
by Bill Chard Resillion was pleased to sponsor and attend the OpenADR Alliance's User Conference Europe, held in London on June 6th and 7th. Over two full days and a packed agenda, we were treated to presentations and case studies across a broad range of energy flexibility topics, and took part in some insightful and sometimes challenging discussion sessions between the 100+ attendees.
Here are four of my main takeaways from the event.
There's Global momentum behind energy flexibility innovation.
This conference was hosted by the UK Government Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, and we heard lots about the UK's Interoperable Demand Side Response programme, which is part of the up to £65m Flexibility Innovation Programme within the Department's £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, and the policy work driving these initiatives. The IDSR programme focuses on the consumer energy sector, but we also heard from Pearlstone Energy how they are using OpenADR for demand side response in the industrial sector in the UK. From further afield there were presentations from ElaadNL on OpenADR for smart EV charging, and from Cortexo on trials of an energy flexibility system in New Zealand. It's clear that industry and governments worldwide see energy flexibility as vital in addressing future energy challenges.
The range of Distributed Energy Resources that can play a role is remarkable.
Electric vehicles are a huge factor in this whole movement, especially once bi-directional charging stations become mainstream and the EV battery becomes a true grid resource. This is reflected in the growing number of auto manufacturers taking an active interest in OpenADR and other energy flexibility standards, and indeed this conference included a session dedicated to the challenges of EV charging management.
There are challenges in using EVs as DERs though: for a start, it can be hard to manage a grid resource that by definition is mobile! The UK IDSR programme includes other types of resource: home battery storage, heat pumps and other home and water heating systems. Any system that heats a significant volume of water is a potential energy flexibility resource; a system that stores heat can be just as effective a resource as a battery that stores electricity. There's also innovation in other types of thermal battery such as Sunamp's products which are based on high performance phase change materials.
Consumer buy-in is critical.
This event was mostly focused on energy flexibility in consumer markets, and there was unanimous agreement that it's better to achieve adoption through consumers opting in, than to force change directly through legislation. As a start, the industry needs to do more to help consumers understand how they can benefit: installing appliances that can support flexibility and signing up for flexibility services can offer significant financial savings. It's not a silver bullet that will mean cheap energy for ever the cost of energy is still likely to increase as the industry addresses environmental challenges - but consumers can help themselves by making the right choices.
Several speakers also noted the complexity of DSR and the potential for multiple actors and interface points a consumer may have to deal with: Virtual Power Plants and other aggregators, home energy management systems, the energy supplier and the various device manufacturers. Simplicity in both the onboarding and user experience (allowing a consumer to set their key constraints, like I want my car charged for 7am every day and leaving the rest to the system to manage) will be key, which means all parts of the process need to work smoothly together and be robustly tested functionally, for performance and security, and for useability.
Regulation and standardisation need to hit the right balance.
This is important for successfully winning consumer support: people will buy in to the concept of energy flexibility providing it delivers value, and providing it doesn't restrict choice. This means appliances in the home that support energy flexibility must work together, and with any flexibility service, not just tying a consumer to a single platform. This interoperability comes from conformance with common standards. Standards conformance and product labelling also help to assure consumers that the products they are buying meet certain levels of quality. At the moment there is huge activity around standardisation in all areas of energy flexibility: the UK's PAS 1878 for Demand Side Response, existing industry standards like OpenADR and EEBUS, EV smart charging standards like ISO15118 and OCPP, IEEE 1547 for interconnection of distributed energy resources with the grid the list seems endless. As with any large-scale technology evolution, the standards, and the regulatory frameworks that government policies will require, will set the parameters within which industry stakeholders will continue to innovate and add value.
For example, while the UK standard PAS1878 requires OpenADR for communications between the grid actors and the home interface, it is agnostic about protocols between Energy Smart Appliances and that interface. Consider a consumer who wants to buy an electric vehicle charger from one provider that works with any V2X capable vehicle and can communicate DSR options alongside a heat pump from second vendor, and a PV system from third. Consumer choice and flexibility may require convergence at this level to common standards like Matter to achieve both national and consumer energy objectives.
The energy sector is undergoing massive change and the levels of innovation and activity are truly inspiring. At Resillion we're excited to be a part of this, working with partners to enable innovation across the whole energy ecosystem through testing, demonstration an
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
27/08/2026
ESPN and Disney are launching College Football Saturdays, adding two college football games per week to Disney for U.S. subscribers as part of their existing ...
27/08/2026
Zixi will exhibit at IBC2026 (Hall 5, Stand 5.A76, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating the Zixi Platform and the latest release of Zixi Broadcaster, ...
27/08/2026
NDI has announced that its ecosystem has surpassed 1.2 million NDI-enabled hardware nodes worldwide, spanning products from more than 200 hardware brands across...
27/08/2026
Clear-Com conducted a pre-launch field trial of FreeSpeak Cell during Carnival 2026 in Rio de Janeiro, in partnership with Brazilian systems integrator Savana C...
27/08/2026
BHV returns to IBC 2026 with an important milestone for its own SportsBox: the broadcast industry's smallest remote vision mixer and format processor has mo...
27/08/2026
TOGETHXR and Snapchat have announced the second cohort of their Snap the Gap content creator program, welcoming nine athletes as Snap Stars. The program provide...
27/08/2026
MediaKind has announced that CNBC UK has selected Beam to modernize its contribution and distribution infrastructure for live broadcast operations. The deployme...
27/08/2026
Monitor engineer Chris Dwight has deployed Sennheiser's Spectera wideband bi...
27/08/2026
Telestream has announced an expansion of its UP cloud-native platform, adding capabilities for orchestrating Telestream services, third-party technologies, and ...
27/08/2026
Swerve TV has signed a multi-year partnership with GLORY Kickboxing, bringing live GLORY events and library programming to Swerve Combat, Swerve TV's free a...
27/08/2026
Dalet has announced a new integrated content experience with Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Dalet Flex, designed to bring AFP's editorial metadata into the p...
27/08/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate an integrated live production environment at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), combining K-Frame, Maverik X, ...
27/08/2026
The National Women's Soccer League and Roku have announced an expanded partnership, with the Roku Sports Channel becoming the exclusive streaming home of ei...
27/08/2026
FuboTV has announced the launch of ACC Network Extra (ACCNX) and SEC Network (SECN ) on the Fubo streaming service at no additional cost to subscribers with En...
27/08/2026
Sports marketers have entered the experiential age. Today, sports teams, leagues, and venues are increasingly using immersive interactions and real world events...
27/08/2026
MultiDyne will introduce the MDoG-8800 at IBC2026 (Stand 11.C12, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), extending its openGear portfolio with a high-density fiber tra...
27/08/2026
The Joint Task Force on the Dynamic Media Facility (JT-DMF), an initiative of AMWA and the EBU, will host a series of informal Ask Me Anything sessions during...
27/08/2026
Homestream, a mobile app that automatically syncs a team's local radio broad...
27/08/2026
A packager for TNT Sports, Kwokman Productions is on hand for the unique event w...
27/08/2026
After more than 3,000 games, five members of YES Network's original staff re...
27/08/2026
Physical modelling orchestral instrument announced
Following their recent cryptic hints, Dreamtonics have officially revealed the latest addition to their s...
27/08/2026
M5 Ultra-equipped Studio most powerful Mac to date
Apple have just announced a design refresh which they say makes the Mac mini fiercer and more versatil...
27/08/2026
Sampler receivers major upgrades
Bitwig's latest DAW update brings some major changes to the Sampler device, kitting it out with new slicing options, tw...
27/08/2026
Designed specifically for hard-hitting modern bass
Designed specifically for bass-heavy electronic music, the latest plug-in from Arturia aims to offer an a...
27/08/2026
Advertisers gain granular CTV targeting and turnkey reporting across eligible in...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Profuz Digital makes a mark by launching a powerful upgrade to its Profuz LAPIS digital media management platform this IBC in Amsterdam at Stand 8.A88. The late...
27/08/2026
DHD.audio has chosen IBC 2026 as the launch venue for what it defines as one of the most radical advances in the companys 30 year history.
Every broadcast trad...
27/08/2026
Direct connectivity between planning, production and graphics for creativity and streamlined workflows...
27/08/2026
New Photoshop innovations bring you more choice and control at every stage of yo...
27/08/2026
First Two Seasons of Vertical Series Vultures Shot on Blackmagic Design Cameras
Brie Clayton August 27, 2026
0 Comments
Director and DoP of Vultures ...
27/08/2026
For years, the media and entertainment industry has hesitated to use AI-voiced dubbing due to concern for audience experience. New data from 3Play Media, a glob...
27/08/2026
Starfish Technologies has announced the forthcoming V9 release of its Advantage AD workstation, adding support for voice synthesis services and giving Audio Des...
27/08/2026
Lightware's UBEX is a powerful AV-over-IP product well suited for rental and staging workflows where systems must be fast to deploy, easy to repurpose, and ...
27/08/2026
Lightware has expanded the scalability of its 10G TPN AV-over-IP platform with the introduction of the new TPN-MMU-X100 Matrix Management Unit, enabling systems...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/08/2026
PlayBox Neo Stand 7.C29 IBC2026 - 11 14 September
Well-established global specialists in media playout, automation, and streaming solutions, PlayBox Neo ...
27/08/2026
Rise Academy, the broadcast and media skills charity dedicated to delivering practical media technology learning experiences, careers resources and work experie...
27/08/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase the latest evolution of its ...
27/08/2026
Screen Australia opens applications for Global Fellowships Program 27 August 2026
Applications are now open for the Screen Australia Global Fellowships progra...
27/08/2026
Thursday 27 August 2026
Sir Grayson Perry and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Est...
27/08/2026
Wuppertal August 27, 2026
Riedel Evolves Leadership and Global Go-to-Market OrganizationRiedel Communications is strengthening its leadership and global go-to...
27/08/2026
More Sasquatch, more fun: Today, the sneakiest crossover of the summer lands exc...