Purpose of Review This article reviews the status of communi-cation standards for the integration of energy storage into the operations of an electrical grid increasingly reliant on intermit-tent renewable resources. Its intent is to demonstrate that open systems communicating over open standards is essential to the effectiveness, efficiency, reliability and flexibility of an electrical grid composed of an intelligent network of distributed energy resources.
Recent Findings Grid-integrated energy storage is expected to increase dramatically over the next 10 years, a prediction which assumes substantial industry alignment to a common set of com-munication standards that will make this growth possible. Four industry alliances have emerged in recent years as the dominant players in the development of open standards for energy storage systems and distributed energy resources: the MESA Standards Alliance (mesastandards.org) the SunSpec Alliance (sunspec.org), the OpenADR Alliance (openadr.org), and the Open Charge Alliance (openchargealliance.org).
Summary Historical and pragmatic evidence demonstrates that industry-wide adoption of freely accessible and industry-driven open communication standards is essential to maintaining the grid’s flexibility and responsiveness. Two case studies—from Snohomish PUD in Everett, Washington, and at Austin Energy in Austin, Texas—illustrate the application of open communica-tion standards to grid-integrated, utility-scale energy storage, and to the management of circuits with a high penetration of residen-tial solar photovoltaic and actively managed loads.