Electric Avenue announced its Enterprise Software is now OpenADR certified, giving electric vehicles (EVs) the potential to become an essential part of our power system.

Referred to as a game changer for electrical grid management, with Electric Avenue’s OpenADR certification, energy suppliers can now cost-effectively meet changing energy demand while allowing customers to control their energy uses — and costs — by choosing when they use energy to power their appliances or charge their electric vehicles.

Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) provides utilities with a standardized way of sending fast, reliable and secure price and event messages to a variety of smart connected customer-installed equipment such as rooftop solar, onsite energy storage, energy management systems, and electric vehicle charging stations.

“Electric Avenue was founded to speed up electric vehicle adoption,” says Kelsey Bond, Director of Customer Experience. “You can’t do that without considering how increased adoption will impact our electrical grid during peak demand. OpenADR provides both energy suppliers and drivers with the opportunity to better control their supply, costs and usage. We’re looking at solutions that are future-focused and are going to make our transition to a fully electric world better for everyone involved.”

By combining OpenADR and OCPP (Open Charge Point Protocol), EVs can essentially be turned into demand response assets that can help balance the grid during high electricity demand. With the native smart charging support offered in OCPP 1.6 and 2.0, EVs have proven they can be more powerful and flexible than any other end-user appliance connected to the grid.

Whereas OpenADR is concerned with exchanging signals, OCPP focuses on control, allowing owners or charge point operators to monitor their charging stations remotely and authorize usage. Both protocols need to work together to achieve the goal of helping utilities create a smart charging ecosystem that can not only improve grid management and reliability but also enhance efficiency and lower energy costs for the customer.

Electric Avenue’s charging stations currently operate on OCPP 1.6 and are upgradable to OCPP 2.0. With the announcement of OpenADR certification for its Enterprise Software, Electric Avenue has future-proofed its business to allow this two-way communication between the utility and charger in addition to providing owners and charge point operators the means to become an essential part of the power system and aid in grid reliability during our transition to a fully electric world.