The ITU-T G.hn workgroup has agreed upon a number of key specifications that together form the baseline requirements for G.hn Smart Grid products. The study group also agreed on the addition of an Appendix to the G.hn standard that provides insight to the use of G.hn-based products in Smart Grid applications. These agreements, reached at the latest ITU-T G.hn workgroup meeting in Valencia, Spain last month,, build on G.hn's highly flexible, parameterized architecture which was approved earlier this year. 
Smart Grid products that will benefit from G.hn include Smart Meters, In-home displays (IHD) and smart thermostats, Plug-in Electrical Vehicles (PEV) and Electrical Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE), Smart household appliances such as washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, and Energy System Interface (ESI) devices.
"We are happy to see the G.hn workgroup working together to address the needs of the Smart Grid industry with this level of speed and collaboration," said Dr. Vladimir Oksman, technical marketing director at Lantiq, and Chairperson of HomeGrid Forum's Smart Grid Workgroup. "G.hn continues to fulfill its promise of complete home networking from the Smart Meter to the HDTV."
Some highlights of the announcement:
- At the Valencia meeting, the G.hn workgroup completed its definition of a "low complexity" profile targeted at Smart grid applications.
- The profile specifies minimum requirements for features including: signal bandwidth, data modulation methods, transmitter linearity requirements, and Forward Error Correction (FEC), while maintaining interoperability with fully-featured G.hn products.
- As a complement to the ITU-T's work, HomeGrid Forum will provide Smart Grid-related certification testing for G.hn products and this work is underway in HomeGrid's Compliance and Interoperability Workgroup.
- The G.hn work group also agreed on an Appendix to the G.hn standard that provides guidelines for using G.hn in Smart Grid applications and for how they work with other G.hn-connected consumer devices in the home. The Appendix reflects recommendations and requirements from NIST, the Open Smart Grid Users Group, and other organizations that are focused on implementing the proliferation of the Smart Grid.
