What is the SGN Scorecard and Why Does it Matter?: Smart Grid Technology Articles: Eco20/20

What is the SGN Scorecard and Why Does it Matter?

The SGN scorecard is basically a checklist, which gives a listing of features that a product must have to be compliant with a smart grid. The features all have standards, each with their own scoring system that define which products do or do not meet Smart Grid principles.

There are several programs and groups that define the principles of a Smart Grid, including: the Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research program, (EPRI), the Modern Grid Initiative, the Department of Energy's GridWise program. In addition, there are mandates for what constitutes a Smart Grid defined by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

According to SmartGridNews.com there are several factors that must be met and satisfied for the implementation of a smart grid. These include:

* Proven, internet communication technologies
* Service based architecture
* Self healing technology
* Well defined interfaces and points of interoperability
* Application of both industry and international standards
* Built in security and network management

Source: SmartGridNews.com

The problem with many of the end-use products, including those in the communication industry are that they are not adequate to meet the minimum standards as they are defined by the SGN scorecard. By allowing the review of the scorecard, there is no need to buy products that are not adequate in their present state or will soon be proven to be inadequate in the future.

The SGN scorecard gives scores of up to ten for ten different categories, including: impact, openness, standardization, security, manageability, upgradeability, scalability, extensibility, self-healing and interactivity. There are a number of products and smart grid items that will be obsolete before they are at the end of their useful life cycle. Buying these items can be avoided by the use of the SGN scorecard to see how high the rating might be.

Some of the products that should be made to work with the Smart Grid, including those items that are meant to make up the home area network (HAN) should be carefully evaluated, especially to those who are most dedicated to getting the best energy rates for their effort. It takes a lot of investment (with both time and money) to synchronize all of your appliances, electronics and devices into the interface, it would be a shame to do all of that work to find that it is not worth it in a only a short period of time.