AUSTIN, Texas, and PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Wi-Fi Alliance and the HomePlug® Powerline Alliance have entered into a liaison agreement to facilitate and promote the adoption of HomePlug powerline and Wi-Fi networking technologies in smart grid applications. The agreement enables cooperative efforts for joint technical review of Wi-Fi Alliance and HomePlug specifications and standards that facilitate interoperability of smart grid applications. The organizations will also engage on joint outreach to promote the adoption of wireless and powerline technologies for smart grid applications.

Both the Wi-Fi Alliance and HomePlug are participating members in the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP). SGIP is a forum for industry stakeholders and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to participate in the ongoing coordination, acceleration and harmonization of standards development for the smart grid. The Smart Energy 2 Applications Profile (SEP 2.0) was selected last year by the U.S. Department of Energy and NIST as an initial interoperable standard for smart energy management with home area network (HAN) devices. The Wi-Fi Alliance and the HomePlug Powerline Alliance are collaborating to enable SEP 2.0 applications to operate across a diverse mix of wireless and wired networks.

"Both Wi-Fi and HomePlug solutions will play key roles in energy management and connecting home systems and appliances to the smart grid," said Rob Ranck, president of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. "HomePlug and Wi-Fi devices represent a large share of installed nodes worldwide, and ensuring seamless interoperability is critical for broad scale smart grid deployment."

Wi-Fi Alliance