Interoperability-the ability to exchange information in a timely, actionable manner-is a critical yet underdeveloped capability of the power system. Significant grid modernization has occurred in recent years, but the proliferation of technology and associated standards has only modestly improved interoperability. The expansion of distributed energy resources and other technologies, along with changing customer expectations, have complicated the interoperability challenge. This revision of the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Framework uses evolving technology and power system architectures as context for describing a new set of interoperability perspectives. Distributed and customer-sited resources figure prominently in the future smart grid, as do intelligent distribution systems and other key integrators. As society modernizes the physical mechanisms by which we produce, manage, and consume electricity, strategies for system operations and economic structure will diversify. This diversification will benefit fromand eventually rely upon-enhanced interoperability. The benefits of interoperability are broad and reach all stakeholders at all scales. Interoperability is a hedge against technology obsolescence, maximizes the value of equipment investments by increasing usage for secondary purposes, and facilitates combinatorial innovation by allowing coordinated small actions across diverse stakeholders and devices to have grand impacts. The interoperability value proposition can be realized in any system domain, from the utility to the customer and beyond. Interoperability requires a cybersecurity approach that manages risk while opening new communication interfaces. The desired outcomes for the grid and the information exchanges that must be protected will have to be considered in concert and will benefit from a structured approach to system security. New interfaces can benefit from existing security processes. Testing and certification is a critical enabler of smart grid interoperability. However, the current industry focus on certifying conformance to individual standards is only the first step on the pathway to assuring interoperability for devices or systems, and cannot provide interoperability without significant additional effort. Many others have provided important ideas and facilitated processes that are the foundations for this Framework. The contributions of the following individuals were especially noteworthy and appreciated:

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The NIST Transactive Energy (TE) Modeling and Simulation Challenge for the Smart Grid (Challenge) spanned from 2015 to 2018. The TE Challenge was initiated to identify simulation tools and expertise that might be developed or combined in co-simulation platforms to enable the evaluation of transactive energy approaches. Phase I of the Challenge spanned 2015 to 2016, with team efforts that improved understanding of TE concepts, identified relevant simulation tools and co-simulation platforms, and inspired the development of a TE co-simulation abstract component model that paved the way for Phase II. The Phase II effort spanned Spring 2017 through Spring 2018, where the teams collaboratively developed a specific TE problem scenario, a common grid topology, and common reporting metrics to enable direct comparison of results from simulation of each team's TE approach for the defined scenario. This report presents an overview of the TE Challenge, the TE abstract component model, and the common scenario. It also compiles the individual Challenge participants' research reports from Phase II. The common scenario involves a weather event impacting a distribution grid with very high penetration of photovoltaics, leading to voltage regulation challenges that are to be mitigated by TE methods. Four teams worked with this common scenario and different TE models to incentivize distributed resource response to voltage deviations, performing these simulations on different simulation platforms. A fifth team focused on a co-simulation platform that can be used for online TE simulations with existing co-simulation components. The TE Challenge Phase II has advanced co-simulation modeling tools and platforms for TE system performance analysis, developed a referenceable TE scenario that can support ongoing comparative simulations, and demonstrated various TE approaches for managing voltage on a distribution grid with high penetration of photovoltaics.

From September to November 2018, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) partnered with the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) to hold a series of roundtable meetings to support the revision of its Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards (hereafter the Framework). The Framework addresses the increasingly important ability to exchange actionable information between devices and organizations.Four one-day regional meetings were held to support development of Framework version 4.0, which reflects structural changes and increasing system complexity in the grid. Fast-paced grid evolution necessitates updated interoperability considerations, particularly as applied to the Framework's Smart Grid Conceptual Models. These diagrams have been expanded to include four communication pathways scenarios, Legacy Utility, High-DER Architecture, Microgrid, and Advanced Bulk to be considered moving forward (shown in Appendix F). The roundtables gathered input from stakeholders (utilities, service providers, regulators, technology suppliers) on the updated Framework, as well as input on regional issues that need consideration. Meetings were organized by regions and conceptual models, as follows:• The Midwest Regional Roundtable held in Indianapolis, Indiana, focused on Legacy Utility Communications. In this scenario, a logical model of legacy systems is mapped onto conceptual domains for smart grid information networks.

This report captures feedback from two workshops that NIST conducted to determine the challenges and opportunities in the use and design of Smart Grid Testbeds and Collaborations, which were held April 11, 2019, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and April 23, 2019, at the University of Vermont. Both workshops were sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.