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LF Energy
Formation2018
FounderShuli Goodman
Founded atSan Francisco, California, United States
Type501(c)(6) organization
Location
Parent organization
Linux Foundation
Websitewww.lfenergy.org

Linux Foundation Energy (known as LF Energy) is an initiative launched by the US-based Linux Foundation in 2018 to improve the power grid.[1][2][3] Its aim is to spur the uptake of digital technologies within the electricity sector and adjoining sectors using open source software and practices, with a key application being the smarter grid.[4][5]

History

[edit]

LF Energy was formed in 2018.[6] The organization was founded by Shuli Goodman, who served as its executive director.[7][8][9] RTE supported the creation of LF Energy since early 2018 and became its first Strategic Member.[10] LF Energy is an umbrella organization that includes energy companies such as Alliander and RTE.[11] Energy company executives such as Arjan Stam (Director of System Operations at Alliander) and Lucian Balea (Director of Open Source) have joined LF Energy as governing board members.[2] LF Energy helped develop Alliander's open source program offices after Alliander joined the organization in 2019.

The organization formally launched in May 2019.[11]

LF Energy launched the open industrial IoT platform GXF (Grid eXchange Fabric) in collaboration with Alliander in February 2020.[12][13][14]

LF Energy partnered with GE Renewable Energy, Schneider Electric, National Grid, and RTE (Réseau de Transport d'Électricité) to launch the Digital Substation Automation Systems (DSAS) initiative and the related Configuration Modules for Power Industry Automation Systems (CoMPAS) project in 2020.[15] The DSAS initiative aims to use open-source technology to convert electrical substations into digital substations to accelerate progress towards achieving carbon neutrality.[16] In like manner, CoMPAS provided software modules for automation systems in the power industry.[17]

In 2020, LF Energy launched the second DSAS open-source project SEAPATH, which provided a platform for virtualized automation for power grids and substations.[18]

In 2021, LF Energy collaborated with Sony Computer Science Laboratory on the microgrid initiative Hyphae, which aims to automate peer-to-peer renewable energy distribution.[19][20][21] The organization also introduced the SOGNO software initially funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 programs.[22][23] Its focus is on grid automation using microservices and control rooms.[24]

Microsoft partnered with LF Energy as part of its 100/100/0 program in September 2021.[25]

Google joined LF Energy as a Strategic Member as part of its 24/7 Carbon Free Energy initiative in early 2022.[26][27]

In early 2022, LF Energy launched the EVerest project, which aims to provide open source software for the electric vehicle charging infrastructure.[28][29] LF Energy was also one of the organizations that took part in the Carbon Call, an initiative aimed at developing reliable measurement and accounting of carbon emissions.[30][31]

Shell joined LF Energy as a Strategic member in 2022.[32]

Shuli Goodman died on 3 January 2023.[33]

The Power Grid Model project, which originated at Alliander, became a part of LF Energy in May 2023. Power Grid Model is a high-performance Python/C++ library for steady-state distribution power system analysis. The project provides benefits to utilities in the areas of short term real-time state estimation and forecasting, long term grid planning, and congestion management.[34]

In December 2023, LF Energy launched several new open source energy systems projects including CitrineOS (a community-tested and reliable open source software for charger management which drives forward adoption of the OCPP 2.0.1 protocol resulting in more reliable charging networks worldwide originated by S44 Energy), TROLIE (contributed by GE Vernova and MISO to establish an open conformance standard and cultivate a software ecosystem to accelerate the implementation of reliable, secure, and interoperable systems for the exchange of transmission facility ratings and related information), and the Battery Data Alliance (created by AmpLabs to bring battery companies together to work jointly to unify how batteries are handled in terms of software).[35]

Alex Thornton was appointed the new Executive Director of LF Energy in December 2023.[36]

LF Energy and the U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation partnered in January 2024 to build an open source reference implementation for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure leveraging LF Energy’s EVerest project to develop and maintain an open source software stack for energy communications across charging stations, vehicles, generation resources, batteries, adjacent chargers, power grids, backend payment systems, user interfaces, and mobile devices.[37]

Hydro-Quebec, the largest power utility in Canada, joined LF Energy as a General Member in May 2024[38] and upgraded to a Strategic Member in 2025.[39]

In 2024, the Centre for Net Zero contributed the OpenSynth project to LF Energy, which aims to empower holders of raw smart meter data around the world to generate and share synthetic data, and for community members to generate, improve and share algorithms.[40]

In December 2024, LF Energy with support from Southern California Edison (SCE), created the Grid Edge Interoperability & Security Alliance (GEISA), which creates a production-grade, secure technical foundation for a robust and open grid edge “app” ecosystem in constrained edge devices. [41] SCE became the first US investor-owned utility to join LF Energy officially in 2025. [42]

Governing board

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  • Lucan Balea (Strategic Member Representative & Board Chair)
  • Arjan Stam (Strategic Member Representative & Board Treasurer)
  • Antonello Monti (Technical Advisory Council Chair)
  • Savannah Goodman (Strategic Member Representative - Google)
  • Laurent Boinot (Strategic Member Representative - Microsoft)[43][44]
  • Naresh Kumar Gajendran (Strategic Member Representative - Shell)
  • Marco Moller (General Member Representative - Pionix)
  • Christophe Villemer (General Member Representative - Savoir-faire Linux)[45][46]

References

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  1. ^ "Harnessing Collective Action to Green the Grid". Time.
  2. ^ a b Larson, Aaron (June 10, 2021). "Open-Source Technology Benefits Transmission and Distribution Operators".
  3. ^ C. Bradford Biddle. "Linux Foundation is Eating the World". Archived from the original on 2021-08-15.
  4. ^ "The Linux Foundation's Open Source Stack for EV Charging Infrastructure". March 11, 2022.
  5. ^ Finley, Klint. "To Go Green, the Energy Industry Goes Open Source". Wired.
  6. ^ "LF ENERGY Introductory Event". www.entsoe.eu.
  7. ^ "Can 24/7 carbon-free energy become a global standard?". Canary Media. 31 March 2022.
  8. ^ Englund, Will (2021-10-13). "Plug-in cars are the future. The grid isn't ready". Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
  9. ^ "The road to energy transition - JARA-ENERGY Talks with Dr. Shuli Goodman - JARA - Jülich Aachen Research Alliance". www.jara.org. 20 May 2021.
  10. ^ "An open source driven transformation in the power industry". ELECTRA.
  11. ^ a b "Linux Foundation launches Grid eXchange Fabric for smart grid standard". Rethink.
  12. ^ Sharma, Ray. "Linux Foundation's LF Energy Launches GXF as Open Smart Grid Platform". www.thefastmode.com.
  13. ^ "Energy saving - LF Energy and Alliander announce GXF to tackle interoperability on the Dutch power grid". Renewable Energy Magazine, at the heart of clean energy journalism. 11 February 2020.
  14. ^ Media, OpenSystems. "LF Energy, Alliander Announce GXF to Tackle Interoperability on Power Grid". Embedded Computing Design.
  15. ^ "LF Energy announces open source substation project to better handle variable renewables, EVs". Utility Dive.
  16. ^ "LF Energy Launches Digital Substation to Modernize Power Grid". www.iotevolutionworld.com.
  17. ^ "LF Energy : Résoudre Les Problèmes Du Réseau électrique Moderne Grâce à Un Investissement Partagé - Tech Tribune France". 17 March 2022.
  18. ^ "How open source software could revamp the aging electrical grid | Greenbiz". www.greenbiz.com.
  19. ^ "LF Energy and Sony CSL to Collaborate on an Open-Source Microgrid Project". 10 March 2021.
  20. ^ Sawaya, Sydney (February 16, 2021). "LF Energy, Sony Plant Open Source Microgrid Roots". www.sdxcentral.com.
  21. ^ "Mining Microgrid from Hitachi ABB...and news from Sony, LF Energy, Emera and Novonix". February 23, 2021.
  22. ^ "Open Minds and Open Source: Linux Foundation LF Energy Introduces Two Initiatives Designed to Reduce Carbon and Shift to Sustainable Energy". www.iotevolutionworld.com. 2021-04-15.
  23. ^ "SOGNO - RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY - English". www.rwth-aachen.de.
  24. ^ Com, Smartgridtoday (April 13, 2021). "LF Energy starts 2 initiatives to decarbonize Earth". www.smartgridtoday.com.[permanent dead link]
  25. ^ Greig, Jonathan. "Microsoft joins grid decarbonization effort from Linux Foundation nonprofit". ZDNet.
  26. ^ "Google forges ahead with plans for hourly renewable electricity tracking - edie". www.edie.net.
  27. ^ "Google and others have committed to 24/7 carbon-free energy. What…". Canary Media. 12 November 2021.
  28. ^ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven. "EVerest: The open source software stack for EV charging infrastructure". ZDNet.
  29. ^ "SD Times Open-Source Project of the Week: EVerest". January 14, 2022.
  30. ^ "Leading organizations form the Carbon Call to address reliability and interoperability in carbon accounting for the planet". Stories. February 10, 2022.
  31. ^ Comment, Peter Judge. "Microsoft and 20 others call for carbon accounting standards". www.datacenterdynamics.com.
  32. ^ Caroline Donnelly (2 October 2022). "Oil giant Shell lends support to LF Energy in its open source power networks push". Computer Weekly. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  33. ^ Anon (12 January 2023). "In memory of Dr Shuli Goodman". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. Retrieved 2024-07-03. Obituary.
  34. ^ "Linux Foundation Energy Experiences Continued Momentum with New Power Grid Model Project, New Members Ahead of LF Energy Summit". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. 17 May 2023. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  35. ^ "Linux Foundation Energy Adds Five New Open Source Projects, Expanding its Energy Infrastructure Tech Stack for Battery Storage, Grid Resilience, EV Charging, and More". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. 5 December 2023. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  36. ^ "Energy Industry Veteran Alex Thornton Joins Linux Foundation Energy as Executive Director to Drive Next Phase of Decarbonizing Energy Systems Through Open Source". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  37. ^ "Joint Office of Energy and Transportation and Linux Foundation Energy to Advance Electric Vehicle Charging Interoperability with EVerest Open-Source Platform". Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. 11 June 2024. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  38. ^ "Hydro-Québec Demonstrates Commitment to Open Source for the Energy Transition with Membership in Linux Foundation Energy". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  39. ^ "Linux Foundation Energy Announces Open Source Power Grid Projects for AI Modeling and Edge Applications, Plus Scope 3 Emissions Visibility". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. 22 April 2025. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  40. ^ Jonathan Spencer Jones (19 September 2024). "OpenSynth's GB smart meter synthetic data now openly available". Enlit. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  41. ^ "Linux Foundation Energy Announces Open Source Power Grid Projects for AI Modeling and Edge Applications, Plus Scope 3 Emissions Visibility". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. 11 December 2024. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  42. ^ "Linux Foundation Energy Announces its First US Investor Owned Utility Member, Research into AI for Energy Systems, and Dates for LF Energy Summit". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. 22 April 2025. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  43. ^ "LF Energy : Résoudre les problèmes du réseau électrique moderne grâce à un". techtribune.net. 2022-03-17.
  44. ^ "What is an open source program office?". VentureBeat. 2021-05-27. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  45. ^ "LF Energy Elects New Governing Board Members". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. Retrieved 2025-12-10. Obituary.
  46. ^ "People in LF Energy". The Linux Foundation. San Francisco, California, United States. Retrieved 2025-12-10. Obituary.
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