LFEnergy Creates Open Source Project

LF Energy Launches openLEADR to Streamline Integration of Green Energy for Demand Side Management

Collaboration with OpenADR Alliance and Elaad NL will empower industry collaboration and accelerate the transition to renewables

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- LF Energy, a Linux Foundation nonprofit seeking to accelerate the energy transition of the world's grids and transportation systems through open source, announced today its latest project, openLEADR. This project creates an open source implementation of OpenADR, the open standard for exchanging demand response information among global utilities, aggregators and energy management and control systems to better manage the supply and demand of energy.

Demand response and demand side management is when electricity customers, infrastructure owners and aggregators voluntarily regulate their electricity use or generation during certain time periods to support the grid's stability. Demand response facilitates rapid decarbonization and decommissioning of fossil fuel peaker plants by enabling utilities to adjust consumption and more easily onboard variable renewable and distributed energy sources. openLEADR standardizes the code implementation of Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR), the reference standard for openLEADR developed by The OpenADR Alliance.

"Demand response is key to integrating renewable energies and electric vehicles onto the grid and managing increased energy demand without leaning on fossil fuels," said Dr. Shuli Goodman, Executive Director of LF Energy. "openLEADR encourages industry collaboration around a common code implementation to accelerate flexibility services leading to a sustainable and affordable energy system."

openLEADR creates an open source community around existing work from ElaadNL, the innovation center for EV charging infrastructure in the Netherlands that developed the project's code. Housing openLEADR at LF Energy will increase open source collaboration across the globe by lowering the threshold for companies to cooperate with new partners.

"We are excited to use open source to create a smarter charging system for mobility of the future," said Lonneke Driessen, director of standardization at ElaadNL. "openLEADR is a significant part of this worldwide movement to allow power and EV industries to effectively and efficiently manage changes in consumer power demand."

"This collaboration is another step in positioning OpenADR as the standard for demand-side management," said Rolf Bienert, managing and technical director for the OpenADR Alliance. "Simplifying the implementation of OpenADR will greatly broaden the ecosystem that is growing around this international standard."

To join openLEADR, visit: https://www.lfenergy.org/projects/openleadr/ 
To learn about LF Energy visit: https://www.lfenergy.org/

About LF Energy
A first-of-its-kind initiative, LF Energy provides a 21st century plan of action to solve climate change through open frameworks, reference architectures and a support ecosystem of complementary projects. In addition to RTE, members include Alliander, Energinet, TenneT, Elering, IBM, NREL, Recurve, Stanford University, OSISoft, Unicorn, Wind River, Cloud Bees, Alan Turing Institute, Pecan Street, and many others. Find further information here: https://www.lfenergy.org.

About OpenADR
The OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation created to foster the development, adoption and compliance of the OpenADR standard, helps utilities manage the growing pool of customer-cited DERs, which include renewable energy, energy storage, DSM assets, and EVSEs. The OpenADR standard supports secure communications to certified systems to manage changes in load shape, energy inputs and power characteristics. For more information, visit: www.openadr.org/

About ElaadNL
Knowledge and innovation center ElaadNL researches and tests the possibilities for Smart Charging: reliable, affordable and sustainable charging of electric vehicles. ElaadNL is an initiative of the joint Dutch network operators. For an overview and more background, see the Smart Charging Guide: https://www.elaad.nl/uploads/files/Smart_Charging_Guide_EN_single_page.pdf