CGI OpenGrid DERMS supports full lifecycle of managing Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), enabling their integration with grid and market. It facilitates monitoring, scheduling, dispatching commands, and applying advanced analytics to optimize grid operations.

Foundation Module

This cloud-native microservices platform ensures scalability, security, observability and integrates data from: Core operational systems without interfering with their control functions, Business data sources like CIS for customer-related data, OT data. Includes the Network Model, which has tools for uploading, validating, and correcting data from multiple sources to build an accurate as-built and as-operated model of the power system.

Connect

This module enables DER registration via web, API, or file upload. DERs are linked to network model, offering a full view of the energy system. The DER Registry allows external entities and utility staff to register DERs, capturing attributes like type, capacity, location, and market data. Supports interconnection processes and updates and tracks DER roles in net-metering or wholesale markets.

Monitor

Provides a unified interface for operators to view DERs, including historical data, alarms, and real-time telemetry from systems like SCADA or ADMS. It supports: Visualization of DER status and geospatial location, Aggregation and grouping of DERs, Alarm and event management with filtering, and correlation.

Dispatch

The Dispatch module enables DER service call management, allowing other components to request DER services. Validates requests, monitors execution, and returns responses. Key capabilities include:

• Service calls & logging: Provides APIs for internal or external systems to request DER services. It validates, executes, monitors, and logs all service calls.

• Constraint & dispatch plan management: Accepts constraint data from the Optimize module or external systems, identifies DERs to resolve constraints, manages setpoints, retries, and command status.

• Command dispatch: Handles commands from external interfaces, dispatch plans, or manual inputs. Validates commands, determines communication protocols, monitors results, and logs all actions.

Schedule

This module manages dispatch schedules and supports frontend and backend operations. Schedules can be based on day of week, specific dates, sunrise/sunset times to one-minute resolution and can support one-time, recurring, or conditional schedules. Schedules can be configured manually or automatically via external inputs or internal workflows. Manages timing and frequency of activities, triggering the Dispatch module to issue commands while ensuring traceability and logging.

Optimize

Provides analytics to optimize DER usage based on system needs and economic factors. Includes forecasting tools to predict constraints and recommend grid interventions for balance and efficiency.

OT Gateways

Allow our DERMS solution to interact with DERs using protocol relevant to the DER technology deployed at or beyond the grid edge. This OT Bidirectional Gateway can communicate directly with DER devices and support standard data acquisition for remote device scanning, communication failure detection and restoration, message encoding and decoding, quality code interpretation, error checking, and monitoring, for DER asset devices, providing basic SCADA & communication features for DER devices.

IT Gateways

Provide application-to-application interfaces via APIs. These enable data exchange between CGI OpenGrid DERMS and systems such as ADMS, CIS, and customer portals. IT API Gateways are used to provide a uniform communication process between the CGI OpenGrid DERMS solution and additional data sources, producers and/or business applications