Another year has gone and another ENLIT Europe (November 10-12) has come around, this time in the Austrian capital of Vienna. Attracting utilities, grid operators, tech vendors and policymaker, this event remains the largest energy-transition event in Europe.

It’s also not afraid to shy away from the big topics and 2026 is no different, under the theme of Integration, Resilience and Competitiveness. The conference program will cover everything from grid modernization to flexibility, energy storage, AI in operations and the three ‘Ds’ of decentralization, digitalization and decarbonization.

The UK Government’s new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was published last week, setting out the Government’s policies for planning and decision-making on development proposals in England.

With a whole section of the policy dedicated to ‘Securing clean energy and water’, this was welcome news from a network capacity perspective. It sets out its priorities for the benefits of renewables and low-carbon energy sources, while effectively forcing local planning to actively account for local network capacity and grid connection requirements.

Back from Munich at the end of June, we’ve had some time to reflect on smarter E Europe and what the event looked like from an Alliance perspective.

As the largest group of exhibitions for the energy industry, combining Intersolar Europe (solar), eees Europe (batteries and energy storage), Power2Drive (EV charging infrastructure), and EM-Power Europe (smart grids and energy management), it’s a busy show attracting over 100,000 visitors.

Member Interview Series: OpenADR, gridoo

We recently had the opportunity to interview Wolfgang Bernhard, CEO of gridoo. Based in Austria, gridoo is one of our newest members, providing scalable, manufacturer-independent grid intelligence and energy management solutions for power grids, operators, and buildings. Below, Wolfgang shares more about gridoo’s mission and why membership in the OpenADR Alliance is strategic to their business.

Meet the Board Blog Series: Mary Ann Piette, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The OpenADR Alliance is pleased to introduce Mary Ann Piette, Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Technologies at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and lead of the California Load Flexibility Research and Deployment Hub (CalFlexHub).

Below are the interview highlights featuring Tobias Wöss, Product Manager Energy at LOXONE. The below piece explores how member LOXONE is utilizing building automation to address modern energy challenges and the importance of their partnership with the OpenADR Alliance.

The OpenADR Alliance is pleased to introduce Mark Martinez. Mark has over 30 years of experience in energy markets, with expertise ranging from early load management research and demand-side program development to the integration of market systems and advanced software for cost-effective customer operations. As a representative of SCE, one of the founding members of the OpenADR Alliance, he has been instrumental in the adoption of the OpenADR standard.

Last week we announced a liaison agreement with the Connectivity Standards Alliance, which manages the smart home standard, Matter to help drive the adoption of grid-connected residential energy management. This is an important industry collaboration that will help address the need for seamless communication between smart home devices and the energy grid.

Members of our two organizations will work to make it easier to turn connected homes into active participants in demand response (DR) programs. Matter will handle the communication between a smart home appliance, such as an EV charger, heat pump or solar panel, while OpenADR 3 handles communication between the energy gateway, utilities and the grid. 

The OpenADR Alliance is pleased to introduce Albert Chiu, Principal Product Manager for PG&E. Albert has been a member of the OpenADR board since its inception and remains a strong advocate for the OpenADR standard. Below, he addresses questions regarding his role in the industry and shares some insights on PG&E’s role and his vision for the energy sector.

It has been nearly two years since the OpenADR Alliance exhibited at the Power+Utilities event in Melbourne. That event was a significant milestone in educating attendees on the OpenADR protocol and included Terry Paddy, Managing Director of member company Cortexo, who introduced the New Zealand FlexTalk project.

Cortexo, a New Zealand-based energy solutions provider with 20 years of experience in remote control and monitoring, has been a key player in this space. Their involvement with OpenADR began in 2017, leading to the certification of their VTN and VEN products in early 2024.

This week, the OpenADR Alliance announced a new liaison agreement with DLMS User Association to promote interoperable, standards-based energy data exchange at the grid edge. As many of you know, DLMS is a leading voice in interoperable and secure data exchange. 

This agreement will support seamless data exchange between the widely adopted DLMS/COSEM standard for secure smart meter data exchange, and OpenADR’s secure, two-way signaling for demand response and DER, and flexibility services.

Buildings are evolving from passive consumers to active grid resources, helping to balance energy demand during peak hours. The integration of renewable energy sources, battery storage, and EVs into buildings creates virtual power plants that enhance energy flexibility. Member company Edo through building automation systems provides utilities real-time visibility, control, and quantifiable load response. Below we learn a bit more about the company as we talk to Emilie Bolduc, Chief Commercial Officer.

Earlier this month, we brought together over 200 registrants from HVAC manufacturers, utilities, testing labs, regulators, and aggregators across more than 20 countries to dig into a topic that keeps coming up in conversations with our members: what does AHRI 1380 compliance actually look like in practice, and what's changing?

The webinar featured the Alliance's Rolf Bienert alongside Spencer Borison from Codibly, Eric Olson from NEEA (and member of the AHRI 1380 working group), and Jim Zuber from QualityLogic. The 36 audience questions submitted during the session made one thing clear — OEMs are past the "should we care about this?" phase and firmly into "how do we get it done?"

 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.