Technology Update: A Standard Modular Interface for Residential Devices Chuck Thomas (cthomas@epri.com) Senior Project Engineer/Scientist Power Delivery & Utilization DR Ready Workshop AEP December 1 st, 2011
Challenges As a whole, EPRI research in the area of integration with residential devices points to the need for modularity of the communication elements. The present and future demand response integration may only be reasonably met by a modular interface. In 2008, EPRI and a team of core utilities set out to identify or create a modular communication interface to decouple residential equipment from the WAN,LAN or HAN 2 2
Vision DR Ready - Off the Shelf Customer Installable Economical, for even 100W loads Works everywhere Still viable in 30 years Energy SMART Appliances On Sale Now! 3
EPRI Collaborative Project End-Device Makers Communication System Providers Utilities What Would it Need to Look Like to Work for You? 4
Project Overview A two year collaborative project (2008 2010) Engaged more than 75 companies Weekly conference calls, two face-to-face workshops Use-cases Requirements Specification Voluntary prototyping by participating companies Interoperability Testing Merged Specification with USNAP (NIST Recommendation) Voted into SGIP Home-2-Grid H2G DEWG NIST Handoff to Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) Formation of CEA R7.8 Modular Communication Interface for Energy Management Group Interoperability Workshop #2 (March 13 th, 2012 @ AEP) 5
The Modular Communication Interface Concept 6
The Modular Communication Interface Indispensible Characteristics A uniform open standard that decouples residential equipment from the network Any Universal Communication Module UCM can work with ANY Smart grid device SGD Homeowner Installable, removable and replaceable at any time Intelligently informs the appliance, does not cut off its power Low cost impact on appliances, cost is incurred only when actually utilized Simple for the most limited of devices, yet extensible Communication systems can evolve without obsoleting the end device 7
Specification Overview Application Network Application / Network Pass-through (e.g. SEP2, OpenADR, IP) Basic DR App Data Link Physical / Media Access Link Handling ACK/NAK Error Codes Speed Negotiation Message Length Power Negotiation Bit Error Detection Retries Specified Here Mechanism Defined Here, Application Details in Other Standards DC Form Factor SPI Electrical Interface AC Form Factor 485 Electrical Interface 8
Leveraging of Existing Industry Standards Allows for lower layer diversity for pass-through of standard protocols: Internet Protocol Smart Energy Profile OpenADR ClimateTalk Etc. 9
Simple for Limited Devices What is the least functionality a device can get by with (i.e. the bare minimum requirement)? Mandatory Message Layer Description Shed Basic DR Application Fixed, 8 byte End Shed Basic DR Application Fixed, 8 byte Application ACK/NAK Basic DR Application Fixed, 8 byte Communication Good/Bad Basic DR Application Fixed, 8 byte Data Link ACK/NAK Data Link 1 (ACK) and 2(NAK) bytes Ability to handle messages no more than 8 bytes long, and to understand Shed & End Shed 10
Additional DR Signals Other Informative Basic DR Application messages supported, but are not Mandatory include.. Other Basic DR Messages Request for Power Level Present Relative Price Next Period Relative Price Time Remaining in Present Price Period Critical Peak Event Grid Emergency Outside Comm Connection Status Customer Override Query: What is your operational state? State Query Response Sleep Wake/Refresh Request 11
Physical Form Factors DC Form Factor Smaller, supports battery powered devices AC Form Factor Supports PLC communication modules, keeps power supply cost in the module, enables local voltage and frequency monitoring by DR modules New Form Factors? Other form factors might be more optimized, more rugged, more reliable, etc. Study just launched with connector makers. 12
Progress Toward an Open Standard January 2011 Home-to-Grid DEWG September 2011 Specification at: http://collaborate.nist.gov/twikisggrid/bin/view/smartgrid/h2g 13
Additional Information Example Application Scenarios 14
Application Example 1 Homeowner Wants to Participate in a LC Program with a Water Heater Utility Uses Pager System for Direct Load Control Utility Pager System 15
Application Example 2 Homeowner Wants to Participate in a Rate Plan with a Water Heater Utility Sends Price via Meter as Gateway using Zigbee Utility AMI System Zigbee 16
Application Example 3 Homeowner Wants to Participate in an Ancillary Service market with a Water Heater Third Party Aggregator Sends Ancillary Service Signals via Internet Third Party Aggregator Internet Wi-Fi Customer Adds a Device 17
Application Example 4 Customer Chooses to Use an Energy Management Console Municipal Utility Sends Price and Events via city WiMAX Municipal Utility WiMAX Customer PLC Network 18
Application Example 5 Homeowner is Not Interested Utility Offers Programs Home is Sold to New Owner Utility Home Automation System Cellular Cellular Network X Latent Opportunity Home Automation Network 19
Discussion 20