If all one had to draw from was the flood of conferences, webinars, and advertisements, it would appear that the Smart Grid is a very recent invention that will be installed en-masse in the near future. In reality, elements of the Smart Grid first appeared in the 1998-2000 time-frame. Additionally, legacy devices will continue to be used in the “Smart Grid” for at least the next 5-10 years. Until about 6-8 months ago, domain knowledge was a given for those participating in the “Smart Grid”. Now, domain knowledge doesn’t seem to be a requirement. (Does this sound like the NERC CIPs and all of those “SCADA Security” experts who have never seen a control system?) How can people without domain knowledge meet the needs like those expressed in the CMU White Paper “The Many Meanings of 'Smart Grid'"? Any bets on the reliability and security of the Smart Grid?
Joe Weiss
