Networking Inside the Plug

A Smart Energy HAN Consortium is how Alan Weissberger titled his blog post about an alliance of alliances that consists of the WiFi Alliance, the Home Grid Forum, Zigbee  Alliance and the HomePlug Alliance.  As Alan explains, the intent of this super group is to help companies that provide products that communicate over IP to certify to SEP 2 (Smart Energy Profile 2) via a consistent test plan.  The big picture is that these groups want to ensure an inner-operable smart grid.

In this interview at the Parks Associates’ Smart Energy Summit, Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Alliance, alluded to the idea that different home networking technologies are complementary and hinted of the opportunity to use these networks for the smart grid.  He explains how HomePlug overcomes some of the earlier limitations of communications over powerline and how one European utility integrated a variation of HomePlug technology into its smart meters; eliminating the need for wireless transceivers at the meter.

This video was filmed in January 2011 at the Parks Associates’ Smart Energy Summit and is brought to you by Parks Associates.