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Conferences and Forums

September 4, 2012

Future Proofing the Home with Smart Grid Ready Products

Barry Haaser
Executive Director, USNAP Alliance

Utilities worldwide are investing heavily in smart grid infrastructure that extends to homes and businesses, with the goal of improving grid reliability and efficiency through increased consumer awareness and participation. High hopes abound for grid connected homes and buildings to be better prepared and more willing to react to changing grid conditions. But, how do we enable grid connectivity today and into the future, in the midst of an evolutionary wave of standards competition and innovation?

The USNAP Alliance developed a solution to this problem through a modular communication interface (MCI) specification enabling any product to connect to any type of demand response system (AMI, SEP, OpenADR), and/or home or building network. The concept is simple; encourage manufacturers to build an MCI interface into their products that can accept a low cost communication module. Consumers and program managers are then free to select whatever communication solution works best for their particular environment.

The MCI concept is relatively straightforward. Utilizing the RS-485 and Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) supported by most silicon chips today, the MCI protocol is capable of simply passing through standard protocols including IP, OpenADR, and SEP from the communication module to the end-device. Network security is supported through the selected transport protocol, such as WIFI, ZigBee, HomePlug, Z-Wave, LonWorks, etc. in addition to network or application layer security.

Communication messaging supported by the MCI specification supports direct load control, TOU, CPP, RTP, peak time rebates, all kinds of block rates, and a range of ancillary services. The functionality of the removable modules can be tailored by utilities or other load managing entities to provide support for the unique needs in a given region or service territory, without impacting the end-devices.

On the road toward standardization

The MCI specification is currently making its way through the standardization process via the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) R7.8 committee, and will soon become an industry standard known as ANSI/CEA 2045 – Modular Communication Interface Specification.

The USNAP Alliance is recognized by the SGIP as an Independent Test and Certification Authority (ICTA), and is developing a test tool and test harness to allow manufacturers to test and certify their products for compliance with the ANSI/CEA 2045 standard.

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