Energy supply and demand are complicated as never before. There’s increased wind and solar power—and growing public preference for it—but no large-scale storage methods to capture the energy for later use. The growth of electric vehicles presents another challenge. In this environment of change, the power grid must remain resilient and reliable.

Today’s building and grid technologies and their associated data streams can help balance consumption and optimize efficiency across the energy system. PNNL developed VOLTTRON™ to enable such outcomes.

Connects data, devices, and decision-making

The VOLTTRON™ distributed sensing and control software platform is a flexible, scalable, economic, and secure solution to operate the Internet of Things.  

The technology and its applications, deployable from low-cost computing resources, readily communicate with and gather data from a wide range of building and home systems, as well as from physical devices such as heat pumps. VOLTTRON™ rapidly analyzes the data and makes decisions to control device operations and maximize energy, cost, and comfort benefits. The technology also can coordinate its actions with the power grid.

VOLTTRON™ is a platform for solutions that independently manage heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, electric vehicles, distributed energy, entire building loads, and more. The technology has been successfully deployed in multiple projects and products, and efforts continue to further develop, test, and advance its capabilities. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office was an early advocate of the technology and continues to support its development.

More information is available on the VOLTTRON™ website.

Eclipse VOLTTRON™

Several years after its development, VOLTTRON™ joined the Eclipse Foundation, an international organization that helps advance open-source software projects and cultivates their respective communities and business ecosystems. The technology is now known as Eclipse VOLTTRON™. The foundation issued a 2020 case study that highlights applications nationwide.

Downloading VOLTTRON™ code

Eclipse VOLTTRON™ is an open-source technology. The source code has been released to the public and can be downloaded at GitHub.