On July 28, 2026, Codibly and OpConnect co-hosted a session on what has to be true inside an EV charging platform before a utility can treat it as a grid resource. The conversation moved past protocol theory into how a utility signal is actually received, interpreted and acted on, and what a utility program asks for beyond the standard itself.

Dexter Turner, CEO and Founder of OpConnect, presented alongside Spencer Borison, US President at Codibly.

Webinar highlights

1. The utility never talks to a charger
A utility’s DERMS communicates with the charge point operator over IEEE 2030.5, server to client. The operator decides what each charger does and issues those commands itself over OCPP. The chargers never know a utility was involved.

2. A platform with load management still needs the interface
On-site load management solves site-side problems. The utility interface answers grid-side ones the operator cannot see: feeder loading, transformer protection, demand spikes, load shifting, absorbing surplus solar and wind, and emergency operations.

3. Inside the operator’s allocation logic
OpConnect’s EMMA algorithm plans the coming day as 144 ten-minute intervals and enforces energy budgets at breaker, panel and site level at once. It will hold a site below the utility’s commanded cap when it sees a local constraint the utility cannot.

4. Certified and program-ready are different states
Every utility and regulatory market runs its own flavor of CSIP. Enrollment workflows, dispatch interpretation, DER mappings, certificate handling and reporting sit above the certified implementation, and most of that is discoverable only from the program.

5. CSIP and CSIP-AUS are two implementation paths
Australia’s profile adds dynamic export, emergency backstop mechanisms and load control, driven by its high rooftop-solar and distributed-battery penetration. Operating in both markets means satisfying the core profile and then the regional additions.

6. Certification as a route into new markets
Asked how Australia fits OpConnect’s plans, Dexter Turner described DERMS capability as a wedge: something the company can market to open a market it does not yet serve. Certification behaves as a market-access asset, because the requirement is written into how those markets procure.

Watch the full webinar below:

The written version

The argument at the centre of the session is written up in full, with the recording embedded: Utility Programs Ask for More Than the Protocol Specifies.

The session draws on the IEEE 2030.5 CSIP certification project Codibly delivered with OpConnect. The full write-up is in the OpConnect case study.