Reflections from IESNA – by Don Dulchinos, Director of Market Facilitation, OpenADR Alliance
As we set our focus on the upcoming DistribuTECH Conference in Dallas next week I wanted to pause and take a moment to share with our utility partners a few observations from last month’s Intersolar and Energy Storage North America (IESNA) in San Diego. The OpenADR Alliance exhibited along with a number of members in the solar and energy storage space.
The conference agenda and exhibit floor touched on several industry trends impacting the solar industry. It was the who’s who for best practices in design installation, and maintenance of code-compliant PV, storage systems, and EV charging infrastructure.
It was evident walking the show floor and meeting with attendees that Virtual Power Plant integration is gaining support from large solar manufacturers. Currently, the OpenADR Alliance is engaged with three of the top ten manufacturers in the U.S. market by providing insight on how they can engage directly with utilities as grid resources. Many of the solar manufacturers at IESNA are adding storage to their product portfolios.
A reorganization of the VPP provider market, in the wake of the compensation rule changes in California in 2023, is starting to take shape. OpenADR is part of a VPP project funded by the DOE Connected Communities program. Marin Clean Energy (MCE) will leverage its status as California's first Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), and its work as a load-serving entity (LSE), scheduling coordinator and registered Demand Response Provider (DRP), to demonstrate how CCAs can use Virtual Power Plants to create new opportunities and value for the buildings they serve, while enhancing grid health and reliability.
In a related development, smart energy ecosystem provider SolarEdge recently acquired OpenADR EV managed charging provider Wevo Energy, expanding the notion of what constitutes a Virtual Power plant.
Finally, we were approached by several energy management system providers in the VPP world, who are now discovering the benefits of the OpenADR standard just as our Demand Response Management System provider members have been experiencing for many years.
And one note of thanks - it was the uptick of international renewable players becoming members of the Alliance that motivated our attendance at IESNA. So much appreciation to Greenphard Energy, Hugemori Corporation, Renewable Japan, RE:Power, Shirokuma Power and Solar Pilot.
IESNA was a great success with a number of productive and insightful meetings. The OpenADR Alliance is looking forward to carrying this momentum and continuing the conversation in Dallas at DistribuTECH 2025. Please be sure to visit us in booth 1847.