The OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve development, adoption and compliance of Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR), a Smart Grid standard, has achieved more than 40 memberships.

New OpenADR Alliance member companies include Ergon Energy, Lockheed Martin (News - Alert), Kansas City Power & Light, Nuri Telecom, Open Access Technology International, Our Home Spaces, San Diego Gas & Electric, Silver Spring Networks, Tendril and Tridium.

KCP&L, a new member of OpenADR Alliance, recently hosted OpenADR PlugFest, giving OpenADR members the opportunity to test implementations of the OpenADR 2.0 profile for interoperability.

“We were delighted to host the first OpenADR PlugFest which we view as a key first step in the development of a certified OpenADR 2.0 profile that we can implement on our DOE SmartGrid Demonstration Project,” said Ed Hedges, manager of SmartGrid Technology Planning at KCP&L, in a statement.

The OpenADR Alliance is offering two important pieces that will accelerate interoperability and market adoption. The alliance is expected to create industry-specific profile of the base standard, and establish an Interoperability Testing and Certification Authority.

“These pieces are foundational to our strategic goals of building standards-based Smart Grid products that provide tangible benefits to utilities and energy consumers,” said David Mollerstuen, Standards Development Architect at another new member company, Tendril. “As such, we're committed to this important work and to continued industry collaboration on the development, adoption and compliance with the OpenADR profile.”

The OpenADR Alliance members recently completed a productive two-day meeting, hosted by testing partner Intertek (News - Alert). During the meeting, members made significant progress defining the OpenADR feature-set and compliance needs.

“It is encouraging to see industry interest in the OpenADR standard growing worldwide through the recent increase in membership,” said Mary Ann Piette, chairwomen of the OpenADR Alliance and research director of Demand Response Research Center, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (Berkeley Lab).

Recently the OpenADR Alliance selected Intertek as its exclusive testing and certification laboratory, providing conformance testing and certification for OpenADR 2.0 compliant products for interoperability with the smart grid.