We kicked off the month in San Diego with a busy week that included two insightful industry events. First event was hosted by PLMA (The Flexible Load Management Community) and the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC). This new experience was designed for utility professionals interested in load flexibility, distributed energy resources (DERs), and residential customer engagement.

As customer-sited DERs and load flexibility programs become essential for delivering reliable and affordable electricity, PLMA and SECC successfully merged two existing DTECH events—PLMA’s Symposium on DER Grid Services and SECC’s Consumer Symposium—into a single program. This combined initiative explores two key angles of the energy transition: grid operations and customer engagement. Utility speakers were bullish on growth in distributed energy resource integration, and noted Virtual Power Plant resources can be added more quickly than traditional natural gas power plants to meet new demand. (Speakers also suggested the VPP term should really be called distributed power plants – there’s nothing “virtual” about them.) 

The OpenADR Alliance is pleased to announce the availability of its 2025 Annual Report. This past year was marked by unprecedented growth and adoption as energy providers continue to manage the increasing pool of distributed energy resources (DER).

Key achievements highlighted in the report include a significant global increase in membership, driven by advancements in energy management systems and the integration of EV charging networks, energy storage, and renewables. In the last year alone, nearly 60 organizations joined the Alliance—a rate of one new member per week—representing the highest growth in our 15-year history. This expansion is particularly strong in Asia, with over a third of new members originating from Japan, China, and Korea, alongside significant growth across Europe and North America.

The OpenADR Alliance recently exhibited at Enlit Europe in Bilbao, Spain. This annual exhibition is a critical opportunity to connect with utilities, grid operators, energy producers, technology innovators, and policymakers worldwide. This year’s three-day event provided fresh viewpoints, revolutionary technologies, and significant cooperation opportunities within the energy industry.

Enlit 2025 fostered in-depth discussions on cutting-edge trends. The show floor featured well-planned themed areas and national pavilions, focusing on key themes such as peer-to-peer energy trading, microgrids, and local renewable energy production.

Speaking at the Powered On Live: The Grid 2025 virtual event back in June this year, I talked about the rapid growth in Europe’s energy demand, due to increased electrification – growth in electric vehicles (EVs) for example – and also data centre use, which is predicted to account for about 5% of total European power consumption by the end of the decade.

My keynote session addressed the challenges and opportunities in building a more resilient energy system, and I raised the question of where and how we can make an impact. There’s little doubt that we need smarter infrastructure, and we are starting to get there.

Many of our members and partners will have seen this week that the Alliance announced significant growth in our membership and worldwide adoption of the OpenADR standard.

As the industry continues to evolve and adapt to the growing number of DER – from EV managed charging networks and energy storage to grid-interactive technologies and the integration of renewables – we’ve seen around 60 organizations join us in the last year. This is around one new company a week, unprecedented since the Alliance was formed 15 years ago – and is an acknowledgement of the work of our growing ecosystem.

With its stunning architecture, enviable dining scene, and home to the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao will add a new string to its bow this year when it plays host to Enlit Europe 2025.

The fact that Bilbao has transformed from a gritty industrial port into one of the most vibrant and futuristic cities in Spain is perhaps a fitting tribute to the energy sector, which itself is transforming from old to new.

By Don Dulchinos, Director of Market Facilitation, OpenADR Alliance

The OpenADR Alliance has seen significant growth in solar and storage companies becoming members of the Alliance and connecting to the utility grid. And we have seen a more recent trend in innovation in the solar space. As we published in August:

The OpenADR Alliance last year launched a new version of its OpenADR communications standard. OpenADR 3 was designed to support utilities, operators, aggregators, and customers as they try to manage the growing range of distributed energy resources (DER) including renewables, energy storage, electric vehicle (EV) batteries and charging infrastructure, as well as demand response resources like commercial buildings or homes.

As an open standard, OpenADR provides highly secure, fast, and reliable two-way information exchange for utility applications with simple communications needs like dynamic price and event signals, allowing customers to modify their usage to save money and reduce their carbon footprint. More complex scenarios such as managing local grid constraints are also supported.

VPP 2.0 - Trends in Efficient Grid Integration

Don Dulchinos, Director, Market Facilitation, OpenADR Alliance

Recently I sat down with the editor of Illuminaire – a publication focused on AI deployment in industry – to discuss the challenges created by the growth in AI applications leading to a surge in electricity demand by data centers.

Here are my thoughts of the main points we discussed.

We had the opportunity to talk with Michael Siemann, Director of Technology for Resideo Grid Services and find out a bit more about the company and why the OpenADR standard is important to their initiatives including the EV-Home Power Partnership project with Ford.

It is true everything in Texas is bigger!

Last week the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, TX was the place to be for DISTRIBUTECH 2025. Over 20,000 industry leaders within the energy sector took over the downtown area.  Every year this conference brings together top experts from around the world to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing the energy sector, such as extreme weather events like wildfires and hurricanes, the rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), and the rise of AI.  

The increase of EVs, and the expansion of data centers are areas seen to be increasing energy consumption when grid reliability is currently a major concern. These challenges were addressed throughout the week in many of the keynotes and packed sessions, as well as in conversations on the exhibit floor.

For the OpenADR Alliance, we kicked the week off with an announcement of our first OpenADR 3.0 certified products with E.ON, EVoke Systems and Universal Devices. OpenADR 3.0 provides highly secure, fast, and reliable two-way information exchange for utility applications with simple communications needs. It was developed to simplify messaging, including pricing, offering more dynamic pricing structures, as well as better enabling greenhouse gas signaling, grid code adjustments, and capacity management communication.

Reflections from IESNA – by Don Dulchinos, Director of Market Facilitation, OpenADR Alliance

As we set our focus on the upcoming DistribuTECH Conference in Dallas next week I wanted to pause and take a moment to share with our utility partners a few observations from last month’s Intersolar and Energy Storage North America (IESNA) in San Diego. The OpenADR Alliance exhibited along with a number of members in the solar and energy storage space.

Member Interview Series: OpenADR, Airzone 

It’s that time of the year when we often get invited to ‘look ahead’ and comment on what we as an industry alliance see as the main trends in the coming year. Just this month, we have been quoted talking about the growing demand for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in City Transport & Traffic Innovation (CTTi) magazine.

But this is nothing new. EV charging has been ‘on trend’ for some time and still we talk about the need for equitable access to charging points.

Annual Report Available for Download!

In 2024, the OpenADR Alliance witnessed significant expansion with a notable 40 new members, resulting in a cumulative count of over 200 members spanning North America, Asia and Europe, validating the Alliance’s influence. The Alliance as of today has 319 certified products and is now working with 10 approved test facilities in eight countries.

Rolf Bienert, Managing and Technical Director, OpenADR Alliance

Earlier this month, I posted my ‘reflections’ blog on our really inspiring 2^nd OpenADR User European Conference in November co-hosted by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ).

By Rolf Bienert, Managing and Technical Director, OpenADR Alliance

As we catch our breath after a hugely successful 2^nd OpenADR User European Conference in London last month, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on what we learnt and what lessons we can take forward into next year.

OpenADR 3.0 2024 Hackathon: A Resounding Success! By Frank Sandoval, Principal, Palarito Technologies, LLC

This month, Pacific Gas and Electric hosted the OpenADR 3.0 Hackathon. Participants from pioneering companies, all worked successfully together to advance interoperability and resilient energy solutions. These companies included: PG&E, Tanenergy, LBL, Universal Devices, GridTracker, Buena Vista Learning, Quilt EPRI, Priicer/EKM Metering, Clark Communications, Kaluza, GridX, Evoke, the OpenADR Alliance and individual Nathan Ota.