‘Plug-In’ to the First-of-its-Kind Demonstration of Smart Grid Interoperability

Grid-Interop Plug-In provides ‘show-and-tell’ of an interoperable Smart Grid

Smart Grid vendors are “walking the walk” and demonstrating real-world applications of Smart Grid interoperability with simulated end-to-end utility systems -- from the back office to the residential consumer’s thermostat. And now you can see it, or join it (see below).

In a first-of-its kind showcase, Grid-Interop’s Plug-In will provide the only central place where multiple vendors can unite to present applications of interoperable devices and systems in action.

With standards efforts now bearing real fruit, a cross-section of industry organizations will demonstrate 15 to 20 examples of emerging, evolving and mature interoperability standards in the following categories:

• Three demand response scenarios, including residential products and solutions, commercial and industrial (C&I);
• The interoperability of devices that monitor, protect and control modern transmission & distribution (T&D) systems;
• Enhanced cyber security features for the electric utility control system;
• A testing corner to demonstrate meaningful programs that provide confidence in technology evaluation.

Full descriptions of the scenarios are below.

A Show-and-Tell of Interoperability in Action: The Scenarios

The below summaries provide a brief description of each Plug-In scenario.

Demand Response (DR) - Three Examples:

To realize the value of demand response (DR) in the market, key DR interface standards and specifications have been defined and leveraged by markets to offer broad value in interoperability to the utility and consumer. This demonstration shows three main scenarios in DR, all leveraging key, well-defined points of interoperability supplied by participating vendors.

• The first scenario shows a utility operator initiating pricing and control events via demand response systems available at the utility back office. The event is processed and distributed over utility-owned or operated field infrastructure to a utility edge device at a residential customer premises. Smart devices in and around the customer premises support the customer’s response to events through enunciation, guidance, automation, and direct response. Devices to include plug-in electric vehicle chargers, thermostats, in-home displays, and more.
• The second scenario shows a utility operator initiating pricing and control events via demand response systems supplied by a third party. The event is processed and distributed over third-party or open Internet to a customer-owned device at or within the customers’ premises. Smart devices in and around the residential customer premises support the customer’s response to events through enunciation, guidance, automation, and direct response.
• The third scenario shows an ISO operator request load shed from commercial customers via cloud-based infrastructure. The event is transmitted across the open Internet to a gateway at the commercial premises. Smart devices in and around the commercial property support the customer’s response to the load shed event. The utility operator can see the curtailment requested.

Demonstrations shown leverage the following participating vendors and their offerings: Tendril, RuggedCOM, Akuacom, Emerson, Silver Spring Networks, and EPRI.

Participating vendors supply the following well-defined points of interoperability: IPv6, IPv4, OpenADR 1.0, OpenADR 2.0, SEP 1.X, SEP 2.0, ESPI, ICCP, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and more.

Transmission and Distribution (T&D):

This demonstration will be centered on the interoperability of the underlying technologies that meet the monitoring, protection, and control needs of modern T&D systems. Two well-defined points of interoperability will be demonstrated including: (1) IEC 61850 client/server based communications to support monitoring and control applications and (2) IEC 61850 Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) messaging that supports power system protection applications.

The Testing Corner:

The Plug-In “Testing Corner” will provide demonstrations by leading industry organizations that are enabling meaningful test programs that provide confidence in technology evaluation -- including certification, conformance, and instrumented pair-wise interoperability testing. Demonstrations will include: test cases against an Akuacom OpenADR 2.0 Virtual End Node; the execution of a robust SEP 2.0 conformance test against a SEP 2.0 programmable thermostat; and a demonstration that shows conformance of end-to-end transactions.

Cyber Security:

The Plug-In Cyber security/Lemnos project will demonstrate enhanced security features for the electric utility control system by using interoperable, open-source solutions to support these functions. The demonstration will show how Interoperable Configuration Profiles (ICPs) for two security protocols (IPsec and Syslog) operate effectively in a controlled environment -- specifically, how a utility might establish a secure site-to-site tunnel using the IPSec protocol and exchanging log messages using Syslog.