OpenADR Focus on European Flexible Power

By Don Dulchinos, OpenADR Alliance

The OpenADR Alliance recently presented the third in a series of updates on the use of the OpenADR protocols for European use cases ranging from smart appliances to electric vehicle infrastructure. Interest and activity is popping up all over, from the U.K. to Germany, as well as the Netherlands to Croatia.

The OpenADR Alliance manages the certification of flexible energy devices connecting to the utility grid. It has been active and growing in the U.S. and Japan for a decade, and in recent years has seen increased activity in Europe, resulting in an exhibit at European Utility Week in 2019.  The Alliance will return with an exhibit at the Enlit Europe conference, scheduled to be in person November 30 to December 2 in Milan, Italy.

During the April 8th “Adoption in Europe” webinar, Azad Camyab, the founder of Demand Response Aggregator Pearlstone Energy, talked about leveraging OpenADR in order to integrate into the DR programs of National Grid.  He emphasized that minimum standards including OpenADR enables Pearlstone to work not only with National Grid but with systems integrators such as Honeywell, Siemens and more.

In the Netherlands, Lonneke Driessen and Elaad NL, have been a long-time promoter and member of the OpenADR Alliance. Elaad NL is a knowledge and innovation center for the buildout of the smart charging infrastructure in the Netherlands, a project in which grid operators are active partners. Lonneke provided several updates on the Open Charge Alliance, where she is director of standardization as well as the new Elaad NL project with the Linux Foundation to create an Open Source implementation of the OpenADR protocols.  This technical work will further facilitate the rapid deployment of OpenADR compliant solutions worldwide.  Another Netherlands based company and member of the OpenADR Alliance, EVBox, also provided an update on their current managed charging tests in France, Spain, Poland, and Germany, among other countries.

In recent years, European organizations have been funding innovation projects where OpenADR is being leveraged. Joseph Levy from Driivz, a member of OpenADR since 2018 that counts Centrica among its investors, reported the results of an Electric Mobility Europe funded project called “Orchestrating Smart Charging”. He also discussed the instrumental role OpenADR played in facilitating managed charging in cooperation with utility companies.

Hrvoje Keko from KONČAR Group, a regional leader in electrical energy based in Croatia, gave an update on the EU Horizons 2020 Holisder Project, “Integrating Real-Intelligence in Energy Management Systems enabling Holistic Demand Response Optimization in Buildings and Districts.”

All of these projects and implementations underscore the momentum OpenADR is gaining in Europe.  The Alliance has been working with U.K. British Standards Institute, as they are considering OpenADR as part of its Energy smart appliances proposal. In addition, there is collaboration with German DSO Stromnetz-Hamburg in Project ELBE, where OpenADR is part of the architecture for a German funded project to create and scale an interface for grid-friendly electric vehicle charging.