While many companies and, most recently, government initiatives and organizations, are joining hands work towards evolving the smart grid movement, there are other movements within the smart grid sector. A recent announcement by EnerNex further solidifies the company’s movement to pioneer a task that will expand and perfect the smart grid infrastructure in the telecom industry.

After securing a $8.5 million contract with the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, or “NIST,” EnerNex Corp. has lead the pack in trying to establish the nation’s first smart grid interoperability panel, or “SGIP.”

The NIST has supported not only EnerNex, but the entire SGIP hopeful project, in its role of coordinating and accelerating development of smart grid interoperability standards. 

EnerNex Chief Technology Officer and the project’s stakeholder relationship management lead, Erich Gunther, said that the company looks forward to the grid-interop as the SGIP convenes for the first time and the SGIP Governing Board is selected. “This is a monumental step as industry leading organizations come together to advance the development of the Smart Grid through interoperability standards development and harmonization efforts,” Gunther added. 

The SGIP is a public-private partnership to support NIST in its primary responsibility to coordinate development of a framework that includes protocols and model standards for information management to achieve interoperability of smart grid devices and systems, the Energy Independence and Security Act, or “EISA,” of 2007 stated. 

Comprised of over 20 stakeholder categories, SGIP has no direct involvement of the development or writing of standards, but rather focuses on participation in the coordination, acceleration and harmonization of standards development.