The Ford Motor Company has become the first automotive manufacturer to join the OpenADR Alliance Board of Directors.
Created to foster the development, adoption, and compliance of the OpenADR and related communications standards, the Alliance has seen record growth in membership, with managed EV charging platforms the fastest growing component.
With 7.8m EVs sold worldwide in 2022, around ten per cent of global automotive sales, there are huge implications in terms of demands on the electricity grid. Utility companies are looking to expand their networks and charging programs cost-effectively, while avoiding delays in distribution upgrades. Based on open standards like OpenADR, they can integrate new technologies like pricing and capacity management and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communication.
“The OpenADR Alliance ecosystem has traditionally been made up of control manufacturers and utilities, but now we are attracting members from the automotive and associated sectors,” said Rolf Bienert, technical and managing director, OpenADR Alliance. “Ford will bring a new perspective and insights to help us define and expand innovative new services for OpenADR.”
Sunil Goyal, advance project leader energy service, Ford Motor Company, said: “Ford supports open standards as a way to overcome interoperability challenges in young but maturing markets like we have today for VGI (Vehicle Grid Integration). This aligns well with OpenADR’s mission. We are looking forward to the opportunity to lend our voice to this effort.”
The OpenADR Alliance has seen record growth over the last two years, with a global ecosystem of almost 200 members, more than 280 certified products, and 10 approved test facilities as more utilities and integrators consider OpenADR for enabling interoperable and secure networks. Its influence is growing rapidly in Europe and the Middle East, with a 400 per cent increase in members from the region, including UK, Germany, Italy, Israel, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands.
OpenADR is already being used in several use cases in Europe. These include demand response aggregation by the National Grid in the UK; Project ELBE, an incentive program for EV charging with Stromnetz-Hamburg, Vattenfall, Hamburg Energie and ChargePoint in Hamburg; and load balancing for efficient EV charging management by E.ON in Germany and Western Europe.
With the inclusion of OpenADR 2.0b into two new BSI PSA standards for energy smart appliances, designed to support the UK’s transition to a net zero economy, the Alliance is also collaborating with other organisations and standards bodies in Europe, including DKE (The German Commission for Electrotechnical, Electronic & Information Technologies of DIN and VDE), and EEBUS in Germany, and UK’s Dept. for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
As a result of this activity, the Alliance will host the first European OpenADR++ User Conference from 6-7 June 2023 in London, co-hosted by the BEIS. Aimed at electric utilities and other energy service providers, policy makers and regulators, researchers and control suppliers who share a common interest in standardised, automated demand response technology, this working meeting will include daily keynotes, use case examples, and workshops around OpenADR and other important standards.
