Project InterSTORE: IEEE2030.5 shaping the future of DERs

InterSTORE is an EU-funded project under the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme, that aims to develop a set of interoperable open-source tools to integrate storage and other distributed energy resources to simplify the use and monetisation of storage flexibility within a real-life environment.

With Europe's rapid acceleration of distributed energy resources (DERs) integration with the grid, the ability to coordinate multiple DERs will enable a flexible grid, optimising performance and enhancing resilience.

The enhanced version of the IEEE2030.5 standard for smart grids developed in the InterSTORE project comprised the following main developments: i) communication over the NATS messaging system instead of REST API-based communication, ii) support for JSON format instead of only XML, much more suited for a variety of asset message exchange in the energy domain, and (iii) many-to-many communication pattern to promote scalability and reliability.

The adoption of NATS messaging over traditional REST API-based messaging in the implementation of IEEE 2030.5 offers several key advantages, particularly for real-time communication, scalability and resilience.

NATS' low latency and high throughput capabilities make it ideal for the real-time demands of grid monitoring and control, ensuring timely and efficient data transmission. Its publisher/subscriber model supports the many-to-many communication required by the updated standard, allowing for more flexible and modular system designs. NATS also enhances scalability and resilience with built-in redundancy, fault tolerance and horizontal scaling, ensuring continuous operation even under varying loads and failures.

Additionally, NATS' asynchronous communication reduces overhead and optimises resource utilisation, making it more efficient than synchronous REST APIs. This is particularly beneficial in resource-constrained environments typical of smart grids. The system's support for event-driven architecture and real-time event processing aligns well with smart grid applications such as dynamic demand response, predictive maintenance and distributed energy resource management. Overall, NATS provides a robust, efficient, and scalable messaging framework that significantly enhances the performance and reliability of smart grid communications.

Regarding the file formats, incorporating the JSON file format alongside XML in the IEEE 2030.5 standard enhances performance, interoperability and usability. The JSON format is becoming more popular in energy systems and is more lightweight and efficient, leading to faster parsing and reduced transmission overhead, which is crucial for real-time smart grid applications. JSON's less verbose structure also results in lower bandwidth usage, benefiting resource-constrained environments. From an interoperability perspective, JSON is widely used in web technologies and is supported natively by most modern programming languages, facilitating easier integration with various systems and platforms. This broad compatibility can accelerate development and deployment processes.

Additionally, JSON's readability and simplicity make it easier for developers to work with, reducing the learning curve and potential for errors. It also enhances the flexibility of data representation, allowing for a more straightforward handling of complex data structures compared to XML.

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These developments in the InterSTORE project will enable the effective delivery of various services. Some identified use cases include:

Real-time DR coordination for demand response: System operators can dynamically adjust demand response strategies based on real-time data from various assets and participants, including residential, commercial and industrial users. This is possible due to the asset discovery feature.

Distributed energy resource management (DERM): Effective management of a diverse array of DERs, including solar panels, wind turbines and battery storage, to ensure grid stability and orchestrating optimisation strategies by coordinating different local energy management systems.

Fault detection and isolation: Rapid detection and isolation of faults through communication between multiple grid assets, enhancing overall grid reliability.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading: Consumers and prosumers can trade energy directly with each other, facilitated by the many-to-many communication capabilities.

Direct load control (DLC) by several systems: An asset may have a dedicated energy management system for monitoring and control, which may be controlled and monitored by an aggregator’s system or a system operator’s system for flexibility provision by remotely shutting down or reducing a customer's load or appliance.

Microgrid coordination: Multiple microgrids can communicate and coordinate with each other and the main grid. This is particularly important for island-capable grids and renewable energy communities. Seamless transition between islanded and grid-connected modes based on real-time data from interconnected assets.

Real-time energy consumption feedback: If applied to the advanced metering infrastructure, the NATS messaging would provide consumers with real-time data on their energy usage and production, enabling more informed decisions and energy-saving actions.

Energy storage coordination: Effective use of energy storage systems and hybrid systems to not only balance supply and demand but also to provide services to the grid such as frequency management and restoration reserve as well as lower time response requirements such as inertia provision.

Coordination between energy management systems: Different dedicated energy management systems, building energy management systems and battery management systems would be able to communicate in an interoperable way and share information about their asset’s state and coordinate management strategies with backing for each other in case of faults. This can contribute to self-healing systems triggering reconfiguration of the network to quickly respond to faults and minimise outages.

Several use cases are being demonstrated and studied in the InterSTORE pilots, utilising the interoperability toolkit tools, which include: i) the native client/server library; ii) the legacy protocol converter; and iii) the testing procedures. All developments are available on the project’s Github and DockerHub, released as open-source for industry adoption, further development by the research community and public access.

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About the author

Alexandre Lucas received his Electrical Engineering degree in 2007 from ISEL and his Master's in 2009 Business and Industrial Strategy from ISEG. From 2009 to 2013 he pursued his PhD in sustainable energy systems from IST. He developed research at MIT during 2011/2012 and undertook complementary training at Harvard on energy management. With 9 years of experience in power substations, he joined the European Commission in 2014 working for the JRC until 2020. He then joined InescTec, dedicated to research and innovation projects. Reference projects are Electra, Delta, Drimpac, Interconnect, OneNet, MagPie, InterSTORE and Every1. His research focuses on energy digitalisation, energy management, demand response and DER integration.