A consortium, formed by ODVA, OPC Foundation, Profibus and Profinet International (PI) and VDMA, has jointly published version 1.0.0 of its specification for interoperable and efficient energy management in industrial automation and process automation. This group is chaired by the VDMA and will be key to achieving climate-neural production, which needs accurate data on energy consumption.
Dietmar Bohn, managing director of PNO, explains: "The measurement and analysis of energy consumption in machines and systems is an extremely important topic for the future. We are pleased to make an active contribution to this important initiative to optimize energy consumption and thereby reduce the harmful effects on the environment caused by waste and surplus."
This specification defines a standardized information model based on OPC UA that enables comprehensive energy management in industrial automation. "This Power Consumption Management collaboration ensures that end users have a highly standardized and interoperable means of achieving their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals," explains Dr. Al Beydoun, president and CEO of ODVA.
ODVA says that the introduction of this standard will make energy management in industry considerably easier: companies can now record, analyze and use precise and consistent energy data even more efficiently in order to further increase their energy efficiency.
The specification essentially comprises two main content fields: Firstly, monitoring, i.e. the display of all types of energy consumption, including electrical energy as well as energy from air, water or coal. Secondly, standby management, which is understood to mean the control and display of various energy-saving modes on machines and components. The specification is based on the results of the research project “Development of energy management interfaces for IoT technologies (IoTEnRG).”
“The aim of the IoTEnRG research project was to make the results available to industry. We were able to contribute our results directly to the Joint Working Group and thus significantly accelerate the development of the OPC UA Companion Specification,” says Prof. Dr. Niemann from the Institute for Sensor Technology and Automation at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover.
“For digitalization, we need an agreement on a common understanding and description of data, including in the energy sector. OPC UA provides exactly that. I am proud that with this joint group, we can also contribute to the energy transition and thus promote optimized energy savings through standardized and efficient monitoring,” says Stefan Hoppe, president of the OPC Foundation.
The VDMA has defined a fundamental standard for the entire mechanical and plant engineering industry, known as “OPC UA for Machinery.” Various functional building blocks are specified in this standard. A new building block for energy management is being developed based on the publication.
“The four organizations have been working hard to harmonize and standardize information on energy consumption in manufacturing. This is an excellent first step towards defining an upcoming OPC UA Building Block for mechanical engineering that will bring the machine and plant manufacturing industry a big step closer to the goal of climate-neutral production,” says Andreas Faath, director of the VDMA Machine Information Interoperability department.
