Red Hat joins LF Energy to help shape a more efficient energy grid

The utility industry is currently facing a multitude of hurdles that are driven by a combination of aging infrastructure, changing energy landscape and evolving customer expectations. The power grid, specifically, is undergoing its greatest transformation since inception, with new challenges imposing problems that our grid is not equipped to handle.

As utilities adopt a software-defined infrastructure,bringing IT best practices to OT ecosystems becomes increasingly feasible. By virtualizing applications and taking advantage of advancements in edge computing platforms and AI, utilities can modernize infrastructure and create more agile, software-defined environments that improve everything from operational efficiency to smart grid responsiveness.

Through collaboration and open innovation, Red Hat is helping organizations modernize, virtualize and bridge the gap between IT and OT for smarter, more efficient operations. We are excited to share that Red Hat has officially joined the LF Energy community, a community for collaboration on open industrial-grade technology platforms and agile specifications for the energy transition, to help facilitate a more efficient energy grid.

Red Hat and LF Energy

LF Energy is the premier community for collaboration on open industrial-grade technology platforms and agile standards for the digital energy transition. It is a community of digital experts at leading utilities, vendors, and supporters who are willing to rethink industry norms and find better ways to solve shared problems. Members of the LF Energy community are dedicated to building a vibrant, sustainable ecosystem of digital assets that are critical for delivering affordable, reliable, safe and clean energy.

Red Hat recently participated in a project within LF Energy to provide CentOS Stream 9 support to SEAPATH, an open source software hypervisor designed for IEC 61850 Digital Substation Automation Systems. SEAPATH is designed to run with Virtual Protection Automation and Control (vPAC) Alliance, creating a synergy among multiple open source grid projects and a very strong community among digital substation stakeholders.

By committing our deep engineering resources and technical expertise to projects like SEAPATH, Red Hat will provide a proven, enterprise-ready open source platform that serves as the foundation for the next generation of energy infrastructure, accelerating the development of a more flexible, reliable, secure, and sustainable grid. 

Enhancing operational interoperability across the ecosystem 

Red Hat is committed to transforming the way systems and providers interoperate within the operations and control technology ecosystem through open innovation and community collaboration. Red Hat actively collaborates with a wide range of industry organizations that are paving the way to more operationally efficient industrial processes. Last year, Red Hat joined the vPAC Alliance, a group of over 30 organizations working to establish a standards-based, open, and secure architecture for virtualized solutions in power substations.

Red Hat also joined The Linux Foundation's Margo Initiative as a steering committee member to enhance interoperability in industrial automation environments. Supported by some of the largest global automation ecosystem providers, Margo defines the mechanisms for interoperability between edge applications, devices, workloads and orchestration software and plans to deliver interoperability through an open standard, reference implementation and comprehensive compliance testing toolkit.

Red Hat is powering up for the future of energy! We're excited to announce our membership in LF Energy, where we'll contribute our open source expertise and platforms to modernize the grid. Together, we're building a more flexible, reliable, and sustainable power system for all.