That was electrotechnical standardization 2023

Ideally, keeping materials and natural resources in cycles without consuming new ones is in line with the European Green Deals and the German Federal Climate Change Act 2021. Standards represent an indispensable building block on the road to a circular economy.

Against this backdrop DIN and DKE prepared and published the Circular Economy Standardization Roadmap together with more than 550 experts from industry, science, the public sector and civil society, and presented it to the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).

The next step is to put the results obtained into practice. To this end Michael Teigeler, managing director at DKE, extended an invitation to all interested parties: “The requirements identified in the standardization roadmap are the prelude to preparation of the corresponding norms and standards in national, European and international committees. Together, we can actively shape the rules of the circular economy. We invite all interested experts to participate.”

The EU Battery Regulation (BattVO) is not only an issue for the companies concerned, but also for standardization work as a whole. Although the regulation is viewed in a positive light – because it has a consistently sustainable focus – its complexity and the difficulty of reconciling it with existing processes cannot be ignored. Moreover, there is an unusually high level of detail with regard to its requirements.

Thomas Timke is a standardization expert at the DKE and was available for an in-depth interview. Among other things, he explains the development process of the BattVO to date and shows how standardization has been involved thus far. Timke also highlights the key challenges for industry, but also the key benefits – not only for the environment, but for companies as well. During the discussion it became clear once again: Germany has a great deal of expertise when it comes to batteries. However, standardization needs more experts, because the work is not getting any less!

The collaborative project Standardization Roadmap for Hydrogen Technologies was launched in March. With the roadmap, the participants aim to develop a strategic plan for future hydrogen standardization and thus support the expansion of the hydrogen economy and a quality infrastructure.

Hydrogen will be one of the elements in de-fossilizing our energy supply. The challenge will be to synchronize electricity consumers and producers. The roadmap can accelerate the market ramp-up of hydrogen technologies. At the same time, this promotes safe, resilient and cost-effective application.

An initial version of the Standardization Roadmap for Hydrogen Technologies is to be published in the summer of 2024.

Smart meter gateways measure and transmit energy consumption. Thus they represent an essential component of the sustainable thermal energy transition. At the same time, building complexes with residential and commercial units have alarm systems for automated fire and burglar alarms as well as emergency calls. As both systems require secure access to public networks, it makes sense to share transmission paths in terms of both costs and security.

With the WärmewendeNordWest project the DKE is developing a platform ecosystem with participating partners in order to securely link digital data generated by the sectors of electricity, heat supply and building management systems. The platform ecosystem will make new business models possible in the future and create new value-added services with building data for sector coupling.

In addition to the upcoming innovations in the third edition of the IEC 61508 series of standards on functional safety, this year’s Erfurt Days focused on the challenges posed by the increasing incorporation of artificial intelligence and the EU Cyber Resilience Act.

During the discussion on possible solutions it became clear that Industry 4.0 cannot be implemented without the input of functional safety. However, several EU legislative projects that deal with the area of security – such as the EU Cyber Resilience Act – pose a major challenge for numerous companies, not only in the automation industry.

Thus it will be all the more important that globally applicable standards developed through free self-administration help to pave the way into the future!

In a ruling five years ago, the European Court of Justice mentioned in passing that harmonized European standards are “part of European Union law”. As a result, individual plaintiffs subsequently demanded free access to harmonized European standards, as laws in the European legal sphere must be freely accessible.

Now that the Advocate General’s conclusions are available, DIN and DKE are urgently warning against the dangers for the standardization system and the direct consequences for the economic system that have not been taken into sufficient consideration in those conclusions.

The structure of the standards organizations and the participation of all interested parties in such standardization work ensure both the broad acceptance of the standards as well as their financing by the users.

The DKE Innovation Campus represented a particular highlight this year. Almost 700 interested persons followed controversial discussions, interesting workshops and exciting presentations on innovative strategies for an all-electric society, either on location in Hanau, Germany or via live-stream transmission. The focus was placed on networked, energy self-sufficient buildings, flexible energy management, energy storage systems, battery safety and much more.

Participants at the various workshops were able to contribute their expertise on topics such as battery recycling, bidirectional charging, digital product passports, hydrogen integration and grid integration.

The Innovation Campus 2023 was novel, inspiring, rich in content, and characterized by an intensive exchange between the participants and speakers.

The Young Professionals Camp 2023, which was organized by Next Generation DKE, offered a dynamic platform for a lively exchange of knowledge along with practical workshops. The networking opportunities established here make it possible to exchange new ideas across national borders and strengthens the cooperation of future experts.

Among other things, the 18 young professionals from 15 different countries dealt with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, in order to find creative approaches to communicating this collection of rules and guidelines with regard to standardization in an understandable and interesting manner.

The participants also received a thorough introduction to the IEC OSD tool. This tool is revolutionizing the standardization process and provides important skills for future standardization work.

What does it mean when the contents of a standard are digitally prepared and can be read and used by both humans and machines? The Digital Standards Initiative (IDiS) of DKE and DIN is in the process of examining this very question. The IDiS is of crucial importance when it comes to improving the competitiveness of German industry.

The pilot projects, most of which are geared towards practical application scenarios, deal with other issues in addition to requirements for the format of a digital standard. DKE and DIN presented the initial results at the Hanover Trade Exhibition. The audience was also given a live demonstration of how smart standards content can be read and independently applied by a machine.

Industry in particular will benefit if hardware, software and SMART standards work together on a digital level.

Anyone operating in the European single market appreciates them – harmonized standards. For customers they are a sign of quality, as they indicate that products that comply with harmonized standards meet the safety requirements of the EU.

Harmonized standards thus create a basis for the European single market, as they apply unconditionally in all countries. For Dr. Gunter Kegel, CEO of Pepperl+Fuchs, the fact that they also represent the state of the art is particularly essential, as they create legal certainty for the industry.

In our interview, he also spoke about the lessons learned from Brexit and why the German government and the EU should preserve, strengthen and accelerate the current standardization processes.

Cybersecurity law is currently undergoing a major transformation – away from sector-specific, vertical regulations and towards a systematic, horizontal approach. With the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) – which is due to come into force as early as 2024 – the EU Commission is taking the next big step, which addresses manufacturers of products with digital elements in particular.

The world of standardization is aware of the challenges for the stakeholders concerned and has organized a workshop in order to provide clarity and at the same time encourage active participation. Interested participants were provided with the opportunity to submit their questions in advance.

More than 300 participants were connected online and learned not only about the legal policy background, but also how standardization can help address the challenges posed by the CRA.

Political controversies and social conflicts repeatedly took center stage last year. The common goals were sometimes lost sight of. We learned during the DKE Innovation Campus at the latest,  that conflict and dispute are important for democracy – however, we must not talk about each other, but rather with each other. As standards professionals, we are experts when it comes to consensus building and already quite a distance ahead of some in the political arena. We are looking forward to the All Electric Society together.

Our thanks go to you: For helping us to shape the future, for getting involved and for always treating each other with respect. But also for the fact that we listen to each other, that you have your say and that you enter into discussions with us. Only through this honest and respectful exchange can we move forward and shape the future together.