Standards for Cyber-Physical Energy Systems—Two Case Studies from Sensor Technology

• Main Authors: Michael C. Krutwig, Bernhard Kölmel, Adrian D. Tantau, Kejo Starosta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: cyber-physical energy systems; standards; low power wide area networks; long range wide area network; OPC unified architecture; energy management systems; sensors
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/3/435

Cyber-physical energy systems (CPES) describe a specialization of the cyber-physical system concept, in which energy systems are transformed into intelligent energy networks. These systems provide the basis for the realization of smart microgrids and smart grids. In the last decade, numerous research projects have intensively explored the fundamentals and modeling of CPES and validated them in pilot projects. In the meantime, more and more CPES solutions have been appearing on the market and the battle for the most suitable standards has begun. This paper gives an overview of the currently available standards for CPES sensor technologies and assesses the suitability for implementation. In two case studies in the application area of operational energy management in German companies, a sensor retrofitting is described—once with proprietary technology and once using the standards Long Range (LoRa) Wide Area Network and OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA). As a result, the shortcomings of the standards for their use in CPES are shown and discussed. OPC UA, which was originally developed for the manufacturing industry, turns out to be to be a suitable standard for a wide range of CPES implementations.