Newsletter | March 2017

March 10, 2017

in Newsletters,

Chairman's View |

Syed Mir, Chairman

This month, we welcome Mimi Zhang of Silver Spring Networks as Vice Chairman of the Green Button Alliance. Silver Spring Networks is a founding member of the Green Button Alliance and Ms. Zhang has been an instrumental part of the Alliance since its inception and also serves as head of the Alliance's member-led Global Marketing Committee. We also welcome founding board members Kim Cresencia of SDG&E and Amy Kight Costadone of PG&E to the Alliance's Secretary and Treasurer position respectively, filling the joint position previously held by Ms. Zhang.

Since the formation two years ago of the Green Button Alliance - which successfully aligns industry leaders and innovators to collaborate to further the proliferation of the Green Button standard - we have seen first-hand the enormous, enabling benefits the Green Button is bringing to utilities in the way of new programs and energy data services that are giving their customers access and choice regarding their resource consumption. For the commercial building sector, access to single-format Green Button data is in extremely high demand due to the need for efficient monitoring and managing of energy consumption across buildings and across utilities' service areas. For the solar industry, and as was underscored in the recent "The New Era of DER Project Development" webinar by members Energy Toolbase and UtilityAPI, Green Button interval data are also essential for enabling highly accurate solar- and storage-project modeling.

The Green Button Alliance recently exhibited at DistribuTECH, the leading electric power transmission and distribution event, from 31 January - 2 February 2017, and held our Members Meeting on 1 February while in San Diego. The Alliance had an extremely successful showing at the event. Our booth was filled with attendees interested in Green Button benefits, use cases, and implementations. Our subsequent Annual Members Meeting was well-attended and information-packed. It was exciting to learn from utilities, leading companies, innovators, and government agencies about the great work taking-place around Green Button data - a clear demonstration of industry forward-movement and ecosystem growth. We are fortunate to have such a deeply qualified group of leaders at the helm of the Alliance and an active, participatory membership. We thank founding member SDG&E for hosting our Members Meeting!

This month, we also feature Energyworx in our "Member Spotlight." Energyworx has garnered industry accolades due to the capabilities of its powerful, scalable, SaaS-based data-crunching platform. Read about Energyworx, below.

The new era - one that unlocks and maximizes standardized energy data - is here; and our members are enabling that and are driving innovations. Join us as we continue to grow the Green Button ecosystem internationally.

─ Syed Mir, Chairman

Member Spotlight |

Energyworx, based in the Netherlands and in the United States, are providers of the Energyworx SaaS-based platform that helps utilities and retailers navigate and monetize the energy transition. The Energyworx suite of Energy Data Management and Energy Intelligence Solutions utilize big data and machine learning to uncover the hidden value of data and deploy new business models. Energyworx is the only SaaS provider running business critical applications utilizing Pure Play cloud in a NoOps, server-less architecture with a continuous release cycle.

Energyworx creates business value by improving data quality upon ingestion and applying unique, industry specific algorithms and machine learning models to better predict usage patterns, grid activity and customer behavior. Energyworx focuses on four main use cases:

─Intelligent MDM

─Context Aware Energy Insights

─Energy Deal Analytics and Load Forecasting

─Context Aware Grid Intelligence

By utilizing the elasticity of the cloud, Energyworx scales up to meet any demand, allowing its customers to process more data in less time. Customers are only charged for the data they store and process, leading to 75% cost reductions when compared with established vendors.

Green Button & Datahubs

Energyworx is dedicated to the growth of Datahubs like Green Button as an industry best practice for securely exchanging data and transactions between consumers and the growing set of market parties. Energyworx has implemented and demonstrated several features critical for Datahub success and continues to improve its platform to power the next generation of Datahubs .

As the energy transition continues, the volume and diversity of data will rapidly expand, creating massive data quality challenges for all players in the energy sector. Standards like Green Button are critical for driving innovation through quick and secure data exchange. Energyworx is proud to support Green Button and expand its reach in the U.S. and Europe. Green Button provides Energyworx with another method for obtaining usage data that can be enriched with relevant meta data for context-enriched decision making.

"Creating a single, centralized view with tagged data - accessible to many, and for many use cases, that is the key to success." - Edwin Poot, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, Energyworx. Follow Energyworx on LinkedIn and on Twitter: @Energyworx_org.

Member News |


	AEC and State of Jalisco Energy Agency Sign MOU

Green Button Alliance member, the Advanced Energy Centre (AEC) at MaRS Discovery District, this week announced a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mexican State of Jalisco Energy Agency. The AEC helps foster the adoption of innovative energy technologies in Canada and leverages those successes and experiences into international markets. The MOU commits to encouraging closer economic ties and strengthening beneficial relations between the regions, by working together to accelerate energy innovation in each respective jurisdiction. Using the AEC's systems change methodologies, the parties will collaboratively define opportunities and challenges facing the energy system and build a comprehensive strategy for achieving Jalisco's energy vision. The AEC will also provide the Energy Agency with curated access to innovative energy technologies, which can help the state achieve its vision. Read more here.

Green Button Alliance member, Enel, this week launched its Enel Innovation Hub in partnership with the University of California Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute. The Hub, whose headquarters are located at the CITRIS Foundry Accelerator at UC Berkeley, is part of the international start-up network within the Enel Group that will select the best start-ups with which to develop joint business projects.

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) - a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, a Green Button Alliance sponsor member - recently announced the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has approved a proposal by ComEd that allows companies and researchers access to anonymous energy usage data in order to enable the development of new products and services that will add value to Illinois energy customers. The new program will open access to unidentified interval energy usage data for all ZIP Codes where smart meters have been deployed by ComEd. ComEd's Anonymous Data offering builds upon the Green Button Initiative.

In case you missed it...

Programmable Web , as part of its API University, recently featured " How the Green Button Initiative Secured its APIs with OAuth ," a series of articles co-authored by Green Button Alliance board member Dr. David Wollman of NIST and Dr. Martin Burns, one of the original architects of the Green Button standard, also at NIST. The series includes:

"Understanding the Green Button Initiative and Why it Matters," " Getting to know the Primary Use Cases of the Green Button API Initiative, " " How Green Button Ingeniously Extended the OAuth Standard Without Forking It, " and more.

This new Green Button video produced by Green Button Alliance member the Advanced Energy Centre at MaRS Discovery District addresses the numerous benefits standardized Green Button energy usage data provides to the commercial, industrial and institutional sector.

Events & Activities |

Green Button Alliance member the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) held its 2017 Consumer Symposium: " Beyond the Grid - Connecting Tomorrow's Consumers," one of the industry's premier events in consumer engagement and the smart grid, on 30 January 2017 co-located with DistribuTECH. Barry Haaser, Executive Director of the Green Button Alliance joined participants from the Illinois Citizens Utility Board, IBM, and Opower on the " Safely Unlocking the Value of Consumer Data" panel. As part of the talk, the panelists discussed the Department of Energy's (DOE) DataGuard program - a voluntary energy-data privacy program that utilities, technology companies, and third-party providers can adopt to reaffirm their commitment to consumer data privacy. Review SGCC's recent blog: " 3 Things Learned at the 2017 Consumer Symposium" for highlights and key takeaways from the event.


	L-R: Zoran Stojanovic, London Hydro; Julia Ma Powers, Elena Lucas, UtilityAPI; Monisha Shah, NREL; Kim Cresencia, Jerry Pinneker, SDG&E; at GBA Booth

The Green Button Alliance exhibited at DistribuTECH 31 January-2 February, 2017 in San Diego. The Green Button standard and the GBA gained tremendous visibility due to the central location of the GBA booth which was supported by members including London Hydro, SDG&E, SCE, PG&E, Personal BlackBox (PBB), UCAIug, UtilityAPI and the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA). Members staffing the booth provided expert Green Button information to a steady stream of interested visitors and London Hydro provided an educational demonstration. Members in the booth also discussed Green Button ecosystem growth and a new GBA Green Button brochure was made available in the booth. GBA members - the Advanced Energy Centre, Energyworx, Silver Spring Networks, and WattzOn - were in attendance as well and GBA board member Christopher G. Irwin of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) spoke on the "Grid Modernization at the Convergence of Energy and Information" panel on 1 February at DistribuTECH.


GBA Members Meeting Hosted by SDG&E

While in San Diego during DistribuTECH, the Green Button Alliance held its Members Meeting on 1 February. The meeting was well-attended by leading utilities, large industry players, government agencies, app vendors, and affiliate organizations who gathered at Sempra Energy® headquarters in San Diego - the parent company of GBA founding member, SDG&E - to discuss numerous Green Button achievements and to envision the path forward for the industry's energy data-access standard. The GBA reviewed its successful expansion of the Green Button ecosystem since the Alliance's formation two years ago. The experts in attendance also discussed member activities, the continued growth of the GBA ecosystem, and ways to further increase the adoption and implementation of standardized Green Button platforms and applications. The Green Button Alliance thanks SDG&E for hosting the lively and information-packed meeting.


	"Value of Energy Data" panel, Smart Energy Summit

On 20-22 February 2017, leaders from utilities, national regulators, telecom and security companies, retailers, and OEMs lined the agenda at the eighth-annual Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer in Austin, Texas. Green Button Alliance board member Amy Kight Costadone of PG&E (first seated panelist from left) joined speakers from Bidgely, Whisker Labs, and the Mission:data Coalition to impart insights on the " Value of Energy Data " panel, 22 February. The Green Button Alliance was a supporter of the event. Highlights can be viewed on Twitter at @SmartEnergySmt #SmartEnergy17 and on the Smart Energy Insights Blog .

On 23 February, Green Button Alliance members Energy Toolbase and UtilityAPI co-hosted a highly informative webinar that attracted over 350 registrants interested in learning how to easily obtain and fully leverage interval data for accurate solar and storage project development. The team also demonstrated the numerous benefits and use cases for Green Button energy usage data and answered questions via Q&A. The large number of registrants exceeded capacity for the live Webinar, so if you were unable join, please view the recording here.

What's Next?

The Energy Thought Summit (ETS17) will be held 27-30 March, 2017 in Austin, Texas, and will bring-together creative minds to design real solutions for the energy transformation taking place today. This inclusive event welcomes everyone to the table to create change in energy and to consider the roles that emerging technologies play in shaping a new future. The line-up features industry thought leaders including Green Button Alliance members Exelon, Energyworx and the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC). ETS17 is offering a special promotion for Green Button Alliance members - 10% off registration by 13 March; limited to (3) per organization. Use code "Green Button Alliance" and register here.

The Green Button Alliance is a supporting partner of the 2nd Annual Grid Modernization Forum taking place 3-5 April, 2017 in Chicago. The event features top speakers from leading companies; will examine lessons learned at the frontiers of grid modernization and reliability; and it will include case studies of improved network performance, resiliency, services, flexibility, energy storage, and distributed energy-resource integration. Green Button Alliance members Mimi Zhang of Silver Spring Networks will speak on Session 3: IOT and Big Data Analytics for New Business Models and Operational Excellence and Kevin Bricknell of ComEd will speak on Session 10: Better Programs, Better Performance, with Customer and Grid Data Analytics. Register here and enter "GBA20" to receive a 20% discount.

All members are invited to attend the Green Button Global Marketing Committee meetings that take place the first Wednesday of each month. The next meeting will be held April 5 at 12:00 noon PDT/3:00pm EDT. For the complete listing of meetings in which the Green Button Alliance is participating, see our teleconference and meeting calendar.