To address climate change and global warming concerns, worldwide energy grid systems require an overhaul.

The Linux Foundation Energy is leading efforts to help organizations realize decarbonization goals by bringing together energy producers, researchers, policymakers and traditional vendors. The goal is to develop solutions needed to speed up this energy transition with the help of open-source technologies, according to Dan Brown (pictured, left), head of marketing at LF Energy.

“We have to decarbonize our power systems,” Brown said. “It’s really the only way that we’ll ever meet decarbonization goals that are being set by governments, companies, etc. It means redesigning the technology that manages these systems, and the best way to do that, we feel, is through open source.”

Brown and Christophe Villemer (right), executive vice president and general manager at Savoir-Faire Linux, spoke with theCUBE industry analyst John Furrier and guest analyst Rob Strechay at Open Source Summit NA, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how open source is playing a pivotal role in transforming energy systems for a better world.

The SEAPATH project

As a substation virtualization project, Software Enabled Automation Platform and Artifacts (THerein) is transforming the energy sector by protecting applications and enabling virtualized automation. SEAPATH is also an open-source, referential design, real-time and industrial-grade platform geared toward meeting sustainable goals by vendors and utilities, according to Villemer.

“If you see the automation control command by example in the substation in electric transport, they are moving towards virtualization,” he stated. “That’s one of the project, the SEAPATH project, which is a energy project which has been launched by a TSO, RTE, the French TSO. We are working with them, and also vendors like GE, Schneider are also working on that platform, which will be a standard that all virtualization is the substation.”

SEAPATH is not the only sustainable-oriented project by The Linux Foundation. This is because solving energy problems and climate change require out-of-box approaches, Brown pointed out.

“The Linux Foundation as a whole has a number of other sustainability-focused projects,” he noted. “For instance, our AgStack project for decarbonizing agriculture and OS-Climate for Climate Finance and Green Software Foundation that’s making software in the cloud itself less carbon intensive.”

Collaboration is key

Since open source thrives under a virtual teamwork model, this concept is ripe for adoption in the energy sector because it will take away the siloed approach. As a result, LF Energy sees open source as a stepping stone toward decarbonization efforts, according to Villemer.

“I think open source, first of all, it’s a way to collaborate … even in some sectors, like energy which was very much siloed, people need to collaborate,” he said. “That’s why it’s a way to speed up … and I will really present the LF Energy like a framework of collaboration and innovation.”

The LF Energy has already rolled out various projects meant to reduce carbon emissions. It has also created standards and specifications with the help of carbon data, Brown said.

“We are doing other things for home automation or business automation with our FlexMeasures project that can tell you the best time of day to run your washing machine and can actually help do that automatically,” he said. “Maybe it’s better in the middle of the day because of the sunshine and you have solar panels, but all of this has an impact. It’s small, but they add up.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Open Source Summit NA:

Photo: SiliconANGLE