Open-Source Energy Hackathon 2025
SF Climate Week · Earth Day · Port Labs, Oakland · 22–23 Apr 2025 · Official Luma listing ↗
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A hands-on open-source energy hack during SF Climate Week: implement a SunSpec-compliant gateway against real renewable hardware, experiment with standards that let DERs participate in US utility markets (demand response, ancillary services, CA Rule 21 / UL 1741-SB), and connect open platforms across equipment vendors — with a parallel thread on how the same stack can support rural electrification (IEEE Smart Village / open AMI).
Core challenge
Most DERs speak proprietary protocols, which blocks plug-and-play links to utilities and aggregators. Teams built translator gateways (typically Modbus TCP/RTU southbound) to a standardized SunSpec interface, with paths to IEEE 2030.5 or OpenADR for grid-facing programs — faster interoperability without re-certifying every OEM dialect.
Audience tracks (from Luma)
Agenda
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Day 1 · 22 Apr | 10:00 welcome · 11:00 microgrid ecosystem intro · office hours 1–2 & 5–6 pm · hacking until 9 pm |
| Day 2 · 23 Apr | 9 am–3 pm open hacking for Day 1 participants · 4–6 pm results celebration & mixer (separate showcase signup for non-hackers) |
Hardware on site
- Sol-Ark 12K-2P and 5K-1P hybrid inverters
- Gismo Power MEGA unit (PV + EVSE on wheels) in the parking lot
- Discover Energy HELIOS 16 kWh LFP battery
- NESL.energy Modbus gateway kits
- Low-cost Modbus-controlled L2 EVSE · AC energy meter
- ISV / NESL / Energy IoT Street Pole EMS — pole-gateway prototype on ems-dev; now part of the Meter Interoperability hardware thread.
Open-source software stack
Contributions targeted the Energy IoT org and upstream LF / enAccess projects, including:
- LF Hyphae APIS · LF OpenLEADR · LF FlexMeasures · LF CitrineOS
- OpenEMS · enAccess MicroPowerManager · enAccess BMS · enAccess Open Smart Meter
Hosts, partners & sponsors
| Role | Organizations |
|---|---|
| Hosted by | Kyle Valiton · Arila Barnes (Energy IoT) · Liam O'Brien · SF Climate Week · Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt |
| Partners | SunSpec Alliance · enAccess · IEEE Smart Village · Energy IoT Open Source |
| Sponsors | Sol-Ark · Discover Energy Systems · Gismo Power · Ampra Grid · Port Labs |
What carried forward
- Annual SF Climate Week / Earth Day hack at Port Labs (see 2026).
- Street Pole EMS and northbound MQTT work became inputs to ISV Tech Comm Meter Interoperability.
- EMS Dev Kit v1 (above) evolved into MeshEMS v2.0 (NESL 865B) — MeshEMS board hub.
- OpenAMI stakeholder collaboration (ISV, EnAccess, NESL, Energy IoT) continued after Power Africa 2025.
One participant perspective (not the full event)
Adam's post-hack essay centers ISV's village metering economics and a Stonehenge topology metaphor — useful for ISV-HCK-001, but it does not cover the domestic DER / utility-market tracks that most teams pursued. Treat the essay as one lens, not the event recap.