Color Books going away--IEEE 3000 Standards Collection unveiled

6/20/2012 11:05 AM EDT

In a move to set guidelines and standards for nearly every aspect of the power generation process, the IEEE announced the launch of the IEEE 3000 Standards Collection for Industrial & Commercial Power Systems. This collection the trusty IEEE Color Books, but it will be easier for current solutions and up-to-date best practices to be located.

The new collection is going to split up the 13 Color Books into smaller and more focused technical standards. Each standard is made up of a large number of “dot” standards that focus on a specific technical topic, such as IEEE 3001 Standards: Power Systems Design will contain several individual dot standards. Each will provide recommended practices for specific power system design topics such as:

• Evaluating service requirements
• Applying power distribution apparatus
• Instrumentation and metering

The goal is that, since the standards will be narrowly focused and shorter, revision, balloting, and approval will be more timely and efficient. Naturally, the data will be easier to find in the first place.

So far, three dot standards are available:

• IEEE 3007.1™: Recommended practice for the Operation and Management of Industrial and Commercial Power Systems.
• IEEE 3007.2™: Recommended Practice for the Maintenance of Industrial and Commercial Power Systems
• IEEE 3007.3™: Recommended Practice for Electrical Safety in Industrial and Commercial Power Systems.

It's expected that it will take years for the full collection to be published. There will be an introductory standard—IEEE 3000 Standard: Fundamentals, which will provide a framework for dot standards, and will give a generalized overview of power system design, installation, operation, and maintenance. It will contain references to the dot standards providing more detailed information on specific applications and environments.

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