental trajectory of a new NFPA regulatory product — NFPA 855 Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage Systems — a document with ambitions to formalize the fire safety landscape of the central feature of campus microgrids by setting criteria for minimizing the hazards associated with energy storage systems.

The fire safety of electric vehicles and the companion storage units for solar and wind power systems has been elevated in recent years with incidents with high public visibility.  The education industry needs to contribute ideas and data to what we call the emergent #SmartCampus;an electrotechnical transformation — both as a provider of new knowledge and as a user of the new knowledge.

Transcripts of technical deliberation are linked below:

2026 Public Input Report (705 pages) § 2026 Second Draft Meeting Agenda (912 pages)

Comment on the 2026 revision received by March 27, 2025 will be heard at the NFPA June 2025 Expo through NFPA’s NITMAM process.

University of Michigan | Average daily electrical load across all Ann Arbor campuses is on the order of 100 megawatts

A fair question to ask: “How is NFPA 855 going to establish the standard of care any better than the standard of care discovered and promulgated in the NFPA 70-series and the often-paired documents NFPA 110 and NFPA 111?”  (As you read the transcript of the proceedings you can see the committee tip-toeing around prospective overlaps and conflicts; never a first choice).

Suffice to say, the NFPA Standards Council has due process requirements for new committee projects and, obviously, that criteria has been met.   Market demand presents an opportunity to assemble a new committee with fresh, with new voices funded by a fresh set of stakeholders who, because they are more accustomed to advocacy in open-source and consortia standards development platforms, might have not been involved in the  more rigorous standards development processes of ANSI accredited standards developing organizations — specifically the NFPA, whose members are usually found at the top of organization charts in state and local jurisdictions.  For example we find UBER — the ride sharing company — on the technical committee.  We find another voice from Tesla Motors.  These companies are centered in an industry that does not have the tradition of leading practice discovery and promulgation that the building industry has had for the better part of two hundred years.

Our interest in this standard lies on both sides of the education industry — i.e. the academic research side and the business side.  For all practical purposes, the most credible, multi-dimensional and effective voice for lowering #TotalCostofOwnership for the emergent smart campus is found in the tenure of Standards Michigan and its collaboration with IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee (E&H).  You may join us sorting through the technical, economic and legal particulars and day at 11 AM Eastern time.   The IEEE E&H Committee meets online every other Tuesday in European and American time zones; the next meeting on March 26th.  All meetings are open to the public.

University of California San Diego Microgrid

You are encouraged to communicate directly with Brian O’Connor, the NFPA Staff Liaison for specific questions.  We have some of the answers but Brian is likely to have all of them.   CLICK HERE for the NFPA Directory.  Additionally, NFPA will be hosting its Annual Conference & Expo, June 17-20 in San Antonio, Texas; usually an auspicious time for meeting NFPA staff working on this, and other projects.

The prospect of installing of energy storage technologies at every campus building — or groups of buildings, or in regions — is clearly transformational if the education facilities industry somehow manages to find a way to drive the cost of operating and maintaining many energy storage technologies lower than the cost of operating and maintaining a single campus distributed energy resource.  The education facility industry will have to train a new cadre of microgrid technology specialists who must be comfortable working at ampere and voltage ranges on both sides of the decimal point that separates power engineers from control engineers.  And, of course, dynamic utility pricing (set by state regulatory agencies) will continue to be the most significant independent control variable.

Finding a way to make all this hang together is the legitimate work of the academic research side of the university.   We find that sustainability workgroups (and elected governing bodies) in the education industry are vulnerable to out-sized claims about microgrids and distributed energy resources; both trendy terms of art for the electrotechnical transformation we call the emergent #SmartCampus.

We remind sustainability trendsniffers that the central feature of a distributed energy resource — the eyesore known as the university steam plant — bears most of the characteristics of a microgrid.   In the videoclip linked below a respected voice from Ohio State University provides enlightenment on this point; even as he contributes to the discovery stream with a study unit.

Ohio State University McCracken Power Plant

Issue: [16-131]

Category:  District Energy, Electrical, Energy, Facility Asset Management, Fire Safety, Risk Management, #SmartCampus, US Department of Energy

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Bill Cantor (wcantor@ieee.org). Mahesh Illindala

Standards Massachusetts, Standards Texas, Standards Ohio

*It is noteworthy that (NFPA 70) National Electrical Code-Making Panel 1 has appropriated vehicle-to-grid installations into its scope.

 

Princeton University Power Plant | Click on image

LEARN MORE:

Related Post: Electrical Safety Research Advisory Committee

Bibiography: Campus Microgrids

Higher Education Facilities Conference: The Rise of University Microgrids

 

Mahesh Illindala enlightens understanding of what microgrid is, and is not:

 

Welcome

Standards Michigan Group, LLC

2723 South State Street | Suite 150
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA

888-746-3670

DIRECTIONS

icon icon
icon icon
icon icon  
Layout mode
Predefined Skins
Custom Colors
Choose your skin color
Patterns Background
Images Background
error: Content is protected !!
Skip to content