UCAIug Releases Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) System Requirements Specification

Demand Response Specification Contributes to Smart Grid Initiatives

RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The UCA International Users Group (UCAIug) completed its work on the first version of the Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) System Requirement Specification (SRS). OpenADR is an open and interoperable information exchange model that facilitates the automation of Demand Response (DR) in commercial and industrial facilities. OpenADR is commercially implemented to automate DR programs and has been adopted by a wide range of building and industrial controls companies for various grid supply and demand-side management activities. As of 2010, over sixty control vendors have implemented the OpenADR client. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has mentioned OpenADR in its recent "National Action Plan on Demand Response" report, and was selected as one of the key Smart Grid standards by the Smart Grid Interoperability Program (SGIP) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Over 20 individuals representing over 10 companies and organizations collaborated over the past six months to complete this effort. The original OpenADR specification released by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) was utilized as a base foundation for the OpenADR document. The OpenADR specification has been approved by the OpenSmart Grid Users Group (OpenSGug) Technical Subcommittee, which is one of the three user communities supported by the UCAIug, and is now available for public use.

The OpenADR SRS, which utilized the Common Information Model (CIM) standard to provide both the functional and technical guidance and requirements needed to serve as the "rules of engagement" for Demand Response messaging and data exchange in order to achieve interoperability of DR systems. This would lead to open and interoperable components that can be delivered with different smart grid vendor products and/or solutions within the scope of OpenADR. The functional requirements will be driven by business processes and the technical requirements will be driven by architectural principles and best practices.

The SRS focuses on the requirements to support the interactions and exchange of information for the purposes of Demand Response and includes the exchanges of DR related information UCA International Users Group, 10604 Candler Falls Court, Raleigh, NC 27614 between various entities dealing with the Utilities, such as Independent System Operators (ISO's), Aggregators, Energy Service Providers and end use customers. The scope of OpenADR SRS includes standardizing dispatch, control and pricing signals for DR and Distributed Energy Resources (DER). "This document will be a useful tool for energy service providers, ISO/RTO, aggregators and control vendors who are looking to offer Demand Response solutions to their clients and customers," says Albert Chiu of OpenADR Task Force who led the OpenADR SRS 1.0 effort.

UCA International Users Group, headquartered in Raleigh, NC; is a not-for-profit corporation focused on enabling utility integration through the deployment of open standards by providing a forum in which the various stakeholders in the utility industry can work cooperatively together as members of a common organization to 1) Influence, select, and/or endorse open and public standards appropriate to the utility market based upon the needs of the membership; 2) Specify, develop and/or accredit product/system-testing programs that facilitate the field interoperability of products and systems based upon these standards; and 3) Implement educational and promotional activities that increase awareness and deployment of these standards in the utility industry.

The mission of the OpenSGug Technical Subcommittee within UCAIug is to foster enhanced functionality, lower costs and speed market adoption of Advanced Metering networks and Demand Response solutions through the development of an open standards-based information/data model, reference design & interoperability guidelines.

For more information on the UCAIug please contact Kay Clinard ([email protected]), President of

UCAIug

More information on the OpenADR SRS document can be found on the Open Smart Grid Users

Group web site at: http://osgug.ucaiug.org  and http://osgug.ucaiug.org/sgsystems/OpenADR/Shared%20Documents/SRS/OpenSG%20OpenAD

R%201.0%20SRS%20v1.0.pdf

Contact:  UCA International Users Group, Tel: +919-847-2241, Fax: +919-869-2700

SOURCE UCA International Users Group