Publications

Technical Reports

White Papers

White Paper	Summary	Release Date
	Guidelines for Next-Generation Grid Communications Architectures The next-generation grid communications architecture enables utilities to enhance operational capabilities, reduce outage risks, and generally strengthen grid resilience. The end-to-end architecture presented here provides a holistic framework to build a reliable, flexible, and scalable communication network that meets the critical needs of the modern grid and positions utilities for handling challenges with integrating a range of energy resources and enabling a carbon-free energy future. White Paper	October 2024
	Grid Communications Technologies The goal of this document is to demonstrate the foundational dependencies of communication technology to support grid operations while highlighting the need for a systematic approach for communications technology across a wide variety of electric utility operational processes. White Paper	July 2024
	Understanding and Managing Quality of Service in Grid Communications This white paper explores a series of attributes and characteristics of a network or communications system that together describe the overall performance of that network or system, called Quality-of-Service (QoS). White Paper	May 2024
	Latency Implications for Grid Communications This paper emphasizes the need for low-latency communication systems to manage this complexity, ensuring resilient and reliable energy infrastructure. The discussion extends to the challenges of coordinating DERs and the performance requirements of future communication systems in grid services and sets the stage for a comprehensive discussion on the need for flexible, low-latency, secure communication networks in managing future grid operations. White Paper	January 2024
	Communications in the Electric Grid: An Evolving Interdependent Ecosystem between the Grid and Communications Utilities This white paper will briefly discuss several factors driving the continued electric grid evolution and the related communication requirements. These factors include (1) evolution of hardware, software, and communications used in the electric grid over the last several decades at unprecedented scales; (2) rapid adoption of variable, renewable distributed energy resources (DERs) and intelligent loads in the electric grid; and (3) an increased threat landscape due to more intense weather patterns and external actors. White Paper	November 2023
	Power Grid and Communications Interdependencies: Key Challenges for Reliable, Resilient Operations This paper focuses on the interdependencies between electric power and communications systems, highlighting three opportunities—service prioritization, load shedding, and direct transfer trip protocols—to improve grid reliability and resilience via collaboration between the sectors and with regulators. White Paper	September 2023
	Secure Communications: Interoperability in the Power Grid This white paper discusses the current state of secure communications interoperability in the electric power grid and delineates some of the challenges, including: – Increasingly diverse entity ownership, – Incomplete standardization of tools and approaches at the edge; – Decentralized, market-driven evolution of grid architecture; – Varied and inconsistent regulation; and – Prioritization of communications investments in a cost-sensitive decision environment. White Paper	September 2023
	Communication with the Grid Edge: Unlocking Options for Power System Coordination and Reliability This white paper characterizes the evolving nature of the grid edge, and the necessity of evolving communications network and architectures to maintain secure, reliable, and integrated grid edge devices with the rest of the grid system. White Paper	June 2023