BDI initiative: Internet of Energy

"BDI initiative - Internet of Energy" aims at presenting well-adjusted measures under the title of Internet of Energy, which are elaborated in close cooperation between industry and academia.

The proposed measures should guide the way towards a future energy system. The following partners are actively involved in the task force: ABB AG, B.A.U.M. Consult GmbH, Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e.V., Cisco Systems GmbH, Clifford Chance LLP, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, Figawa, Fraunhofer IESE, Fraunhofer IITB, FZI – Forschungszentrum Informatik, IBM Deutschland GmbH, Institut für Energiedienstleistungen GmbH, Power Plus Communications AG, Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH & Co. KG, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), RheinEnergie AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, SAP AG, Siemens AG.

Paradigm shift in the energy sector
Three major driving forces currently have an impact on the energy sector:

1. Rising energy prices resulting from increasing depletion of fossil fuel resources.
2. Increasing requirements regarding information connectivity within the energy system, due to an evolving regulatory framework. As a result of the unbundling of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, new players are appearing on the scene that have to communicate and interact along the value-added chain, using interfaces that are still to be defined.
3. A sharply rising number of decentralized energy generation units that require more flexible load flow control in order to preserve network quality.
   Under the influence of these factors, and with regard to long postponed investments into sustainable energy technologies, there is now a historic opportunity to promote a rapid and targeted transformation of the current energy system into an Internet of Energy. This term refers to a structure in which a maximum of energy efficiency can be achieved through intelligent coordination between generation and consumption. Information and communication technologies play a key role in this endeavor: Through closer integration, providers as well as transmission and distribution system suppliers can exchange information and better coordinate and optimize their processes. Thus, today’s hierarchically organized energy network with its passive, uninformative components and predominantly unidirectional communication will be transformed into a market-oriented, service-based and more decentralized system in which interactive optimization possibilities and new energy services arise.

Many of the building blocks that are necessary for an Internet of Energy have already been developed and are available today. However, these components and technologies have hardly been networked, and contractual frameworks are missing. The following research and development areas are keys on the way towards an Internet of Energy:

1. Technologies for home automation and for decentralized energy generation
2. Intelligent network management systems at the transmission and distribution levels
3. Comprehensive use of Smart Metering technology
4. ICT as a connector between the Internet of Energy and the technical infrastructure
5. Applications and services that implement the coordination of the energy network on a business level