Custom OSCP integration for smart charging
Charging stations can demand more than a connection can handle. The Open Smart Charging Protocol, OSCP, is designed to communicate the available capacity in advance: from the grid operator or the site owner to the charging stations' back office. Appfront builds OSCP integrations, so that this forecast comes in, is distributed across the charge points, and what was actually used is reported back.
What is an integration with the Open Smart Charging Protocol?
OSCP is an open protocol that passes the available capacity of a grid connection on to the system that controls the charge points. The party that knows the capacity, the grid operator or the site owner, sends a forecast for the coming hours; the charge point back office keeps to it and reports back what was actually used. Version 1.0 came out in 2015 and used SOAP; version 2.0 followed in 2020, uses JSON and REST, and also covers forecasts for generation and consumption.
In practice, it is a matter of translation. The forecast arrives per connection and per time slot, but the charge points need a limit per charge point, set through the OCPP charging profiles. When a new forecast arrives, the profiles have to follow. If the connection drops, there must be a safe fallback. And if you later want to show that the limit was respected, you need the usage per time slot. That is the work of the integration.
We build custom because the situation differs per site. Whether your grid operator or your site uses OSCP, or the capacity comes from your own energy management system, determines the route. Worth knowing: the Open Charge Alliance is not currently developing OSCP any further. Where it is already in use, we connect to it; where another route fits better, we say so.
Forecast
Capacity known in advance.
Split
A limit per charge point.
Reported back
What was actually used.
How we build your integration with the Open Smart Charging Protocol
We start with your sites: which connections, which charge points and back office, where the capacity comes from and who supplies the forecast. Then we build a first integration for a single site, so you can see that the forecast, allocation and reporting back are correct. You run it for a while. More sites, the fallback, reporting and monitoring follow once that goes well. After that, we maintain the integration as your sites, the protocol or your back office change.
Connection and charge points.
Forecast to charge point.
Fallback and reporting.
Go-live, monitoring, and maintenance when things change.
What an integration with the Open Smart Charging Protocol actually does
The components below appear in almost every OSCP integration. Which ones you need depends on your sites and who supplies the capacity.
Receive forecast
Per connection and time slot.
Allocate
Across the charge points.
Charging profiles
To the charge point via OCPP.
Report back
Usage per time slot.
Fallback
Safe in case of failure.
Monitoring
Alert on deviation.
Who we build an integration with the Open Smart Charging Protocol for
The integration is intended for organisations that need to run charge points within a capacity limit that is passed on in advance. The tighter the connection and the more charge points, the more it delivers.
Operators
Charge points at many sites.
Back offices
Protocol in your own platform.
Business parks
Tight connection.
Fleets
Charging on your own site.
Technology and integrations
This page is about passing capacity on to the charge point back office. For the connection between charge point and back office, see our page on the OCPP integration, for roaming between parties our page on the OCPI integration, and for a site's energy management our page on energy management software. You can read about our approach on building custom software.
Why Appfront for your integration with the Open Smart Charging Protocol?
A connection that gets overloaded, charge points that go idle because the limit was set too cautiously, or no proof that an agreement with the grid operator was met: all of it costs an operator money and trust. That is what we build on: capacity known in advance, fairly allocated across the charge points, and usage recorded per time slot.
Within the limit
Connection not overloaded.
More charged
Space well used.
Demonstrable
Usage per time slot.
Security and privacy in an integration with the Open Smart Charging Protocol
Capacity and consumption say something about your sites and your customers. The integration only exchanges what is needed, connections are encrypted and authenticated per party, and every forecast and charging profile is logged with a timestamp.
The integration runs in a European data centre, with monitoring on the connection. If the forecast drops out, the charge points fall back to a safe default value that you have agreed in advance, rather than continuing to charge without a limit.
Frequently asked questions about an integration with the Open Smart Charging Protocol
Questions that operators and site owners ask before they get started.
The Open Smart Charging Protocol, an open protocol that lets a grid operator or site owner pass the available capacity of a connection in advance to the back office of the charge points, which then keeps to it and reports usage back.
OSCP 1.0 was released in 2015 and uses SOAP; OSCP 2.0 was released in 2020 and uses JSON and REST. We generally build new integrations on 2.0, unless the other party only supports 1.0.
The Open Charge Alliance is not currently developing OSCP actively. Where it is already in use, it works. If your grid operator or site uses a different route, we will look together at which one fits best.
OCPP is the connection between charge point and back office. OSCP sits one layer higher: it tells the back office how much capacity is available. The integration translates the OSCP forecast into OCPP charging profiles per charge point.
The charge points then fall back to a safe default value agreed in advance, so the connection is not overloaded. As soon as a forecast is available again, the integration carries on.
Yes. On a business site with solar panels or a battery, your own energy management system can act as the capacity provider, via OSCP or a direct integration.
For operators and sites where several charge points have to work within a capacity limit that is passed on in advance. For a few charge points behind a generous connection, the charge point's built-in load balancing is often enough.
Charging within the limit of the connection?
Tell us which sites you have and where the capacity comes from. We will show you how an OSCP integration can handle it.