A SunShot Initiative funding program working to create unified data standards in the solar industry will receive a boost from the merger of two organizations. The Orange Button℠ initiative is administered by the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP), whose membership recently voted to merge the organization with the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) to create a single source for information and collaboration for utilities and distributed energy resource providers on the smart transition to clean energy. The completion of the merger was announced on April 3, 2017 as SEPA expands its mission to encompass the activities of SGIP.

The merger was set into motion when SEPA expanded its mission from solar energy to include energy storage, demand response, and other enabling technologies. Recognizing that the energy sector is a crowded space for nonprofits, CEO Julia Hamm began looking for smaller nonprofits that conduct complementary work that might be interested in merging.

Enter Sharon Allan, CEO of SGIP. Sharon had determined that merging SGIP with a synergistic organization would enhance the mission of accelerating grid modernization through policy, education, and promotion of interoperability and standards. The two CEOs realized the mutual benefits of a merger and announced their intent to merge in January 2017. The merger allows the new and larger SEPA to work with companies across the electric power sector to address a broad range of issues relevant to our country’s transition to a smart grid.

The merger will have a positive effect on the work being done by the Orange Button℠ initiative. It is expected to receive more engagement from the solar industry due to SEPA’s larger membership, allowing more stakeholders to have a say in what data standards are ultimately adopted. By working off of one set of unified data standards that can be easily shared, the solar industry will be able to reduce market inefficiencies, speed up processes like financing, and lower costs for consumers.

Learn more about the Orange Button℠ initiative and how it’s helping to reduce solar energy soft costs.