The OpenADR Alliance was created more than a decade ago to foster the development, adoption and compliance of the Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) standard, to help utilities and aggregators manage the growing pool of distributed energy resources and decentralised energy production, such as renewables, energy storage and EV charging.
Thanks to the growth in EVs, the Alliance’s membership is changing, with a growing number of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) companies, from charging and platform providers, to tech and automotive companies, including Ford.
With 7.8m EVs sold worldwide in 2022 – around 10% of global automotive sales – the alliance says there are huge implications in terms of demands on the electricity grid. Utility companies are looking to expand their networks and charging programs cost-effectively, while avoiding delays in distribution upgrades. Based on open standards like OpenADR, they can integrate new technologies like pricing and capacity management and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communication.
Rolf Bienert, technical and managing director, OpenADR Alliance, comments: "The OpenADR Alliance ecosystem has traditionally been made up of control manufacturers and utilities, but now we are attracting members from the automotive and associated sectors. Ford will bring a new perspective and insights to help us define and expand innovative new services for OpenADR.”
Sunil Goyal, advance project leader – energy service at Ford, adds: “Ford supports open standards as a way to overcome interoperability challenges in young but maturing markets – like what we have today for VGI (Vehicle Grid Integration). This aligns well with OpenADR’s mission. We are looking forward to the opportunity to lend our voice to this effort.”
The OpenADR Alliance says it has seen record growth over the last two years, with a global ecosystem of almost 200 members, more than 280 certified products, and 10 approved test facilities as more utilities and integrators consider OpenADR for enabling interoperable and secure networks. Its influence is growing rapidly in Europe and the Middle East, with a 400% increase in members from the region, including UK, Germany, Italy, Israel, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands.
OpenADR is already being used in several use cases in Europe. These include demand response aggregation by the National Grid in the UK; Project ELBE, an incentive program for EV charging with Stromnetz-Hamburg, Vattenfall, Hamburg Energie and ChargePoint in Hamburg; and load balancing for efficient EV charging management by E.ON in Germany and Western Europe.
OpenADR Alliance’s Rolf Bienert, who recently relocated to Portugal, says: “We have been well established in other regions, particularly the US, for several years. But as European markets like Germany and the UK invest more in technologies for electric vehicle infrastructure, battery storage and renewables, we’re now expanding our reach with the help of our partners and members. The next 12 months will be an exciting next stage of the Alliance’s development.”
