Industry Alliance VHPready e.V.

The industry alliance VHPready e.V. develops the industry standard to encourage the networking of decentralized energy systems, the certification program as well as the appropriate testing tools in a cooperative and transparent manner together with its members.

Vision and Mission

The industry alliance VHPready e.V. is committed to the realization of the energy transition (“Energiewende”) by creating and using a standardized network of decentralized energy systems. We contribute to the integration of renewable energies in the energy market and enable the balancing of volatilities through the orchestrated cooperation of decentralized energy systems. The VHPready standard and its certification ensure a seamless, reliable and economic cooperation of all controllable components as well as their compatibility and provide the foundation for flexible aggregations of decentralized energy systems into virtual power plants.

Scope of work

With VHPready version 4.0, a manufacturer-independent standard, which ensures the interoperability and controllability of system components of virtual power plants, is now available for the first time. VHPready facilitates the prequalification for the participation in the energy balancing market. The following system types are currently being supported:


  • battery storage systems
  • combined heat and power units (CHP)
  • electric heating
  • boilers
  • process heaters


  • buffer tanks
  • solar plants
  • heat pumps
  • wind plants


Data points for meters and external signal contacts are also available.

The committee

The elected committee consists of

  • Dr. Thomas Luckenbach (Fraunhofer FOKUS, President),
  • Hanno Balzer (Vattenfall E Vice President),
  • Claus Sprave (LichtBlick SE),
  • Prof. Dr. Xianzhang Lei (Global Energy Interconnection Research Institute Europe GmbH) and
  • Klaus-Dieter Walter (SSV  Software  Systems  GmbH)

The working groups

The following topics are currently being addressed in detail:

    • WG1: Advancement of VHPready
      (Directorship: Eike Arndt, energy & meteo systems GmbH, co-leader: N.N.)
    • WG2: Certification and prequalification
      (Directorship: Hartmut Bauer, 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, co-leader: N.N.)
    • WG3: International marketing and standardization 
      (Directorship: Fanny Haltenhof, WAGO Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co. KG, co-leader: Dr. Weilin Liu, State Grid GEIRI Europe)

Forms of involvement

The industry alliance as cross-sector and manufacturer-independent platform is open to all market players in the virtual power plant community. Membership levels and contributions vary according to company size and form of involvement. For further information on the industry alliance and membership please contact us.

Hanno Balzer, committee member of the Industry Alliance VHPready e.V.
“We look forward to henceforth advancing the standard developed by us in the industry alliance VHPready as company-independent industry standard. This will take us another important step closer to achieving an affordable energy transition.”Hanno Balzer, committee member of the Industry Alliance VHPready e.V.


Dr. Thomas Luckenbach, committee member of the Industry Alliance VHPready e.V.
“The industry alliance VHPready provides us with the great opportunity to link decentralized energy components – energy producers, energy storage devices and energy consumers – in a technically simple manner using standardized interfaces, thereby arranging for an efficient energy mix. This, in turn, implies increased planning certainty, lower adaptation costs and thus greater opportunities for growth for all companies involved. The more companies are being involved in the alliance, the faster a successful transition can be achieved.”Dr. Thomas Luckenbach, committee member of the Industry Alliance VHPready e.V.


Claus Sprave, committee member of the Industry Alliance VHPready e.V.
“The energy market is changing: In the future energy will be produced and stored in small, decentralized plants. Our challenge will be to intelligently and efficiently control these plants. VHPready provides us with the opportunity to develop standardized interfaces and processes, thereby granting easy market access for the parties involved and accelerating the energy transition.”Claus Sprave, committee member of the Industry Alliance VHPready e.V.

Prof. Dr. Xianzhang Lei, committee member of the Industry Alliance VHPready e.V.
„The energy transition can be considered as a global project. VHPready offers the opportunity for building up international collaborations, in particular to use synergy effects between Europe and China. The latter being a clear win-win situation, as European companies is given the possibility to test experimental technologies in one of the world’s largest markets. As the first committee member with international-Chinese background it is of great concern to me to achieve the aforementioned goals.“Prof. Dr. Xianzhang Lei, committee member of the Industry Alliance VHPready e.V.