SGIP Selected to Participate in Four DOE National Lab Partnership Projects

Wakefield, Mass., Feb. 4, 2016 – The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) has been named to participate in four projects as part of the Department of Energy’s recently announced groundbreaking $220 million grid modernization funding awards.

DOE’s Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) funding to National Labs and partners will help strengthen regional grid strategies while defining a diverse and balanced national strategy. The funds will help address the needs of incorporating individual grid technologies like solar or energy storage, and assist with the development of cross-cutting projects that have impact across multiple technologies.

“SGIP’s participation in this critical initiative speaks directly to our mission to accelerate grid modernization,” said SGIP President and CEO Sharon Allan. “We are well positioned for this challenge. DOE’s funding investment will help ensure that the rapidly emerging needs of the grid can be met. We look forward to the potential of working with the selected national labs and the other partners.”

The $220 million, three-year funding initiative will support research and development in advanced storage systems, clean energy integration, standards and test procedures, and a number of other key grid modernization areas. SGIP has been named as a partner in three core activities projects: Grid Architecture, Interoperability, and Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium Testing Network; and as a partner in a cross-cutting activity project: Standards and Test Procedures for Interconnection and Interoperability.

Specifically, SGIP was named in the following projects:

• Grid Architecture — Build a new stakeholder-driven architecture for grid modernization, provide it to the industry along with the tools they need to adapt it to their needs, and use it to inform the playbook for GMLC program managers.
• Interoperability — This project provides strategic vision for interoperability endorsed by stakeholders with tools to measure interoperability maturity and the progress of related investments. It prioritizes interoperability gaps and develops an overarching roadmap for stakeholder endorsement.
• Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium Testing — Establish a Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium — Testing Network (GMLC-TN); federated lab-based resource for standards-based testing and validation of grid devices and systems. Develop and establish a Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium — Open Library (GMLC-OL) public repository for validated component models, simulation tools and testing resources.
• Standards and Test Procedures for Interconnection and Interoperability — This project will build on prior efforts and leverage existing activities spanning multiple DOE programs that are developing interconnection and interoperability standards and test procedures to:
  • Harmonize requirements across jurisdictions
  • Eliminate conflicting requirements across technology domains
  • Streamline conformance test procedures to the fullest extent possible

“SGIP greatly appreciates the leadership of the Department of Energy in ensuring that the important research in grid modernization will continue at an accelerated pace,” said Allan. “SGIP is contributing valuable expertise toward the complexities of modernizing the grid, reflecting two of our core priorities—tackling issues that are inhibitors to grid modernization and driving innovation through collaboration. We are pleased to be the central go-to convener of multi-stakeholders to address these issues.”

About the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) is an industry consortium representing a cross-section of the energy ecosystem focusing on accelerating grid modernization and the energy Internet of Things through policy, education, and promotion of interoperability and standards to empower customers and enable a sustainable energy future. Our members are utilities, vendors, investment institutions, industry associations, regulators, government entities, national labs, services providers and universities. A nonprofit organization, we drive change through a consensus process. Visit www.sgip.org. Follow SGIP on LinkedIn and Twitter.