The July-August Annual Buyers Guide issue is always well read and widely anticipated by users and suppliers alike. The supplier/resource information contained within these pages is a year-round reference tool that presents easy access to a vast array of information about T&D products, systems and services for everyone. Moreover, additional copies of this issue are also distributed at virtually every major power industry conference (including our own spring and fall Smart Grid RoadShow events) throughout the year, further extending its longevity and the tangible value it brings to an extended readership.

This year’s mid-year issue is also special in another way; it marks the debut of two new features we have added to the line up that we are certain will deliver pertinent information and that rounds out our editorial coverage of the industry.

The first of these is Security Sessions, a column focused on all facets of the security topic as it relates to the power industry. Authored by Dr. W.T. (Tim) Shaw, a 30-year industry veteran of automation and information technology for energy, utilities, government and various industrial process control, automation and instrumentation markets. Security Sessions will now appear in every issue, from this issue forward.

The second new installment making its debut in this issue is Washington Watch, which monitors and reports on evolving regulatory and legislative energy- and utility-centric initiatives. Gregory K. Lawrence, a partner in the Energy & Derivatives Markets Group of global law firm McDermott Will & Emery, authors the column. Washington Watch will appear three times annually, alternating with our Executive Directions feature.

Our Automation/IT Leadership Interview Series interview is with Dr. Ed Schweitzer – a true industry icon and president of Schweitzer Engineering Labs – and SEL’s Vice President of Research & Development, Dave Whitehead. In this interview we delve into two of the most intensive – and in many ways, controversial – topics of the day: Security and Reliability. A thorough understanding of the task at hand and a personal commitment to technology investments balance Dr. Schweitzer’s ever-present optimism and enthusiasm for dealing with grid transformation challenges in a realistic and pragmatic way.

In the featured article for this issue, Guerry Waters shares the results of a comprehensive Smart Grid survey recently commissioned by Oracle Utilities. The results of this precedent-setting research reveal some of the grittier issues surrounding Smart Grid that are gradually making their way to the consciousness of utility customers.

Carlos Romero of Ventyx contributes our LightsOn feature, which casts a creative light on Alternative Energy and Renewables with a look at Virtual Power Plants. In another recent study – this one sponsored by Ventyx – the respondents viewed facilitating DR and seamlessly integrating distributed energy resources (DER) such as DG and renewable resources of strategic near-term importance.
Delving further into the customer side of evolving Smart Grid initiatives, Simon Reynolds with HP’s Imaging and Printing Group explains how E.ON – the giant global utility – changed the face of customer communications by creating a new kind of bill, dubbed the OneBill. Find out how E.ON was able to not only improve customer communications, but also pro-actively attract new customers from what began as a simple bill redesign.

Bernie Clairmont of the Electric Power Research Institute and co-authors Ray Ferraro (PSE&G) and Dan Lawry (Pike Electric) explain how shiny power lines are more than just a cosmetic touch when it comes to the efficient transmission of electric power. The emmissivity testing instrument (ETI) and testing process described in the article will significantly help expand the knowledge base associated with high voltage power line performance and aging characteristics, which in turn, can lead to more accurate capacity and life cycle ratings for thousands of miles of aging power lines.

Showcasing yet another way to improve system performance and extend the useful life of aging infrastructure, Dr. Roy Hoffman of SNC-Lavalin presents new methods and various approaches to automated Fault Detection, Isolation and Restoration in the distribution environment. FDIR – long relegated to demonstration project status – is now ready for prime time and promises to forge new paths into customer service and reliability improvements.

Harry Valentine is a Canadian-based freelance writer who brings a fact-rich historical perspective to distributed generation – a class of energy resources that for many of us is perceived as something totally new and relatively unproven. On the contrary, Valentine shows us that DG is anything but new while also underscoring some of the salient advantages and disadvantages of various DG methods and the inherent value of diversity in contemporary and future energy supply strategies.

And finally, the article by J.N. Bérubé of Neoptix, together with co-authors B.L. Browoleit of Grant County PUD and consultant J. Aubin, provides an in depth discussion of how advanced fiber-optic instrumentation can be used to improve both dependability and the long-term performance of transformer cooling. The article describes precisely how more reliable and more accurate monitoring of transformer performance can be readily achieved through the use of modern fiber-optic sensors.

Of course, the Annual Buyers Guide content speaks for itself, so enjoy!