IEC TS 62746-3:2015

Overview

IEC TS 62746-3:2015 defines an architecture for the systems interface between a Customer Energy Management System (CEMS) and the Power Management System. It is part of the IEC 62746 series and is intended to support management and coordinated control of customer energy resources, including Distributed Energy Resources (DER). The specification is transport‑independent, leverages the Internet for communication between grid and market actors, and bases its data modelling on the Common Information Model (CIM) and IEC 61850.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Architecture & components
  • Defines actors, roles and relationships (e.g., VTNs/VENs roles within communication domains), components/entities and resource-level views.
  • Introduces the concept of a communication domain for secure, authenticated associations between systems.
• Message transport and services
  • Specifies transport requirements and supports multiple messaging patterns: transactional request/reply, query request/reply, event messages, presence notifications and publish/subscribe interactions.
  • Addresses message construction and payload profiles (see Annex B for payload profiling).
• Aggregation & virtualization
  • Supports aggregation of multiple resources into a single virtual resource for market and grid participation.
  • Covers cascading events where published messages in one domain trigger actions in others.
• Security, scalability & availability
  • Requires adherence to security frameworks and standards (references include IEC 62351 and IEC 62443).
  • Discusses non‑functional requirements for scalability and high availability in system deployments.
• Requirements and use cases
  • Includes informative annexes that enumerate functional and non‑functional requirements and message payload profiles. Part 2 (TR 62746-2) complements this with use cases and requirements.

Applications - who uses it and why

IEC TS 62746-3 is applicable to organizations and professionals working on integration of customer-side energy resources with grid operations:

• Grid operators, distribution system operators (DSOs) and market operators - for interoperable interfaces to customer resources.
• Electricity suppliers, aggregators and service providers - to manage DER, demand response and aggregated virtual resources.
• Vendors of CEMS, DER Management Systems and building energy management platforms - to design compliant architectures and messaging interfaces.
• System integrators and cybersecurity architects - to implement secure, scalable communication domains and messaging services.

Related standards

• IEC 62746 series (related parts)
• IEC 61850 (substation/data modelling)
• Common Information Model (CIM)
• IEC TR 62746-2 (use cases and requirements)
• IEC 61968-9 / IEC 61968-100 (utility application integration)
• IEC 62351, IEC 62443 (security)

Keywords: IEC TS 62746-3, customer energy management, power management system, DER management system, communication domain, VTN, VEN, IEC 61850, CIM, publish/subscribe, IEC 62351.