The ZigBee Alliance and HomePlug Powerline Alliance announced the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is collaborating with them to develop a common language for home area network (HAN) devices to employ advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). The groups will work in cooperation with the many utilities already supporting ZigBee Smart Energy and will look for ways to further expand the Smart Grid by creating a standard communication approach between AMI systems and HANs, as well as a common set of certification procedures.

EPRI
joins the ZigBee and HomePlug initiative led by several leading
utilities with the goal to create a unified AMI and HAN solution.
Development efforts of the initiative will centre on expanding the
ZigBee Smart Energy public application profile. The initiative will
enhance the capabilities of Smart Energy to incorporate new features,
support ZigBee wireless and HomePlug wired devices, and accelerate the
development and certification of HAN devices capable of plugging into
the Smart Grid, such as thermostats, pool pumps, water heaters,
appliances and plug-in vehicles.



“There
are a number of ways that EPRI can contribute to this effort,” said
Arshad Mansoor, vice-president of power delivery and utilization for
EPRI. “Using our collaborative model, we have the ability to bring
multiple perspectives outside the alliance to create a broader
consensus for establishing standards.”



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