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A Milestone Reached: The First IEEE 2030.5 DER Certification Issued for CA Rule 21

Home » Blogs/Events » A Milestone Reached: The First IEEE 2030.5 DER Certification Issued for CA Rule 21

UL, in partnership with ABB Solar and QualityLogic, announced that OpenEGrid has completed the first IEEE 2030.5 DER certification for CA Rule 21 compliance. This milestone is the beginning of a wave of such certifications in advance of the January 22, 2020 deadline* for certification set by the California PUC. After the January deadline*, any gateway devices or aggregation systems for smart inverters, microgrid or building DER controllers and smart inverters must meet the certification requirements as defined by CPUC and the SunSpec CSIP Test Specification.

The certification testing required for OpenEGrid to reach the compliance milestone was completed by UL using QualityLogic’s IEEE 2030.5 test tools. UL and SunSpec have both issued certification for the successful testing of OpenEGrid’s IEEE 2030.5 Gateway after completing their independent validation of the test results.

The newly certified OpenEGrid is a local or cloud-based gateway that receives IEEE 2030.5 DER messages from a utility DER Management System and translates the messages into commands for associated inverters. Not only was the OpenEGrid system certified by UL and SunSpec, the associated ABB inverters were evaluated by UL under CPUC Resolution E-5000. This resolution defines requirements specified by CPUC, which must be met in order to be listed by the California Energy Commission as qualified equipment for sale in California after January 22, 2020*.

Robert White, director of compliance from ABB’s US solar inverter team, said “We are very pleased by the teamwork of OpenEGrid, UL and QualityLogic in getting us the first certification for the California Rule 21 requirements. We can continue to serve our California customers without interruption. The independent UL certification also provides additional confidence to customers outside of California that our solutions are tested and conformant to the DER use cases for IEEE 2030.5.”

Vijay Israni, a co-founder of OpenEGrid, added, “Our partnerships with QualityLogic and UL made it possible to deliver a solution to ABB ahead of any other certified solutions in the market. We see great opportunities for applying these new IEEE 2030.5 capabilities in other markets and applications.”

Scott Picco, Business Development Manager for UL, LLC, commented: “We’ve been working with QualityLogic and utilizing their tools to bring this UL certification program to the market and are very pleased to support ABB and OpenEGrid in their CA Rule 21 certification requirements. Our new QIKH certification program for standardized DER communications includes IEEE 2030.5 + the SunSpec CSIP Test Specification for California. The QIKG program can also be leveraged for standardization of DER applications in other jurisdictions and countries interested in managing DERs as a grid asset.”

QualityLogic General Manager for Smart Grid, James Mater, also added: “After years of developing our IEEE 2030.5 test tools, we are particularly gratified to see them used for the development and certification of a product like OpenEGrid has released. This is the start of a global interoperable eco-system of vendors that will accelerate the incorporation of rapidly increasing DER penetrations into grid operations to facilitate the transition to a decarbonized energy economy.”

About OpenEGrid
OpenEGrid is a team of highly skilled engineers and entrepreneurs with several decades of experience in renewable energy related software, hardware, and in-field deployment. OpenEGrid has created a suite of certified software and hardware products to provide a complete solution from design, thru control, monitoring, and monetization of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) that constitute the world’s first Smart-Grid for 100% renewables being constructed in California, USA. For more information www.OpenEGrid.com

About UL
UL helps create a better world by applying science to solve safety, security and sustainability challenges. We empower trust by enabling the safe adoption of innovative new products and technologies. Everyone at UL shares a passion to make the world a safer place. All of our work, from independent research and standards development, to testing and certification, to providing analytical and digital solutions, helps improve global well-being. Businesses, industries, governments, regulatory authorities and the public put their trust in us so they can make smarter decisions. To learn more, visit UL.com.

About ABB
ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) is a technology leader that is driving the digital transformation of industries. With a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB has four customer-focused, globally leading businesses: Electrification, Industrial Automation, Motion, and Robotics & Discrete Automation, supported by the ABB Ability™ digital platform. ABB’s Power Grids business will be divested to Hitachi in 2020. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees. www.abb.com

About QualityLogic
QualityLogic designs, develops, and sells smart grid test tools, training and support services, as well as advanced testing and consulting services. The Company has been delivering IEEE 2030.5 (SEP 2) conformance and interoperability test tools worldwide since 2012. QualityLogic also develops, supports, and maintains the official conformance and interoperability test tool for OpenADR compliant products, and offers test and certification program consulting and services for Smart Energy technologies and web and mobile applications. QualityLogic is an active participant in Smart Grid standards activities and conferences.

*On December 24, 2019, the California Public Utilities Commission extended the deadline for complying with the CSIP certification requirements to March 22, 2020 (UPDATE: The date has now been changed to June 22, 2020). This is not a change in policy (products still need to be certified). Rather it is a recognition of the time to complete the complex process of development, testing, certification and CEC listing.