Guests: Prince Singh (LinkedIn) | Benoît Jeanson (LinkedIn)
Organization/Companies: LF Energy (Twitter) | Alliander (Twitter) | RTE (Twitter)
Show: State of Energy

The energy challenges that we are facing are global so collaborating on solutions is the most efficient way of doing it. The Linux Foundation (LF) Energy is at the forefront of that. However, digitalizing the global energy grid requires understanding the functional capabilities and defining a common architecture.

In this episode of TFiR: State of Energy, Swapnil Bhartiya sits down with Prince Singh, Architect at Alliander and Benoît Jeanson, R&D Project Manager at RTE, to talk about the LF Energy Functional Architecture and how it makes it easier for anybody in the world to identify solutions that already exist and how they can be integrated in their systems.

The LF Energy Functional Architecture

• gives an overview of the business functions, the value, and capabilities of LF Energy can deliver to the stakeholders by presenting the LF Energy projects, what they are doing and where they are.
• identifies the gaps, i.e., where there are no projects covering what we expect as functionalities for the LF Energy.
• is approachable for stakeholders because it’s a modeling language. It uses ArchiMate and internal modeling techniques known to most people who work in the IT or business domain.
• caters to all stakeholders who are in the transition — including producers, consumers, or people who are making standards or protocols for devices. It also caters to industries that make smart devices, because they will also be a part, one way or another, in the energy transition.
• provides clarity on what is available today in the LF Energy ecosystem.

Who should participate/contribute:

• The simple answer is everybody who is involved in the long and complex chain of where energy is developed and consumed. There are many actors, many industries, many companies, and company stakeholders who will be affected in one way or another by the energy transition.
• People from the LF Energy projects themselves, people that are designing code to give clarity that is required for this initiative. It is in the interest of the project groups and stakeholders to be a part of the Functional Architecture community and participate in its status meetings so they can see the synergies and where their project sits in the entire ecosystem of energy transition.
• People that are experts in architecture, especially in estimate modeling.

What’s ahead for the Functional Architecture Working Group:

• Present a consolidated view of the LF Energy ecosystem at the upcoming LF Energy Summit in Paris in June 2023.
• Link the Functional Architecture with the business functions of the projects in the ecosystem. The links between the different projects will facilitate discussions and expansion.
• Interact with the project teams and discuss the business value of their projects.
• Use the model to answer generic business-level questions such as “How can I do smart device control?” or “How can I monitor devices?” based on the architecture already in place.

This summary was written by Camille Gregory.