Welcome to the first of a short series of posts titled “Feature Friday”! Leading to the release of OCHP 1.5, we will highlight one of the major new features in the new version to be released.
Today’s feature: Grid Operator Information
One of the big buzzwords to go in tandem with the electrification of street traffic is ‘sector coupling’, which in a nutshell means that industries that had little to do with one another, like distribution grid operators (DSOs) and vehicle manufacturers suddenly find themselves tugging along on the same rope, though it’s not clear they’re pulling on the same end yet.
Regardless, incorporating chargers for electric vehicles is one of the bigger challenges of the ongoing revolution. In order to help with making this integration easier, OCHP is evolving and introducing a new role to the OCHP world: the Distribution System Operator, DSO.
The goal is simple: To allow the DSO to retrieve Data on installed capacity of chargers and current energy flow in a standardized format. The quality of the data is not expected to be high enough to allow real-time decisions on flipping switches to stabilize the grid, but rather to be fed into prediction models as well as to easily integrate the information on installed chargers on the grid to the DSO.
If your backend knows this information, we will help you share it..
In the base version of OCHP 1.5, the DSO will only consume POI Data, much like the Navigation Service Provider (NSP) currently does. However, certain information fields will only be visible to the DSO, both in the static and live data services. The ability to control chargers for a DSO – as is often their wish – will not be included in OCHP 1.5. OCHP direct is able to provide this functionality since version 0.2, and the usage for this will be specified at a later time in 1.5
The static Data set will be augmented to include information on the grid connection of the charger via identification number (Using the European Article Number, EAN, or a local equivalent) as well as an ID number of the DSO responsible for the grid in the area. This field will be visible only to a DSO pulling static data that has the right ID associated with their partner/role.
The Live Data set will be enhanced to include information on the current power dispensed at the charger, as well as information on voltage, frequency, amperage and the number of phases active. All of this information is optional and available to DSOs only.
Please note that the field names are not final yet. Do you have a suggestion for how to improve upon this suggestion to suit market needs? Feel free to comment on Github directly!
https://github.com/e-clearing-net/OCHP/issues
We’re excited to see how the market will adopt this feature. Expert interviews conducted with various DSOs and other stake holders have shown a keen interest in this feature, and we hope it will gain traction in the market!
See you next week, stay safe and drive electric,
Your e-clearing.net team.