ANSI DC Metering Standard Earned by EMerge Alliance

ANSI DC Metering Standard Earned by EMerge Alliance 
New ANSI standard provides performance specifications for commercial, revenue grade direct current (DC) Meters.
 
EMerge Alliance announced the addition of direct current (DC) metering to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) C12 standards that describe acceptable in-service performance levels for meters and devices used in revenue metering of electricity.  This code, traditionally used by utilities, service providers, manufacturers, government regulators, and others to exclusively define alternating current (AC) metering, now includes section C12.32 which specifically defines DC requirements for revenue grade metering performance.  

EMerge’s DC Metering Committee chairman and technology development manager at Duke Energy, David Lawrence, explained, “This addition to the code was created in response to a market need for the certifiable measurement of DC energy sources and loads. The advancement and growth of distributed renewable energy is driving the initial use cases for DC meters, but additional DC meter applications are quickly evolving, including; DC EV fast-charging, electrified transportation infrastructure, indoor agriculture, expanded information and communications infrastructure, and peer-to-peer connection of bi-directional microgrids.”    

EMerge co-founder and chairman Brian Patterson added, “We’ve seen the electric power industry show increasing awareness of the advantages of direct current in helping expand the use of renewable resources, and increasing the resiliency, reliability, efficiency and quality of grid-edge electricity distribution.  Revenue grade metering of DC, in and out of those systems, enables regulated trade of primary and secondary power between systems and with end users.” 

The California Public Utility Commission has long endorsed the development of this standard following its actions involving “Microgrids and Resiliency Strategies” pursuant to the enactment of California Senate Bill 1339* regarding the commercialization of microgrids. In Decision 19-03-013** on its “Order Instituting Rulemaking to Consider Streamlining Interconnection of Distributed Energy Resources and Improvements to Rule 21,” it went so far as to order investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to “support development of direct current metering standards by participating in the EMerge Alliance initiative or equivalent…”  

ANSI C12.32 is the product of extensive collaboration led by the EMerge Alliance which included several Department of Energy National Labs, National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Underwriter Laboratories (UL) and other key stakeholders such as Duke Energy, Southern California Edison, Salt River Project, Xylem, Aclara, AccuEnergy, Measurlogic, Xcel Energy, Radian Research, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).  

“EMerge’s strategic focus has long been to help create standards that enable the effective delivery of cleaner, more affordable, more reliable energy, by using renewable sources of energy, modernizing our infrastructure, and investing in innovative technologies based on DC power electronics,” explained EMerge president, Tom Osterman.  “We’re always looking for ways to help utilities, third-party service providers and prosumers to transform the electric power industry to a more modern, safe, clean, resilient and sustainable one.”

The American National Standards Institute recorded the final action of its C12 standards committee to approve the standard in its weekly publishing of the ANSI Standards Actions registry, Volume 52 Issue 11, wherein it simply states: “New Standard ANSI C12.32-2021, Electricity Meters for the Measurement of DC Energy (new standard) Final Action Date: 3/4/2021.”  Committee Chairman Tom Nelson of NIST and Committee Secretary Paul Orr of NEMA oversaw months of tireless review by a workgroup led by Duke Energy’s Charlie Ploeger who finalized the document and shepherded it through ANSI’s formal vetting and approval process. Copies of the standard are published and available from ANSI.