First UK smart energy interoperability demo

A research project in Scotland is holding the UK’s first demonstrations of interoperable demand side response (DSR) and energy smart appliances (ESA).

The University of Strathclyde’s PNDC centre is working with Resillion (previously Eurofins Digital Testing), ScottishPower Energy Retail and QualityLogic on the demonstrations with Samsung equipment.

The project goes beyond conformance testing of individual devices and applications against standards and highlights interoperability of multiple devices and applications in real-world conditions.

The demonstrations are the third phase of a wider Interoperable Demand Side Response (IDSR) programme and bring together a range of smart appliances from international suppliers. The devices, all compliant with new PAS1878 and PAS1879 standards, are being tested to showcase their ability to seamlessly integrate and contribute to grid stability through advanced energy management.

The demonstrations cover EV chargers, air source heat pumps, home battery systems, hot water boilers and cylinders, and electric heaters that are installed and commissioned in the PNDC lab to represent several different smart home setups.

The energy smart appliances (ESA) are registered with a Customer Energy Manager (CEM), either locally or in the cloud, which is then registered with a Demand Side Response Service Provider (DSRSP) that manages the DSR services and requests submitted as part of the demonstrations.

The lab is initially demonstrating management scenarios and will move on to operational scenarios which exercise the whole interoperable system. These will be the first UK demonstrations of fully interoperable Demand Side Response, based on standards PAS 1878 and PAS 1879, with multiple ESAs operating in conditions representative of the real world.

The project is currently validating interoperability across all smart devices with each DSR service provider. The next stage will be to demonstrate operational scenarios, based on flexibility innovation programme use cases and grid objectives. The initial interoperability validation stage will ensure the maximum participation of ESAs and expand the data that can be captured from the operational scenarios.

The project will add data that can be extrapolated to larger scale to inform design work for future energy networks.

“Our DSR demonstration lab is an important step in proving the interoperability between products from a range of manufacturers, within an ecosystem based on a new technology standard. The project will provide data that will indicate how real world deployments will perform, and will inform the ongoing development of technology and policy in the energy sector,” said Bill Chard, Energy Business Manager at Resillion.