White spaces spectrum can be a “valuable option” for smart...
White spaces spectrum can be a “valuable option” for smart grid communications, said Phoebe Yang, senior adviser on broadband at the FCC, addressing an IEEE conference on smart grid communications in Gaithersburg, Md. Google and Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative successfully…
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conducted a smart grid trial using white spaces spectrum in an area with “challenging terrain” encompassing rural California and Nevada mountains, where “other wireless approaches did not satisfy performance requirements,” Yang said. Although the FCC recognizes that white spaces spectrum isn’t the only smart grid “solution,” the agency is “confident that white spaces is good for the smart grid,” Yang said. The commission is “doing our part” to make commercial broadband networks more reliable and appropriate for smart grid communications, she said. “If utilities are gong to use commercial facilities for smart grid applications, they need to be assured the networks will work, especially in times of emergency.” Utility-owned networks will remain an important component of the smart grid, and the federal government should “continue to promote standards” through the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Energy and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, she said. One area that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention is the role that “retail” broadband can play in smart grid deployments, Yang said.