Designed to simulate real-world conditions and test end-to-end functionality of smart grid elements, such as in-home displays, electric vehicle charging, smart meters, and customer information portals, KEMA expects its new Smart Grid Interop Lab to play an important role in the deployment of smart grids.

KEMA, a global authority in energy consulting, testing, and certification, opened the lab in Erlanger, Kentucky, just outside Cincinnati, Ohio. As organizations and industry stakeholders around the world work on smart grid standards and an interoperable infrastructure, KEMA says it will ensure compliance and testing in the lab mesh with those initiatives.

"The benefit to utilities is to reduce exposure to risks in their smart grid deployments,” said Hugo van Nispen, managing director for KEMA Americas. "Ensuring interoperability will be imperative for utilities, and there are not many options for this level of testing. We’re really the only impartial interoperability lab in the world.”