Linux Foundation Energy Gains More Industry Support to Drive the Energy Transition

Open source foundation gains new members and launches new projects to support digital transformation in the power sector

San Francisco, CA – OCTOBER 5, 2022 – LF Energy, the open source foundation focused on harnessing the power of collaborative software and hardware technologies to decarbonize our global economies, is pleased to announce new members, projects, and governing board members have joined the foundation. 

Shell has joined LF Energy as a Strategic Member, the highest level of membership. Areti and Futurewei have also joined as new General Members. Additionally, Microsoft, which had been a General Member, has upgraded its membership to the Strategic level. LF Energy members provide funding and resources to support the foundation’s mission of building a unified approach to developing non-differentiating code that can enable utilities, grid operators, electric vehicle makers, energy saving companies and others to develop and implement technologies to transform the power sector.

In pursuit of that mission, LF Energy is also announcing three new open source software projects have launched under its umbrella:

• Carbon Data Specification Consortium (CDS) is a standard specification that will help to define the raw data to track the carbon intensity of consumed energy and the carbon emissions associated with power systems, to guide grid decarbonization, and decision-making.
• The open source project currently known as GridLAB-D, which aims to develop the next generation power system simulation technology. The project will be rebranded in the coming months.
• OCPP Cloud Connector is a cloud based implementation of the Open Charge Point Protocol, the de-facto standard for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). The connector will supply a web socket connection in accordance with the specification and transform OCPP protocol specific messaging into a generic set of messages and events, allowing a developer or company to easily integrate EVSE control into new or existing infrastructure.
• Super Advanced Meter is an open source specification and reference software project focusing on a widely applicable smart meter data gateway. It aims at the central device that is installed with almost every energy consumer and thereby serves as the edge node between the transforming grid and delivering products and services to customers.

To support all LF Energy projects and digital transformation in the energy sector, two new industry leaders have joined the foundation’s governing board. Dr. Marissa Hummon, Chief Technology Officer, Utilidata and Dr. McGee Young, Founder & CEO, Watt Carbon, were both elected to the governing board as General Member Representatives. Both executives, and their companies, represent crucial pieces of the decarbonization ecosystem. 

WattCarbon develops decarbonization measurement and verification tools to track the carbon intensity of building energy use. The company helps users reduce carbon footprints by taking into account the availability of zero-carbon energy using data feeds and real-time grid carbon intensity values. Companies often struggle to make the connection between their energy consumption and the availability of renewable energy making calculating carbon emissions difficult. WattCarbon helps resolve those challenges.

Utilidata is a venture-backed software company that optimizes the distribution of electricity through meter-embedded software and utility-integrated data processing and power flow controllers. By continuously monitoring and optimizing the operation of the grid, Utilidata saves energy, lowers the cost of adding more solar generation, batteries and electric vehicle charging, and better detects power flow anomalies that can cause outages and fires.

Dr. Audrey Lee, Senior Director of Energy Strategy, Microsoft, who was previously a General Member Representative remains on the governing board but has transitioned to Strategic Member Representative in light of Microsoft’s upgraded membership. 

“The momentum we have seen in 2022 is nothing short of astounding, with more organizations across energy, technology, academia, government and other sectors coming to realize that the only way to meet decarbonization goals is to work together to develop the necessary technologies,” said LF Energy Executive Director Dr. Shuli Goodman. “We welcome all our new members and projects and look forward to working with this growing community on shared technologies to modernize energy infrastructure globally. We will accelerate digital transformation in support of the energy transition, and mitigate some of the worst outcomes of climate change, through this collaborative approach.”

LF Energy will host an online meeting on November 17, 2022 at 8am Pacific to discuss current activities and plans for 2023; foundation members and others interested in attending may register here.

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About LF Energy

A first-of-its-kind initiative, LF Energy provides a 21st century plan of action to solve climate change through open frameworks, reference architectures and a support ecosystem of complementary projects. In addition to the new members, Strategic Members include Alliander, Google, Microsoft, RTE and Shell, in addition to over 50 General and Associate Members from across the energy industry, technology, academia, and government.  Find further information here: https://www.lfenergy.org