Modern Information Technologies in Control Centers Panel Session at PESGM2014

July 29, 2014, National Harbor, DC -- The IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES) Systems Control and Operations subcommittee sponsored the panel session Modern Information Technologies in Control Centers on Tuesday July 29, 2014 at the PESGM2014 in National Harbor, DC. The panel was organized and chaired by Dr. Savu C. Savulescu from Energy Consulting International, Inc.

Noticing that the utility information systems of today, such as SCADA, SCADA/EMS, SCADA/DMS and SAS, are predicated on the same networking concepts and deploy the same types of servers and workstations as the information systems from any other industry, one is entitled to ask whether current IT paradigms such as server virtualization and cloud computing can be used in power system control center environments. If "yes", the next question would be “to what extent such technologies have already been deployed in control centers and with what results and benefits”.

Accordingly, the panel presentations, which are available from the IEEE PES conference papers website, aimed primarily at shading light on these transcendental topics. Savu set the stage by reviewing the roots of obsolescence in utility systems, and then he threw the ball in the court of panelists and audience by asking whether the new IT paradigms can help evade the obsolescence trap. Here's the complete list of speakers and the titles of their presentations:

Obsolescence in Utility Information Systems. What It Is and how the IT Paradigms of Today Can Prevent It -- panel presentation 14PESGM1586 presented by Dr. Savu C. Savulescu, CEO, Energy Consulting International, Inc., New York, New York

Early Experience with Cloud Computing at ISO New England -- panel presentation 14PESGM1582 presented by Dr. Eugene Litvinov, Chief Technologist at the ISO New England, Holyoke, MA

Lessons Learnt from Deploying Virtualized Control Room Solutions and Migrating towards a Cloud Based Infrastructure -- panel presentation 14PESGM1583 presented by Dr. Avnaesh Jayantilal, Director of Product Marketing for Network Management Solutions, Alstom Grid, Redmond, WA

Virtualization Technologies in SCADA/EMS/DMS/OMS -- panel presentation 14PESGM1584 presented by Mr. Norman Sabelli, Director of Project Engineering at Ventyx-ABB, Sugar Land, TX

Virtualization and Reliability of Information Technology Systems for Power Systems Control -- panel presentation 14PESGM1631 presented by Mr. Ravi D. Pradhan, Vice President, Technology Strategy, Siemens’ Smart Grid Division, Minneapolis, MN

Open floor discussions followed after the presentations and allowed the session attendees and the panelists to address a broad range of contemporary issues pertinent to control centers in the context of today's utility landscape.

The key moments of the panel session have been recorded and are shown in the video below. As a courtesy to the visitors of this page, we have also included Savu's presentation on Obsolescence in Utility Information Systems formatted as a video clip.