Just before Thanksgiving the FCC announced the topics and panelists for a Broadband Field Hearing on Energy and the Environment to be held today at MIT. When I saw that the first panel was "Smart Grid Communications" and that several Commissioners were to be there, I decided to attend to see how much, if at all, BPL figures in Smart Grid planning.
Outside the meeting room there were several modest displays of related technology, mostly various schemes to monitor home energy use and provide feedback to consumers in order to help them manage their use of electricity. They mostly seemed to use wireless for communications although most of the people manning the displays did not know much about the communications technologies their products employ.
The room was set for 120 people and there were 100+ present, about evenly divided between students and "suits." Chairman Genachowski and Commissioners Copps, Clyburn and Baker attended as well as Congressman Ed Markey. This was my first opportunity to see the Commissioners other than Copps.
The event began 20 minutes later than its 1:00 PM advertised starting time, and the introduction phase ran 20 minutes past its scheduled 30 minutes so we were 40 minutes behined schedule before the first panelist got to speak. The Chairman provided an ample introduction of the day's topic, acknowledging (as a graduate of Harvard Law whose father went to MIT) that MIT was "the best school at this end of Cambridge." Ed Markey also spoke at some length, tracing the history of cable/satellite, telephone and cellphone deregulation and suggesting that the lessons learned would help lead to success in the energy field. Commissioner Copps posed several questions that he said he hoped the panels would answer. Commissioner Clyburn read (rather badly) a speech that had been prepared for her and that didn't really need saying. Commissioner Baker wisely passed up the opportunity to say any more than that she was there to learn.
The four panelists on "Smart Grid Communications" were Phil Giudice, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources, Peter Brandien of ISO New England, Bruce Walker of National Grid, and the recently retired MIT Vice President for Information Services and Technology, Dr. Jerrold Grochow, who is now part of the MIT Energy Initiative research group as an expert on cybersecurity and privacy issues. They kept to their allotted 5 minutes each. Despite the topic, while all four were very knowledgeable they were not all communications experts. Walker made a reference to a need for spectrum allocations for smart grid management, but when Copps asked him how much spectrum he was talking about he didn't have an answer. One of the panelists remarked that unlike telecommunications, which is almost entirely in the federal sphere, 80% of the electric utility field is regulated by the states and territories. Walker observed that the utilities are responsible for providing service in very specific geographic areas, which has led to rather parochial solutions. In short, developing a common national approach to Smart Grid is a daunting task.
After the Commissioners took their turns asking questions there was only time for two of the questions that had been submitted to the panel in writing by attendees and via email and Twitter. The Chairman mentioned the subjects of some of the other questions, including one on BPL, and said that the FCC's Broadband Team would see all of the questions that had been submitted. I don't know who submitted the BPL question and did not recognize anyone in the audience who might have done so, although there are several companies in the Boston area that have been involved in BPL and there are, of course, lots of hams at MIT and in the area. That was the only mention of BPL before I left; I did not stay for the second panel on "Broadband and the Energy Information Economy," but will try to catch it on the Web.
It was probably worth the 90-minute drive to size up the new FCC Commissioners (including the Chairman) and to gain at least a little more insight into what Smart Grid is all about, although I will be surprised if Smart Grid occupies a major portion of the FCC's National Broadband Plan when it is delivered to Congress in February.
Dave Sumner, K1ZZ
