LF Energy And Alliander Announce The GXF Project To Improve The Interoperability Of The Power Grid

The Dutch distribution system operator Alliander is presenting the open source of its platform formerly known as Open Smart Grid Platform with the supervision of LF Energy to take advantage of collaborative development

Arnhem, The Netherlands / PRNewswire / - LF Energy , a Linux Foundation project charged with accelerating the decarbonization objectives of the energy and electricity sectors through open source technology, has today announced its new project, Grid eXchange Fabric (GXF). GXF is a scalable and technologically agnostic industrial platform of the Internet of Things (IoT) that allows operators of the electricity grid to collect data safely and monitor, control and manage smart devices on the network. Formerly known as Open Smart Grid Platform (OSGP), GXF was created by the leading Dutch distribution system operator Allianderand it is the first project contributed by the company to the open source community since joining LF Energy last October as one of its main members.

In recent years, network operators have added operational hardware to the power grid that collects data through IoT sensors to gain a better understanding of infrastructure performance. Along with the operational changes in utility companies are the millions of distributed energy devices that reach the network, each of which requires very different tools and processes to ensure interoperability. The purpose of GXF is to reduce the overall complexity and maintenance costs associated with accessing these devices by creating a single generic method to abstract data access.

"We have the necessary tools to make our energy network more efficient and better for our environment, but we are facing a problem of systems integration worldwide," says Dr. Shuli Goodman , executive director of LF Energy . "The operators of the electricity network need a way to cut the noise of the different data access protocols to obtain information from smart devices directly. With the incorporation of GXF (Grid eXchange Fabric), we will take advantage of the shared experience of our community to address this problem directly. "

To fully achieve the energy transition, GXF makes it easier for energy network operators to create advanced business applications through multiple use cases. For example, Alliander is already using GXF to manage street lighting in the Netherlands. Other network operators have used GXF as a header system, which gives them maximum data flexibility between smart meters and network operators, while some have used GXF to manage micro networks. In general, GXF will be used as a generic connectivity layer to collect and direct large volumes of data for monitoring and asset analytics. In this way, network operators are preparing to manage torrents of data at the edge of the network through GXF.

"GXF was originally created for our clients to manage some of the tasks that consumed more time and money," says Arjan Stam , director of Systems Operations at Alliander and member of the LF Energy Board of Directors. "But one of our goals was always to create an independent foundation to facilitate the project and provide a neutral home. With LF Energy, we have found that home, and we are looking forward to working with the community there to take GXF to new heights."

GXF is the seventh project of LF Energy. Additional projects include OperatorFabric, an intelligent assistant for system operators; PowerSyBl, a high performance computing framework for the simulation and planning of power supply networks; RIAPS, a distributed energy development platform for intelligent power supply network applications such as microgrids and wind generation; OpenEEMeter, a consistent treatment of energy meter data for demand flexibility; the standards of the Energy Market Methods Consortium (EM2) that drive demand-side flexibility markets; and OEDI, a data platform to favor the innovation of advanced analytics and research.

In addition to Alliander, LF Energy is home to 32 members. The most recent members include Wind River, Cloud Bees, Elering and Monash University, which were incorporated in January 2020 as general members. If you are interested in joining the foundation, visit https://lfenergy.org/join . You can get more information about LF Energy projects here: https://www.lfenergy.org/projects/

About LF Energy
LF Energy, a pioneering initiative, offers a 21st century action plan to solve climate change through open frameworks, reference architectures and an ecosystem to drive complementary projects. In addition to RTE, its members include Energinet, TenneT, Alliander, Elering, IBM, NREL, Recurve, Stanford University , OSISoft, Unicorn, Root9B, Wind River, Cloud Bees, Alan Turing Institute, Pecan Street, and more. For more information, visit: https://www.lfenergy.org .

About Alliander
Alliander is an energy network company. We transport gas and electricity to more than three million consumers and businesses in the Netherlands every day and we are committed to providing a reliable, affordable, accessible and sustainable energy supply, both now and in the future.

Alliander is made up of a group of companies that employ a total of more than 7000 people. Together, we defend a high quality knowledge of energy networks, energy technology and technical innovation. Our shareholders are Dutch provinces and municipalities. Together with them and our partners, we discuss our plans for the future and offer solutions to the complex problems of energy infrastructure.