Category: Newton-Evans In The News

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Transmission & Distribution World Partnership with Newton-Evans Research Company

Over the years since the early 1980’s, Newton-Evans’ articles written by Chuck Newton have appeared in more than 60 editions of Transmission and Distribution World.  Recent articles can be found here on the T&D WORLD website: https://www.tdworld.com/home/contact/20973495/charles-w-newton.  The following articles are among those now available on the T&D WORLD website.

Energy Policy and the Impact of Renewables and New Market Participants
Mar 13, 2020. This article is Part 2 of a series on current policy trends, first presented at the Little Rock, Arkansas EMMOS Users Conference in September 2019. Part 1 addressed grid modernization from an energy policy perspective.

COVID-19 Epidemic Impact on Protective Relays and Grid Modernization
Mar 13, 2020. What will be the likely economic consequences to grid modernization plans and budgets now in place, seeing the COVID-19 epidemic disruptions, and even havoc, in a significant number of the world’s industrialized and developing nations?

Grid Modernization from an Energy Policy Perspective in 2019
Nov 21, 2019.  This paper is part of a two-part series on current policy trends, first presented at the Little Rock, Arkansas EMMOS Users Conference in September 2019.

A Researcher’s Perspective on the North American Protective Relay Marketplace
Jun 02, 2019.  Charles Newton, Newton Evans Research Company, offers his observations on a recent survey on the protective relay marketplace.

IEC 61850: A Research Perspective
Jan 25, 2019.  Comparison of the findings of Newton-Evans studies on adoption of IEC 61850 by North American and international electric utilities.

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Market Trends Digest

A special December 2013 edition of the Newton-Evans Research Company’s Market Trends Digest is now available on our website. This edition looks at some of the studies Newton-Evans has put together in 2013. Also, see some preliminary results from our study of the World Market for Substation Automation & Integration 2014-2016, and read two articles by our CEO Chuck Newton:

1. ASAT and Alstom Grid: One Year Post-Merger
2. Cyber-security: Still Time to Heed the Warning Signals

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Did You Know…

…On a typical day, the Newton-Evans “Events” calendar is viewed by readers in 12-20 countries?

…Newton-Evans has surveyed more than 1,500 utility engineering and operations officials on more than 15 topics over the past year alone? . . . While the majority of our survey respondents are typically from North American utilities, we have had survey participation from utility officials located in more than 40 countries in the past 12 months.

…At any time, Newton-Evans will likely have multiple (from 3, 4 or 5) concurrent market/product/technology studies underway with utilities, industrials, consultants and/or suppliers to better understand the North American, international or global electric power delivery and smart grid marketplace?

…While the company has a large array of multi-client reports and studies available (see the Reports section of the website), more than one-half of our business is conducted for individual clients (proprietary research and consulting services).

…Similarly, the company undertakes both qualitative and quantitative research, often combining both approaches in a single study. For those studies where low cost is a vital consideration, secondary research combined with supply-side interviews will often be a cost-effective approach to meet the informational needs of our clients.

…Newton-Evans’ research activities and observations are shared with industry media on an ongoing basis. During 2012 and so far into 2013, the Newton-Evans’ staff has authored many important articles included in a number of industry leading publications. Here is a sample listing of a few of our recent contributions and editorial summaries or news concerning our reports

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NEMA features Newton-Evans Research Findings Article in “Economic Spotlight” for November 2012 Edition of Electroindustry Magazine

The article is entitled “An Overview of the U.S. Market For Transmission and Distribution Equipment and Systems” and was written exclusively for NEMA, the National Electrical Manufacturers’ Association. The article can be found here http://www.nxtbook.com/ygsreprints/NEMA/g29979_nema_ei_nov12/#/32. The timing of the article is coincidental with the release this week of the final portion of the Newton-Evans series of 90 brief market summaries on discrete infrastructure components of the nation’s transmission and distribution grid and supporting automation and control systems. The final group of market summaries covers the operational control systems and supporting enterprise systems used by electric utilities. The new series will be available on-line on November 9, 2012.

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First Quarter 2011 Market Trends Digest Packed with New Research Findings. Now Available on-line!

Here is our first quarter line-up for our thousands of readers of “MTD” from around the world

Market Trends Digest – The “Dean” of smart grid Journals
The Newton-Evans team has developed the articles for the 1st quarter 2011 edition of one of the earliest and most widely praised smart grid journals – Market Trends Digest – launched in 1991 and continuing to add readers in 2011.

CAPEX 2011
The new Market Trends Digest edition features highlights from our new 1st quarter 2011 study of spending on smart grid components from around the world. The 2011 CAPEX study will also be available shortly – on 1 April – with many pre-publication subscribers eager to review this report, the fourth in our “tracking” series of informative planned spending reports on smart grid.

2011 Substation Automation Research Series
Next is an in-depth article of highlights from our newest studies of substation automation. The 2011-2013 study series contains four volumes of research, and is available for purchase on the web site, by email request, or by telephoning the Newton-Evans staff. The series has been well-received by the initial round of subscribers and sponsors.

IEC 61850: Is It Finally Coming of Age in North America, Or Not?
The next three articles cover new findings for projecting North American acceptance of IEC 61850. Titled “The Future Role of IEC 61850”, this article documents some of the progress finally being made with regard to this international standard.  Next, we identified several North American regional
“centers of excellence” when it comes to IEC 61850 developments as highlighted in the second of the 61850 articles. Finally, a profile of one of the larger G, T&D services companies leading the 61850 charge with extensive training, testing and support services – Toronto-based Kinectrics, Inc.

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Increases in Substation Related Automation and Integration Program Spending Reported by North American Electric Power Utilities

The Newton-Evans Research Company has released findings from the North American volume of its newly published four volume research series entitled: The World Market for Substation Automation and Integration Programs in Electric Utilities: 2011-2013. The new study compares the current round of research findings with earlier tracking studies conducted by the firm.

Newton-Evans Research estimates the current North American spending for substation automation and integration programs at more than $500 million, with an overall potential market size of nearly $10 billion. Global potential is estimated at about $38-$40 billion. This amount includes spending for a wide range of intelligent substation-resident equipment and devices and the manpower to undertake the systems integration efforts required.

The years 2008-2009 were slow growth – or at best moderate growth – years in most categories of intelligent electronic equipment sales related to the modern, increasingly digital, electric power substation. Fewer retrofit programs were undertaken except for the most critical of substations. The pool of funding for substation automation projects increased somewhat by virtue of a portion of the stimulus funds made available by the U.S. Department of Energy, with most of this amount likely to be spent in 2011-2012.

Additional topics being covered in the four volume series of substation automation studies include strong coverage of multiple communications topics, vendor security certification requirements, external systems linkages to the substation, preferred equipment suppliers, and an assessment of where North America’s electric power substations are positioned along a three-phase path to complete automation.

Level of automation of substations reported in North American survey sample
transmission substations automated

distribution substations automated

Respondents indicated a total of 1,567 transmission substations and 5,154 distribution substations in operation as of the 4th quarter of 2010. These represent a 9% sample of U.S. and Canadian combined totals of transmission voltage substations and nearly 10% of all distribution voltage substations.

It seems surprising that as of 2010, there were significant numbers of transmission substations reported to have no IEDs and no automation, although retrofit programs over the 2011-2013 period will likely improve the status of more than one-half of those currently non-automated substations.

Of 5,154 distribution substations in operation at participating utilities, nearly 36% were reported to be without any automation. Just over one-half (52%) of these distribution substations were classified as Stage 1 sites (having some IEDs, RTUs, and two-way communications). About 12% were reported to be “fully automated.”

The finding that 60 new transmission substations and 170 new distribution substations are on the drawing board for construction by 2013 provides some cautious optimism for EPC firms, as this level of planning is a sign of re-investment in grid-essential infrastructure.

The World Market for Substation Automation and Integration Programs in Electric Utilities: 2011-2013 Volume 1, North American Market is available for $2,500. To order volumes of these reports as they become available, and to view pricing details for all our reports, visit our Market Research Reports page. For samples or to view the table of contents, send a request to info@newton-evans.com with the subject line “Substation Automation Market 2011.”

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“2010 U.S. Smart Grid Vendor Ecosystem” The new DOE Report Substantiates Newton-Evans’ Findings and Insights

Newton-Evans Research studies and findings have figured prominently in domestic U.S. energy policy reporting and analysis over the past decade and longer. This time, the U.S. Department of Energy’s latest smart grid publication titled 2010 U.S. Smart Grid Vendor Ecosystem authored by the San Francisco-based firm The Cleantech Group LLC includes a substantial amount of Newton-Evans’ recent research findings.

More than a dozen Newton-Evans charts depicting the firm’s recent findings on substation automation, distribution automation, energy management, SCADA systems, communications and CAPEX topics form an integral part of this newly released 91 page report on the companies and market dynamics shaping the current U.S. smart grid landscape.

In the acknowledgments (page 18) of the Cleantech report the authors state:

“We would like to thank Chuck Newton, from Newton-Evans Research, whose work is referenced in numerous sections of this report for his contributions and insights into the market particularly around distribution and substation automation….”

The new DOE report can be downloaded here: http://www.energy.gov/media/Smart-Grid-Vendor.pdf

Over the past 18 months, Newton-Evans reports have figured prominently in the U.S. government’s intensive investigation into the potential of the development of the smart grid. Our company’s findings have been used or referenced in congressional hearings and reports as well as serving as the basis for the recent report produced by Idaho National Labs titled: National SCADA Testbed Substation Automation Evaluation Report.

This substation automation evaluation used research conducted by Newton-Evans Research Company for some of its observations and results. The Newton-Evans Report aided in the determination of what is the state of substation automation in North American electric utilities. Idaho National Laboratory cyber security experts aided in the determination of what cyber vulnerabilities may pose a threat to electrical substations. This report includes cyber vulnerabilities as well as recommended mitigations. It also describes specific cyber issues found in typical substation automation configurations within the electric utility industry. National SCADA Testbed Substation Automation Evaluation Report, released in October 2009, can be downloaded here: http://www.inl.gov/technicalpublications/Documents/4374057.pdf

An additional 2009 report from INL entitled Study of Security Attributes of Smart Grid Systems – Current Cyber Security Issues provides good coverage of key cyber security issues confronting smart grid systems and components. Reference to Newton-Evans’ collaboration with INL on substation automation cyber security research is noted in this report. The study can be downloaded here: http://www.inl.gov/scada/publications/d/securing_the_smart_grid_current_issues.pdf 

On the international scene, Newton-Evans has recently conducted worldwide surveys of power utility engineering managers that have proven useful in providing guidance for CIGRE working groups on topics including wireless (Wi-Fi) Protected Access for Substation Protection and Control (WG B5.22)and for The Impact of Implementing Security Requirements for IEC 61850 (WG B5.38).

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In the News . . . Mid-October Update

On October 12, 2010, IBM Corporation and Kyoto Publishing announced the publication of the IBM report titled Generating Insights: Accelerating Into a New Era in Energy. The report explores how the global electric utility industry continues to be reinvented through new technologies and confronting opportunities regarding business strategy, technology innovation, customer interface, regulation, security and consumer demand.

A series of IBM authors and contributors from Oracle, Juniper Networks, Black & Veatch, Southern California Edison, the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition, and the Newton-Evans Research Company make up this compilation of white papers in the tenth annual Energy & Utilities project. The project includes papers on topics such as: Collaborating for a Smarter Grid; The Impact of Smart Grid on Climate Change; Smart Grid Security and Architectural Thinking; The New Era In Distributed Generation; Smart Nuclear Power; Keeping the Lights on While Transforming Electric Utilities; and the Newton-Evans contribution, Re-Investing in Electric Power Utilities to Build A Smarter Grid. 

The full IBM report can be downloaded (after sign-up) at http://www.generatinginsights.com/

Also, Chuck’s article, Sailing the Seven “C’s” With CISCO and Itron has been featured in the October 2010 issue of PowerGrid International magazine. Click here to read the October 2010 issue.

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Sailing the Seven “C’s” With CISCO and Itron

by Chuck Newton

The September 1, 2010 announcement of a formal collaboration between CISCO and Itron was notable in several respects. First, the simple announcement was termed “collaboration” instead of “joint venture” or even a formal “partnership.” It was also described as non-exclusive, but was a very important step forward nonetheless for both companies, especially for Itron, and serves as a good omen for the AMI portion of “smart grid” communications in general, thus likely to benefit other AMI market participants that offer communications solutions as part of their go-to-market strategies.

CISCO is a $35 billion company, with an estimated $2-3 billion (Newton-Evans estimate) found within energy-related vertical industry sales of its communications equipment. Itron itself will close in on being a $2 billion corporation again in 2010, with about 50% of revenues derived from electric power industry AMR/AMI sales and services. Continue reading Sailing the Seven “C’s” With CISCO and Itron

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Potential Synergies of an Areva T&D Acquisition by General Electric: Why Alstom-Schneider and Toshiba are Also in the Bidding

As many regular readers of Newton-Evans’ reports already know, there are three major contenders for the $7 billion Transmission and Distribution business units of Areva Corporation. These are the American firm General Electric, the French corporate combination of Alstom and Schneider Electric, and the Japanese company, Toshiba.

Newton-Evans Research believes the greatest benefit to the electric power industry may result if General Electric’s offer becomes the winning bid. The reason: Areva T&D fills several product/equipment gaps in GE’s T&D product line and related automation offerings. A successful acquisition by General Electric would provide the firm with world-leading combined market shares in substation automation, protection and control and T&D control systems (energy management and SCADA). GE would become a major player in several growing portions of the transmission equipment business, establishing a stronger foothold in the North American and international transmission market segments described below. Together these segments are worth $25-40 billion on a worldwide basis. Areva T&D earned about $3.5 billion in HV equipment sales in 2008-2009. Continue reading Potential Synergies of an Areva T&D Acquisition by General Electric: Why Alstom-Schneider and Toshiba are Also in the Bidding

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Newton-Evans Cited in Automation World Article

Newton-Evans was cited in an Automation World article titled, “Smart Grid Stimulus Funds to Provide Market Boost.” Chuck Newton was quoted as saying:

“The Smart Grid eventually will be built out. But utilities never rush into anything, for the simple reason that they’ve got to keep the lights on. They can’t take it out of service to rebuild it. So it’s got to be an iterative process, and that usually means multi-year efforts.”

Read the full article on the Automation World website.

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Where T&D Automation Is Headed: 2009 and Beyond

by Charles Newton

The financial environment and economic outlook
darken many segments of the national and global economies. Will the electric power industry significantly scale back planned capital expenditures and operations and maintenance spending on transmission and distribution automation? To find the answer, we conducted a global study of capital-expense budgets.

This article is featured in the March/April edition of EnergyBiz magazine, which you can download as a .pdf from their website: http://energycentral.fileburst.com/EnergyBizOnline/2009-2-mar-apr/Tech_Front_TandD_Headed.pdf

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Leveraging SCADA for the Smart Grid

An article by Chuck Newton titled Better Leverage SCADA: Systems Expand to Support New Challenges and Needs was featured in the first issue of Energy Central’s newest serial, Intelligent Utility magazine. This new publication focuses on Smart Grid topics. From the website:

“The magazine addresses core smart grid components, including distribution automation, substation automation, smart meters, demand response, home area networks, intelligent consumer devices, distributed generation, SCADA, GIS, outage management systems, mobile workforce technologies, work management and asset management.”

Visit their website to get a free subscription.

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Utility Automation & Engineering T&D Article

Newton-Evans was recently cited in the January 2008 edition of Utility Automation & Engineering T&D Magazine, which is available online here (link opens in a new window.) The article, titled “Getting Equipped: No Single Bullet Wounded the World Transformer Market,” discusses the reasons for increasing transformer costs in the electric power industry.

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You can also order these reports and request more information by calling us toll free at 1-800-222-2856 or via email to info@newton-evans.com