Common
04-17-2018, 03:18 AM
The electricity industry is fighting for more access to increasingly valuable airwaves that it needs to keep the lights on and run and recharge the increasing amount of devices and tech toys tied to the Internet.
The industry has renewed its 20-year battle for the government to recognize its need for equal access to the radio frequency bandwidth in the electromagnetic spectrum, as energy management requires more machine-to-machine communication between customers and electricity providers.
For example, power grid operators need to be able to communicate with rooftop solar arrays to send signals on whether to increase output or curtail it, based on supply and demand changes.
Because generation is shifting away from central power stations, such as coal plants, and toward more distributed resources, communications will be key to managing the grid of the not-too-distant future, according to experts.
The gates to the spectrum have been tightly guarded by the Federal Communications Commission, which for the most part has given big telecom carriers such as AT&T and Verizon priority when it sells new lines of frequency to the highest bidder.
The utility industry says that needs to change. The FCC must think about ways to help utilities meet their needs for spectrum, especially as new Internet technologies are added to the grid. The industry says it was a conversation that Congress meant to occur when it passed the telecom reform bill in 1997, kicking off the wireless revolution. But the FCC never followed through.
“What’s happened in the intervening 10 years or so is that the needs have only increased for spectrum,” said Joy Ditto, president and CEO of the Utilities Technology Council, the electricity industry's key trade group for their communications concerns.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/electricity-industry-on-collision-course-with-fcc
The industry has renewed its 20-year battle for the government to recognize its need for equal access to the radio frequency bandwidth in the electromagnetic spectrum, as energy management requires more machine-to-machine communication between customers and electricity providers.
For example, power grid operators need to be able to communicate with rooftop solar arrays to send signals on whether to increase output or curtail it, based on supply and demand changes.
Because generation is shifting away from central power stations, such as coal plants, and toward more distributed resources, communications will be key to managing the grid of the not-too-distant future, according to experts.
The gates to the spectrum have been tightly guarded by the Federal Communications Commission, which for the most part has given big telecom carriers such as AT&T and Verizon priority when it sells new lines of frequency to the highest bidder.
The utility industry says that needs to change. The FCC must think about ways to help utilities meet their needs for spectrum, especially as new Internet technologies are added to the grid. The industry says it was a conversation that Congress meant to occur when it passed the telecom reform bill in 1997, kicking off the wireless revolution. But the FCC never followed through.
“What’s happened in the intervening 10 years or so is that the needs have only increased for spectrum,” said Joy Ditto, president and CEO of the Utilities Technology Council, the electricity industry's key trade group for their communications concerns.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/electricity-industry-on-collision-course-with-fcc