Infineon joins EEBus Initiative e.V.

Implementation requires holistic thinking: from green power generation to a stable and efficient grid infrastructure to storage and consumption. Bidirectional charging contributes significantly to this by, for example, allowing the electricity stored in the battery of an electric vehicle to be used to supply the power grid or electrical appliances in the home when needed. However, energy generators and consumer devices need a standardized language to be able to communicate.

As a solution provider, Infineon Technologies is interested in a standardised communication flow for the complete chain of energy control. Therefore, the company has joined EEBus, an initiative that promotes the standardisation of interfaces to enable uniform communication between power generator and end user devices. The initiative brings together international companies and associations from different sectors such as energy relevant devices and systems, energy supply and grid operation, and information and communication technology. Infineon is the first semiconductor company to join the initiative.

“This principle of a unified energy eco-system has been the basic philosophy of the EEBus Initiative from the very beginning. We offer an open solution for all market participants instead of another proprietary isolated solution,” said Dr. Robert Böhm, Managing Director from EEBus Initiative e.V. “With EEBus we develop and standardise a dynamically flexible interface on behalf of the industry and provide a global standard for communication.”

“The continuous and collaborative coordination of members in working groups at eye level is creating a unified and vendor-independent communication solution which is essential for bidirectional charging and a decentralized power grid,” said Andreas Urschitz, Chief Marketing Officer of Infineon. “With EEBus' special focus on energy management, bidirectional end user devices can be integrated into the Smart Grid, easy and efficiently.”

EEBus as a uniform standard

EEBus is a manufacturer-independent and standardised language for the exchange of energy and application-relevant information that can be used free of charge. The standards-based language enables the proper functioning of all devices even during energy shortages and the provision of plug-and-play solutions for residential and commercial applications.

The EEBus Initiative distinguishes generally between content, namely the data model that is transmitted, and the type of transmission respectively the communication path. The EEBus data model ‘SPINE’ (Smart Premises Interoperable Neutral-Message Exchange) can be transported via many communication paths and protocols. One possible transport protocol is the IP-based ‘SHIP’ (Smart home IP) which is based on widely-used RFCs and can be used in existing IP infrastructure. To guarantee maximum flexibility, the EEBus architecture is based on the Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM) and offers solutions for several layers.

Regardless of previously used communication technologies or industry affiliation, companies can use SPINE to offer their services or platforms and potentially control millions of energy relevant devices or, as device manufacturers, smartly and interoperably connect their own products to a larger eco-system.