3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
Further development of integrated wholesale European and secondary markets
Enhancing retail competition
Decision support for future energy system design
USEF: One Common Standard to Enhance Value Creation
Innovation is occurring rapidly, yet markets differ and multiple initiatives are underway at the
same time in different places. While we accept that this approach may be the fastest way to get
results, without any uniformity, there is a risk that
initiatives will not be compatible or connectable.
Standardization, with specifications for market access
and interoperability, is a prerequisite for the
establishment of an accessible, flexible, and truly
integrated energy market. To achieve this effectively
requires that we work together and think beyond
existing market positions, companies, regions, and countries.
The Universal Smart Energy Framework (USEF) 42 presents a market structure, shown in Figure 7,
for the trading of flexible energy use and the tools and rules to make it work effectively. By
providing a common standard on which to build, it ensures that people, projects, and
technologies can be connected for an integrated smart energy future that is energy efficient
and cost-effective. The framework specifies all market roles, how they interact, and how they
can benefit by doing so.
USEF aligns the trading of consumer flexibility with existing wholesale market models. By
extending standard key processes to include usage prognoses for individual consumers, USEF
fits on top of, and can integrate with, most market models.
42 USEF has been developed to accelerate the smart energy transition and unlock the value of prosumer flexibility
by incentivizing all stakeholders (new and traditional) in the energy system. The USEF Foundation is a partnership
organization comprised of ABB, Alliander, DNV GL, Essent, IBM, ICT and Stedin. For more information, see
http://www.usef.energy.
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