NREL Topic 1 Final Report: Cohesive Application of Standards-Based Connected Devices to Enable Clean Energy Technologies

This document is the final report of a two-year development, test, and demonstration project entitled ?Cohesive Application of Standards-Based Connected Devices to Enable Clean Energy Technologies?. The project was part of NREL?s (NREL) Integrated Network Test-bed for Energy Grid Research and Technology (INTEGRATE) initiative. Specifically, this project is a component of RFP Number RCS-4-42326, Topic
1,?Connected Devices?.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and a team of partners were selected by NREL to
carry out a project to develop and test how smart, connected consumer devices can act to enable
the use of more clean energy technologies on the electric power grid. The project team includes
a set of leading companies that produce key products in relation to achieving this vision:
thermostats, water heaters, pool pumps, solar inverters, electric vehicle supply equipment, and
battery storage systems.
A key requirement of the project was open access at the device level ? a feature seen as
foundational to achieving a future of widespread distributed generation and storage. The internal
intelligence, standard functionality and communication interfaces utilized in this project result in
the ability to integrate devices at any level, to work collectively at the level of the home/business,
microgrid, community, distribution circuit or other. Collectively, the set of products serve as a
platform on which a wide range of control strategies may be developed and deployed.