In 2020 as part of the groundbreaking ARENA-funded Smart Energy City project, RedGrid, the Monash eResearch Centre (MeRC) and Monash University’s Net Zero Initiative collaborated to research, develop and demonstrate seamless microgrid energy transactions.
The microgrid project at Monash University’s Clayton Campus sought to establish a testbed for industry-led and research-led experiments, including how a distributed agent-based energy market connects and optimises energy assets from large buildings to solar PV systems.
One of the many experiments was to explore the scalability and performance of RedGrid’s unique agent-based software approach when applied to a commercial grid-scale ‘Transactive Energy Market’.
Since that time, and on the back of the work performed in that collaboration, RedGrid further developed the software to release it in the form of the Open Source IOEN Software Protocol v1.0.
Using learnings from the RedGrid collaboration with Monash, the IOEN protocol focuses on the accessibility of the approach. The protocol allows developers and clean energy industry participants to record peer-to-peer energy trading transactions so they can then apply them to different market scenarios. It also includes peer-to-peer energy value transfer solutions which pave the way for new products, services and innovations that aim to accelerate the clean energy transition and enable the decarbonisation of energy around the world.
“RedGrid making those learnings accessible to energy innovators through the open IOEN Protocol is an excellent demonstration of the research sector sharing with SMEs the technology development necessary to drive disruptive solutions to grand challenges” said Monash eResearch Centre, Deputy Director, Dr Steve Quenette.
“The implementation and development of the protocol through RedGrid’s work with Monash has been a huge stepping stone to provide seamless energy transaction services between devices and users. Our deployment and testing within the Smart Energy City project shows how an agent-based approach could scale and directly create multiple markets and bidders that responds to the needs of the grid in real-time.” said Dr Adam Bumpus, Chief Energy Officer of IOEN and CEO at RedGrid.
“The IOEN protocol is entirely unique in its agent-based architecture and approach. Over the last two years at RedGrid, we have been working closely with the team at MeRC to explore and develop innovative solutions to real-world problems through the use of our open-source code. We are thrilled at RedGrid that we can now release these learnings and continue to develop them further with Monash as well as a world of open-source creators and energy innovators all over the world,” said Simon Wilson, Chief Technical Officer of RedGrid.
What is IOEN?
The Internet of Energy Network (IOEN) is an international non-profit delivering the next generation of web3.0-led digital energy management and optimisation. IOEN tech enables an interconnected system of virtual microgrids that facilitate transactions within and between local energy ecosystems: from the appliance level to energy generation, storage, and consumption.
We are the backbone of the new tokenised energy ecosystem, building out the global clean energy ecosystem wherever you are, device by device.
For more information on IOEN protocol, visit https://www.ioen.tech/
What is RedGrid?
RedGrid is a Melbourne-based clean energy technology company. Our software seamlessly teams up with the appliances in people’s homes to save them money and use renewable energy more often. RedGrid is delivering its software across property developments, neighbourhood battery initiatives, solar sharing installations, and electric vehicle charging stations.
For more information, visit https://www.redgrid.io/
What is Monash eResearch Center?
Monash eResearch Centre (MeRC) accelerates research by applying advanced computing and IT to impactful research problems. It partners with individual researchers, research institutions & facilities, and global research communities to co-design and co-operate what digitisation means to them. It also consolidates the needs of thousands of researchers, leading to a world-renowned engineering team designing & operating high-performance computing, cloud and data (storage/life-cycle) facilities.
https://www.monash.edu/researchinfrastructure/eresearch
