42 U.S.C. § 17385 — Smart grid interoperability framework

(a) Interoperability framework. The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has the main job of coordinating a framework, protocols and model standards, for managing information so smart grid devices and systems can work together. These protocols and standards must line up policy, business, and technology approaches so that all electric resources, including demand-side resources, can help build an efficient, reliable power network. While building them: (1) the Director must ask for input and cooperation from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the "Commission"), OEDER and its Smart Grid Task Force, the Smart Grid Advisory Committee, and other relevant federal and state agencies; and (2) the Director must also ask private groups for input, including the Gridwise Architecture Council, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the national electric reliability organization recognized by FERC, and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. (b) Scope of framework. The framework must be flexible, uniform, and neutral about technology, including technology used to manage smart grid information. It must be designed to: (1) work with both traditional centralized power plants and transmission, and consumer-owned distributed resources like distributed generation, renewable generation, storage, energy efficiency, and demand response tools; (2) stay flexible enough to handle (A) regional and organizational differences and (B) new technology; (3) consider voluntary uniform standards for mass-produced home and business appliances that let customers choose, consistent with state and federal law, to have appliances that can respond to grid emergencies and demand-response signals by cutting some or all of their power use, through (A) reducing total demand, (B) adjusting load to help the grid, and (C) in a reliability crisis that threatens an outage, briefly shedding load to keep the grid stable; and (4) give manufacturers reasonable lead time to build in these voluntary standards. (c) Timing of framework development. NIST had to start this work within 60 days of December 19, 2007. It had to publish an initial progress report on standards within one year of that date, further reports whenever NIST judges they're needed, and a final report once the work is done or a federal role is no longer needed. (d) Standards for interoperability in federal jurisdiction. Once NIST's work has built enough agreement, in FERC's judgment, FERC must start a rulemaking to adopt the standards and protocols needed to guarantee smart-grid functions and interoperability for interstate power transmission and for regional and wholesale electricity markets. (e) Authorization. Congress authorized $5,000,000 per year for NIST to carry out this section's work, for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012.