“Standardization of a Utility Field Message Bus”
Stuart Laval, Manager, Technology Development, Duke Energy
Duke Energy has developed a “Distributed Intelligence Platform (DIP)”. It is equivalent to an Internet of Things (IoT) platform for the utility. The core of this reference architecture is an open API field message bus, which communicates with operations technology devices and systems in the distribution system, including legacy systems. The architecture enables peer-to-peer device communications at the “edges” of the distribution system, thus providing lower latency functionality. As part of its “Coalition of the Willing” program, Duke Energy has successfully tested the architecture’s functionality for the following smart grid use cases: solar smoothing, community energy storage, and voltage management. This case study presentation describes the DIP architecture, provides some use case results, and offers some interoperability “lessons learned” from the program to date.