October 2010
News Release
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OpenADR Alliance Formed to Accelerate Industry Adoption of an Automated Demand Response Standard for Smart Grid
 
Honeywell, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Southern California Edison Support OpenADR Alliance Formation

 

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Morgan Hill, CA, October 27, 2010:  Leading Smart Grid industry organizations today announced the formation of the OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation created to foster the development, adoption and compliance of a Smart Grid standard known as Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR). Smart Grid standards for Automated Demand Response (Auto-DR) will ultimately lower the cost, improve the reliability and accelerate the speed of Auto-DR and Smart Grid implementations across the U.S.
 
A critical component of the national Smart Grid initiative, Auto-DR encourages businesses and homeowners to reduce their electricity consumption at critical "peak demand" times, or in response to changes in market price, by automating message delivery from the utility directly to the customer. OpenADR standardizes a message format used for Auto-DR so that dynamic price and reliability signals can be delivered in a uniform and interoperable data model among utilities, Independent System Operator (ISOs) and customer's energy management and control systems.
 
Like all Smart Grid standards, OpenADR adoption will help accelerate implementation of Smart Grid technologies by enabling key benefits for utilities, vendors, consumers and other stakeholder groups by:
  • Lowering costs: Standardization will help lower production, service and maintenance costs for vendors, and ultimately, their utility customers.  Lower costs will also accelerate technology innovation and enhance product choice.  
  •  Assuring compliance: Vendor technologies that conform to a uniform standard will reduce utility costs associated with compliance testing, integration and deployment, while creating more technology options for power companies exploring Auto-DR.
  •  Improving reliability: Auto-DR has proven effective in achieving a more reliable and higher performing grid by helping shave peak electricity demand.  Standardizing a message format will further improve interoperability, efficiency and reliability of Auto-DR systems.
Underscoring the effectiveness of this standard, over 60 control vendors across the U.S. and internationally have already implemented OpenADR. While the benefits of widespread adoption are clear, the industry has lacked an organization responsible for the education, training, testing and certification needed to bring this technology to market - until today. 
 
[an error occurred while processing this directive]The OpenADR Alliance will foster the collaboration necessary among industry stakeholders to ensure the rapid deployment of OpenADR -- a price-and reliability-based demand response communication specification. National standards work will be built upon the OpenADR specifications published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and funded by the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program. OpenADR is being further developed through the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Smart Grid-standards effort, along with organizations including: Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), the Utilities Communications Architecture International User's Group (UCAIug), and the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). 
 
"Grounded in the standards activities initiated by Berkeley Lab in 2002, the OpenADR Alliance will play a central role in accelerating the adoption of Auto-DR and rapidly advancing our power grid into the 21st century," said Mary Ann Piette, research director for PIER Demand Response Research Center (DRRC) at Berkeley Lab. "Only through interoperable technology standards can we implement Smart Grid solutions with the reliability, cost-effectiveness and guaranteed compliance necessary for broad market acceptance. The OpenADR Alliance will implement processes to quickly bring this commercially proven standard to market."
 
"There's no question the widespread adoption of an OpenADR standard will lower the development, equipment and service costs for Smart Grid vendors and the utilities investing in these solutions," said Jeremy Eaton, vice president of energy solutions at Honeywell.   "And it will ultimately benefit homeowners and businesses because open standards spur competition and innovation, and will lead to more effective Smart Grid technologies, and greater energy and cost savings." 
 
"OpenADR is an established standard with the potential to accelerate Auto-DR and Smart Grid implementation across the country," said Commissioner Jeffrey Byron, California Energy Commission (Energy Commission). "The Energy Commission funds research to provide consumers tools and products to manage their energy use.  OpenADR is the culmination of that research.  Since OpenADR is now a part of the national Smart Grid standards framework, the Energy Commission, LBNL and stakeholders have an important role to play in helping lead the industry toward national implementation."

"Improved availability of OpenADR-compliant products will also help electric utilities, like Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), satisfy the grid-reliability and load-reduction requirements set by public utility commissions," said Albert Chiu, senior program manager, demand response, for PG&E. "A standardized framework for Auto-DR products facilitated by the OpenADR Alliance will pave the way for market adoption of Smart Grid solutions that improve customer satisfaction and grid reliability."

 

About the OpenADR Alliance

OpenADR Alliance is fostering the development, adoption, and compliance of the Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) standard through collaboration, education, training, testing, and certification. The OpenADR Alliance intends to work with related organizations such as the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB), Utilities Communications Architecture International User's Group (UCAIug), Wi-Fi Alliance™, Zigbee Alliance™ and others as appropriate.

 

The OpenADR Alliance is open to all interested stakeholders sharing a common interest in facilitating and accelerating the use and adoption of the OpenADR standard for price- and reliability-based demand response. More information can be obtained at http://www.openadr.org/




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