Requirements for an energy data information model for a communication-independent device description

With the help of an energy management system according to ISO 50001, industrial companies obtain the opportunities to reduce energy consumption and to increase plant efficiencies. In such a system, the communication of energy data has an important function. With the help of so-called energy profiles (e.g. PROFIenergy), energy data can be communicated between the field level and the higher levels via proven communication protocols (e.g. PROFINET). Due to the fact that in most cases several industrial protocols are used in an automation system, the problem is how to transfer energy data from one protocol to another with as less effort as possible. An energy data information model could overcome this problem and describe energy data in a uniform and semantically unambiguous way. Requirements for a unified energy data information model are presented in this paper.