The Alliance for Smart Energy Solutions has been founded in Germany. The communiqué was signed by Heinz Lux, Director of KNX Association International, Peter Kellendonk, EEBus representative and Lutz Steiner from the Research Team of the "E-Energy" project which is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. It forms the basis for the manufacturer-independent, global interface for connecting the Smart Home with the Smart Grid.
"We are delighted about this alliance between KNX and EEBus. This is an important step towards the development of internationally coherent energy management applications", said Heinz Lux. "For this purpose, the world-wide KNX Standard ISO/IEC 14543 was extended to include Smart Metering and Smart Grid applications. Using these services, energy tariffs can be transferred to the customer in the future in their building or house, independent of the supplier. An automatic and customized load management up to device level is thus possible, spanning all devices and manufacturers." KNX is the world-wide standard for all applications in home and building system technology and controls the heating, lighting, blinds, ventilation, security technology, audio/video and numerous other functions – both grid-bound or via the existing power supply line as well as via radio and Internet/IP. It spans all the functions and is both manufacturer-neutral and demand-based.
"Primarily, the EEBus is an interface for energy management functions between the energy supplier and the customer in the intelligent power supply system of the future", according to Peter Kellendonk, who was in charge of the development of the EEBus. "This communiqué is the basis for the standardized interface between the KNX home and building system technology and Smart Grid applications in the future." Kellendonk is an active participant in the standardization around Smart Grid – as well as the development of new technologies which arise from this range of topics. Recently Kellendonk Elektronik presented the new transmission medium KNX PL+ in the Powerline domain. Through an increased bandwidth, it realizes the requirement for future intelligent energy management.
As their first official act, the alliance partners will define uniform Smart Energy applications, so-called Use Cases, derive data models and develop semantics to guarantee the "interoperability" of intelligent energy consumers. New mass applications of energy-efficient units and devices are enabled in buildings and households. The purpose of the alliance is to extend the already well-known KNX communication standard and to introduce new energy management functions into the world-wide standardization.
The action program "E-energy – Smart Grids made in Germany" is the central element of the high-tech strategy and of the "Information Society Germany 2010" program developed by the Federal Government. It was declared a national lighthouse project by the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. The aim was to develop technology partnerships in six model projects and to put to the test key technologies and business models for an "Internet of energy". The model projects are supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) in an inter-agency partnership with the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) with a total of 60 million euros. In addition, the economy within the model projects contributes a further 80 million euros to the investigation and testing of new ICT-supported energy systems. A total volume of approximately 140 million euros was mobilized.
