- November 21, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Andre Smit, Engineering Manager, Siemens Industry, Inc., Suraj Chanda, Application Engineer, Siemens Industry, Inc., Alexandr Stinskiy, PhD, Application Engineer, Siemens Industry, Inc., and Farel Becker, Product Manager, Siemens Industry, Inc.
Many utilities are looking for better and improved ways to optimize distribution feeder automation by exploring cellular communication services.
Distribution feeder automation systems provide many different types of solutions. The primary reliability improvement functions provided by these systems include fault locate, isolate and
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- November 19, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Jeff Fleeman, Chief Operating Officer, Grid Assurance
Jeff Fleeman, Grid Assurance COO, is responsible for the development of the company's inventory, warehousing, and logistics. He is also with American Electric Power, one of the founding members of Grid Assurance.
The Importance of Building a U.S. Strategic Transformer Reserve
Ensuring that the electrical grid is secure is nothing new, but with increased threats and risks like physical assaults, natural disasters, and cyber attacks, the question
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- November 17, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Aidan Murray, MITA Intern
As a recent graduate of George Washington University in biomedical engineering, I thought that I understood the medical device landscape with respect to regulatory challenges that companies face when bringing new products to the market. I could not have been more wrong. My experience at the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), a division of NEMA, opened my eyes to the complexities that medical device and technology manufacturers
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- November 16, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Industry Director, Utility Products and Systems Division, NEMA
Southern California’s Coachella Valley and its San Gorgonio Pass is one of the windiest places in the United States, making it a hotbed for renewable generation since the 1970s. It promises to remain so for many years to come. Although Danish manufacturer Vestas has the largest footprint in this desert valley, its wind farms also employ products from NEMA Members GE Power, Mitsubishi, and
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- November 14, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
John Vernacchia, Segment Manager for Renewable Energy, Eaton
As the mix of distributed energy resources on the grid increases and central coal-fired plants are retired, new strategies are needed to support grid stability. Energy storage systems provide a powerful platform to keep the power on and operate critical assets.
By 2030, Bloomberg New Energy Finance anticipates the energy storage market will double six times, and one-fourth of those deployments will be in the
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- November 12, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) Industry Director Steve Griffith, NidecMotor Senior Product Manager of IIoT Pranesh Rao, and Signify Cybersecurity Technical Policy Manager Harsha Banavara presented at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Risk Management Conference on November 8.
Building on previous NIST workshops, the conference shared and explored best practices and received and discussed stakeholder input on key cybersecurity and privacy risk management topics – Supply Chain Risk Management as one of them.
"Our Members manufacture a diverse
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- November 8, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Michael Regelski, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer—Electrical Sector, Eaton
Driven by rapid growth in connected, intelligent devices and decreasing costs of computing and connectivity, digital technologies are changing our world and our electrical grid. What electrical manufacturers are able to achieve today far surpasses what we’ve done and represents just a fraction of what we’ll be able to accomplish tomorrow.
At the heart of this innovation are all the “things” that
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- November 5, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Brian Marchionini, PMP, Senior Program Manager, NEMA
With the assistance of NEMA and other industry leaders, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is updating its Smart Grid Interoperability Framework to advance grid modernization. The Interoperability Framework, developed and periodically revised in strong collaboration with the broad smart grid stakeholder community, has played a key role in grid transformation by guiding discussion, planning, and deployment of emerging smart grid technologies.
Through November
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- November 3, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
The U.S. electrical grid may be the largest interconnected machine on Earth, but is it high quality enough for our high-powered century? The short answer is: probably not.
Achieving this objective means we understand what we need to do and how to measure it. Frequently, one hears calculations regarding the grid’s individual parts, often in monetary terms. According to Joshua D. Rhodes at the University of Texas at Austin, the depreciated value
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- November 2, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Philip Squair, Vice President of Government Relations, NEMA
On October 5, 2018, President Trump signed into law a series of reforms to federal disaster programs to help communities better prepare for and recover from such events. The Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 contains a number of provisions supported by NEMA.
National Public Infrastructure Pre-Disaster Mitigation Assistance: Allows the Administration to establish a new program using six percent of disaster relief funds to
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- November 1, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the November 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Jonathan Stewart, Industry Director, Utility Products and Systems Division, NEMA, and Brian Marchionini, PMP, Senior Program Manager, NEMA
Mr. Stewart previously served as a government relations manager at NEMA.
Mr. Marchionini oversees NEMA technical work on energy storage, distribution automation, and microgrids.
It’s no secret that renewables are becoming a larger share of the overall generation portfolio. Wind and solar, for instance, are responsible for the majority of capacity increases. In 2017,
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- October 30, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the October 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Richard Roberts, Vice President, Industry Relations, Honeywell
In order to improve the detection of fires from synthetic materials and to reduce unwanted alarms, new tests have been developed for all smoke alarms and smoke detectors. Beginning May 29, 2020, all smoke alarms and detectors seeking to be listed as complying with ANSI/UL 217 and ANSI/UL 268 product Standards will have to pass new flaming and smoldering polyurethane (PU) foam tests as well
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- October 29, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the October 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Philip Caldwell, Edison Expert, External Affairs, Schneider Electric
The electrical industry is currently void of a consensus-developed transparent rationalization Standard for planning and implementing product-specific seismic qualification for building code compliance. Without one, this task ultimately defaults to the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) to sort out code compliance—a function that is most likely undertaken by those with no background or experience in electrical equipment.
A recently approved NEMA Strategic Initiative will inaugurate an
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- October 26, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the October 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Ken Gettman, Director, International Standards, NEMA
When considering global product distribution, it is often beneficial to pursue compliance with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), unless a Standard developed in the United States has become the de facto world requirement.
The IEC, an international Standards body, creates voluntary specifications that are adopted verbatim or with unique country deviations through most countries outside North America. Many IEC Standards are adopted as national requirements.
A number of
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- October 25, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the October 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Joel Solis, Senior Conformity Assessment Manager, NEMA
On February 16, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed Congress on the protection of American consumers, reporting that they faced a new problem: prosperity. He stated that American businesses responded with “matchless ingenuity and enterprise to produce the widest range of quality products ever offered for sale.”
While his aim was to implore Congress to look at national safety legislation and determine how it could be
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- October 24, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the October 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Lisa Spellman, AStd, DICOM General Secretary, MITA
Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM®) Standardizes the communication of medical imaging information. First published in the 1980s, it is maintained by a collaborative committee of industry and medical professional societies. DICOM maintains active liaisons with several Standards developing organizations.
Even though DICOM has been deployed globally, it is a consensus Standard that is largely voluntarily adopted based on its utility and not as a
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- October 20, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the October 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Nick Offerman, Field Application Engineering Manager, Eaton’s Bussmann Division
Fuseology is defined as the study of a fuse’s operating principles and its unique role in circuit protection. These principles include ratings, operating characteristics, and constructions that enable the fuse to act as a highly effective overcurrent protective device (OCPD).
Reliable OCPDs help prevent and minimize costly equipment damage while enhancing electrical safety and avoiding downtime. Many industry professionals rarely encounter the basics of
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- October 18, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the October 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Madeleine Bugel, Manager, State and International Government Relations, NEMA
NEMA has consistently advocated for timely adoption of the most current version of the National Electrical Code® (NEC) without amendments that would diminish its effectiveness.
In the past, tenacious staff and Members working on code adoption have fought code adoption issues as they arose, usually after the advocates opposing timely and necessary code adoption got involved in legislative or regulatory processes. We must think
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- October 17, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the October 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Bryan P. Holland, Southern Region Field Representative, NEMA
The NEMA field representatives’ contributions to state code adoption involves more than advocacy and support. Education plays a significant role before, during, and after the code adoption cycle.
This education can take on many forms and includes virtually all stakeholders.
Technical Analysis
Before the code update process begins, education includes a technical analysis of significant code changes since the last edition and a review of updates to
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- October 16, 2018
- NEMA Communications
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This piece was originally published in the October 2018 issue of electroindustry.
Alex Boesenberg, Senior Manager, Government Relations, NEMA
The lighting industry is in the midst of a revolution. The entry of cost-effective light-emitting diode (LED) technology into the marketplace ushered in an era of affordable, versatile, and adaptable lighting. NEMA Standards provide guidance and test methods to improve LED function and performance.
For example, NEMA SSL 7A and NEMA 77 address the interaction between LEDs and lighting controls: the former to reduce the
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