Last week we announced a liaison agreement with the Connectivity Standards Alliance, which manages the smart home standard, Matter to help drive the adoption of grid-connected residential energy management. This is an important industry collaboration that will help address the need for seamless communication between smart home devices and the energy grid.

Members of our two organizations will work to make it easier to turn connected homes into active participants in demand response (DR) programs. Matter will handle the communication between a smart home appliance, such as an EV charger, heat pump or solar panel, while OpenADR 3 handles communication between the energy gateway, utilities and the grid. 

Combined, they will enable an end-to-end pathway from the grid to the individual device, creating a smarter, more resilient grid.

Utilities are struggling with the growing complexity of modern grids as we transition towards renewable energy sources, while EV chargers, heat pumps, solar PVs and home battery systems become more common in our homes. As a result, device manufacturers are having to navigate a mix of overlapping energy management standards, while trying to work out which protocols and ecosystems they should support.

This agreement will remove this uncertainty, making it easier for utilities to roll out demand response programs to help customers manage their energy consumption and save money.

As Jon Harros, Head of Testing & Certification for the Connectivity Standards Alliance, explains: "This is about enabling utilities, manufacturers and platforms to make things simpler for everyone. By bringing the energy ecosystem together, our members are creating a clear roadmap for device makers, and enabling utilities to scale with confidence, resulting in trusted, reliable solutions consumers can depend on."

This opens the door to clear benefits right across the energy value chain: 

• Manufacturers who can save go-to-market time, up-front investment and ongoing maintenance by establishing a single development path that more easily unlocks the new revenue opportunities through Flexible Service programs. 
• Consumers benefit through bill credits and additional incentives by enabling their devices to respond to grid signals, while utilities gain a standardised, scalable mechanism for DR. 
• Regulators, several of whom have already shown interest in mandating OpenADR 3, gain assurance an interoperable solution exists.

We are already seeing some fantastic pick-up on this news in Forbes, The Verge, Electrical Times, The Energyst, Engadget, Smart Infrastructure Magazine, and many more.