The energy sector is undergoing an unstoppable disruption in traditional power generation sources and processes. For over a century, the industry has owned energy generation plants. Now, power generation from Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) sourced from solar, wind, natural gas and water are increasingly supplementing (and even replacing) these power plants. Hundreds, thousands, and even millions of DER endpoints are entering the market and connecting to the grid.
Incorporating DERs into the grid requires a new level of integration of new and legacy equipment. This paper discusses how utilities can use data-centricity and a software databus to mesh the old with the new. This approach is based on the well-established Data Distribution Service™ (DDS) set of standards, which is used by industrial companies to solve problems exactly like the challenges that DERs present in the era of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).