Electric Power Transmission Realtime Information Networks*
(A white paper. Version 2.1.)
1.0 Abstract
The U. S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NOPRA") (Docket No. RM95-8-000, March 29, 1995) has proposed a set of actions to move the Electric Power Transmission system to open competition. (See [Johnston-95].) The technical aspects of the actions involve defining what information needs to be made available, and how that information is to be made available. The "how" is to be through open electronic data networks called "Realtime Information Networks" (RINs). The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has been tasked with organizing a set of workshops to collect input and present a White Paper to FERC that proposes an implementation of the RIN [EPRI-95a]. One of these workshops was held in Chicago on Sept. 7-8, 1995. In the course of this Workshop, it was proposed that the Internet be used as the mechanism to access RIN data. Several issues and questions arose concerning the use of the Internet for this purpose. This paper attempts to address some of these issues and questions. In particular, it addresses:
Additionally, this paper contains a strawman design for a RIN based on an informal set of requirements and desired functionality expressed verbally at the Chicago workshop. This design is intended to clarify some issues and provide a vehicle for further discussion. The relationship between EDI and the Internet is discussed briefly, and an annotated bibliography is provided.
Finally, many attendees of the Workshop felt that the name (Realtime Information Network) was too generic since there are many such networks in many different disciplines, and suggested changing the name to "Transmission Service-providers Information Network", or TSIN, and the name "TSIN" is used throughout this white paper.