Improving energy community interoperability by utilizing Web of Things

Abstract

The novel Energy Community (EC) concept introduces communal incentives for citizens to monitor and control energy usage. This circumstance brings up the need for digitalized solutions that support EC members in optimizing their energy usage. While research and industry already came up with concepts to tackle this problem, interoperability aspects of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures are rarely investigated. As a result, the diverse protocol landscape of energy-related devices slows down technological penetration and consequently hinders the modernization of ECs. For this reason, the following paper proposes an architecture design that addresses interoperability problems in ECs by bundling communication issues into services that utilize the Web of Things (WoT) standard. Furthermore, the architecture design is demonstrated in a testbed environment where a WoT-compatible Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station and a legacy inverter are integrated.