OpenADR 3.0 launched for distributed energy resource management

The OpenADR Alliance has launched OpenADR 3.0 to support utilities to manage the growing range of distributed energy resources.

OpenADR 3.0 is designed to provide secure, fast and reliable two-way information exchange for utilities with simple communications needs such as dynamic pricing and event signals.

With OpenADR 3.0, device and equipment manufacturers should be able to add new functionality more easily into customer products, including smart thermostats, EV charging stations, energy storage and control systems.

“Renewable energy, along with battery storage, is providing a growing share of overall power capacity as we move towards a more sustainable energy future. This means that energy companies are having to manage more decentralised and distributed energy resources, scaling operations while ensuring compatibility and interoperability,” explains Rolf Bienert, Managing & Technical Director for the OpenADR Alliance.

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“OpenADR 3.0 provides simplicity at a time when technology is becoming more complex, making energy management easier and future-proofing energy systems. It offers a new alternative using modern web service designs that are easier to use than older message style exchange formats, while also providing added functionality.”

OpenADR 3.0 is intended to complement rather than replace OpenADR 2.0

In addition to the functionality of OpenADR 2.0, OpenADR 3.0 simplifies messaging, including pricing, offering more dynamic pricing structures, as well as better enabling greenhouse gas signalling, grid code adjustments and capacity management communication such as dynamic operating envelopes.

Bruce Nordman, a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a member of the team that created OpenADR 3.0, says that it opens up new possibilities for customers and customer devices.

“It is so easy to implement that it can readily be put into any customer device, even a Wi-Fi light bulb, for receipt of grid signals, and also used for communication between customer devices. OpenADR 3.0 also supports two mechanisms for capacity management between the grid and the customer.”

The OpenADR Alliance reports that several companies are now piloting the OpenADR 3.0 standard.

OpenADR 3.0 testing and certification is available through the Alliance’s certification programme at any of its ten approved test facilities.