MSNBC among other news agencies are beginning to report on a few power plants that are running all date related functions past 2000. I have also read unconfirmed reports of Power Plants in Denmark and France that are planning the same actions. The TVA'S Gallatin and Chickamauga plants are reporting that their dates are advanced and that they have found relatively few problems, even with embedded systems. On the surface this seems to to be some shockingly good news. What I need to hear is confirmation of this good news from some of the electrical utility experts on this forum. Maybe now I can cancel the generator, solar panels, batteries, and inverters from my preparations.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1998

Answers

Absent information to the contrary, I'll ass/u/me that these plants are running with the date on the plant DCS advanced. I've attempted to get a response from TVA since I first heard about this, but can't get a return call from anyone.

If my theory about DCS is true, all it tells me is that their DCS software is working. It tells me nothing else about the current operating configuration.

Take a look back at some of the threads in this forum, particularly under the embedded controls topic. That anyone is claiming "embedded controls are not a major problem" is specious - anyone saying that doesn't understand the nature of control loops and interoperability of large integrated control systems.

We'll be seeing quite a few such media reports in the coming months. I'm not saying that this type of report is not good news; merely that it's superficial at best. Many reporters generally don't know what questions to ask, and very few dig beyond the happy-faced PR releases that they're handed. So, we must look beyond the superficial, and ask ourselves (and the companies that we deal with) the hard questions.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1998

Keep making your preparations. Per RC above, a unitary date change in the SCADA/EMS (while good news) is hardly conclusive. To date, the best information we have is that at least 3% of all embedded systems are date sensitive. The date advancement tests have no relevance to these systems and it tells you nothing about communications capablity necessary to coordinate with grid requirements.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1998