LF Energy has added Sony Computer Science Laboratories to its members and launched Hyphae, a microgrid initiative to automate the peer-to-peer distribution of renewable energy. It is seeking hardware partners to collaborate to ensure the new system is entirely interoperable.

Hyphae aims to make microgrids more resilient by transitioning Sony CSL’s existing software, Autonomous Power Interchange System, which automatically distributes locally-produced renewable energy over a DC grid, to work with AC Grids.

LF Energy is a Linux Foundation nonprofit corporation seeking to accelerate the energy transition of the world’s grids and transportation systems through open source software. Its members include Alan Turing Institute, RTE, Alliander, Energinet, TenneT, Elering, IBM, NREL, Recurve, Stanford University, and many others.

LF Energy said an open-source, automated microgrid controller and peer-to-peer trading platform like Hyphae will allow for faster innovation while decreasing costs. It said the collaboration with Sony CSL brought it closer to its goal of building the first interoperable AC- and DC-ready microgrid that is self-contained, operational off-grid and able to connect to an electrical distribution network with utility oversight.

“By working with LF Energy, we see a path toward an interoperable, cloud-native, configurable microgrid that will revolutionize the world’s relationship with networking energy,” said Dr Hiroaki Kitano, president and CEO of Sony CSL.

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