SGIP and IIC Enhance Liaison to Promote Energy Sector IoT

The Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) today announced that it has broadened its liaison with the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) to focus on the technologies and testbeds that help advance and promote adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the energy sector. The agreement strengthens the existing Memorandum of Understanding through a cooperative relationship focused on aligning IoT architectures and testbed activities. The organizations have agreed to map the Industrial Internet Reference Architecture (IIRA) to the EnergyIoT™ architecture.

It also creates an opportunity for Industrial Internet Consortium members to engage in EnergyIoTâ„¢ testbeds and SGIP members to participate in new Industrial Internet Consortium testbeds. In addition, the Industrial Internet Consortium and SGIP have agreed to formal review of key energy deliverables by both organizations. The two organizations will identify ways for members to participate in new and established testbed activities.

In June 2015, the Industrial Internet Consortium released its Industrial Internet Reference Architecture (IIRA), which provides a common approach for Industrial Internet systems and guides the design of the Consortium’s testbeds including the Control and Communication Testbed for Microgrid Applications. The SGIP’s EnergyIoT™ strategy and its current Open Field Message Bus (OpenFMB™) project focuses solely on the energy industry, and its architecture was developed and is consistent with the IIRA.

Sharon Allan, SGIP’s CEO and President, said, “We believe that IIoT approaches are the future for the energy industry. They can unlock opportunities for distributed intelligence in fielded systems, predictive maintenance, transactive energy marketplaces, and a variety of innovative solutions we haven’t even thought of yet. The IIC is the perfect partner to ensure the energy industry achieves IoT interoperability within our own industry and can realize even greater interoperability opportunities outside our industry.”

Stan Schneider, CEO of Real-Time Innovations and a member of the Industrial Internet Consortium Steering Committee, stated, “This is an exciting opportunity to leverage the IIC’s architectures and philosophy into a key industry. The SGIP’s work on OpenFMB™ is its first EnergyIoT™ solution, and we are excited to support that initiative and future IoT initiatives they are planning. We are especially excited to coordinate work within energy testbeds between the two organizations.”

The SGIP 2015 Annual Conference November 3-5 in New Orleans will showcase a multi-vendor microgrid demonstration using its OpenFMB™ framework. Speakers from the Industrial Internet Consortium and the SGIP’s OpenFMB™ project team will discuss the convergence of OT/IT and how the Smart Grid and IoT are uniting.