LF Energy
LF Energy is a non-profit Linux Foundation project that hosts open source software, standards, and data for power grids. It serves TSOs, DSOs, EV charging operators, and grid technology vendors across Europe and beyond, funded by organizational memberships and distributing code freely via GitHub.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What LF Energy does
LF Energy is a non-profit open source foundation operating as a project under The Linux Foundation, founded in 2019 and headquartered in San Francisco. It provides neutral governance, legal frameworks, and community infrastructure for collaborative development of shared digital infrastructure used by transmission system operators (TSOs), distribution system operators (DSOs), grid equipment vendors, electric mobility participants, and research institutions. The foundation hosts more than three dozen projects spanning grid simulation and modeling (PowSyBl, Power Grid Model, Grid2Op), substation virtualization (SEAPATH), control room coordination (OperatorFabric), EV charging interoperability (EVerest, OpenLEADR-rs), short-term energy forecasting (OpenSTEF, FlexMeasures), transmission facility ratings (TROLIE), grid edge cybersecurity (GEISA), battery data interoperability (Battery Data Format / Battery Data Alliance), and AI-enabled grid operations (AINETUS, OpenSynth). Notable production deployments include RTE operating SEAPATH across six substations, PowSyBl scaling to networks of more than 120,000 nodes for TenneT (achieving 10x faster grid security analysis), Power Grid Model in production at all three major Dutch DSOs with over 10 million downloads, and Sigholm's OpenSTEF-based Aurora platform supporting roughly 40% of Sweden's district heating production.
The foundation generates revenue exclusively through organizational membership tiers (General, Associate), with members including RTE, TenneT, Alliander, Elia, Hitachi, IBM, Red Hat, Accenture, and Savoir-faire Linux. All software is distributed freely through GitHub under open source licenses; the foundation does not sell software or charge licensing fees. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, anchored by annual LF Energy Summit Europe and North America, regional seminars (Japan, West Africa), Special Interest Groups (AI, Edge Interoperability, Architecture Model, Grid Simulation), Technical Steering Committees, and member-driven roadmap governance. In 2025, PowSyBl was transitioned to Linux Foundation Europe to support European digital sovereignty goals while retaining partnership with LF Energy, creating a second governance vehicle for European-funded grid modernization.
LF Energy's strategic positioning centers on reducing vendor lock-in, licensing costs, and duplicated infrastructure spend in the energy sector by providing a neutral home where competitive utilities and technology vendors co-develop foundational building blocks under open governance. Membership influence, multi-utility code contribution, and conformance to standards (IEC 61850, CIM/CGMES, IEEE 2030.5, OCPP, OpenADR) form the basis of the foundation's value proposition to its primary segments.
LF Energy firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- LF Energy
- Legal name
- LF Energy
- Website
- https://lfenergy.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- LF Energy is a non-profit Linux Foundation project that hosts open source software, standards, and data for power grids. It serves TSOs, DSOs, EV charging operators, and grid technology vendors across Europe and beyond, funded by organizational memberships and distributing code freely via GitHub.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
LF Energy industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Source Energy Infrastructure Software
- NAICS
- Electric Power Transmission, Control, and Distribution (22112)
- SIC
- Electric Services (4911)
- akta.pro primary industry
- DERMS Platforms & Utility Integration (ADMS/SCADA Integration, Hosting Capacity) (EUAFAHAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- SCADA/DMS/OMS Integration, Upgrades & Managed Services (EUAEANAE), DER & Microgrid Interconnection / Grid Edge Integration Services (EUAEANAF), DER Aggregation & Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) (EUAMAJAC), DER Program Operations & Customer/Installer Enablement (Applications, Portals, Inspections) (EUADALAO)
Keywords
Where LF Energy is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
LF Energy business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Membership fees: LF Energy operates as a Linux Foundation project funded by organizational memberships. Utilities, energy companies, technology vendors, researchers, and other organizations join as members (General, Associate, etc.) to gain seats at the table influencing strategic direction and project governance. The foundation provides neutral governance, legal frameworks, security practices, and community infrastructure.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels8 records
LF Energy product offering
Product offeringCore offering
LF Energy operates an open source foundation that hosts and co-develops shared digital infrastructure software for power systems. Its portfolio of more than three dozen projects covers transmission and distribution grid modeling (PowSyBl, Power Grid Model), substation virtualization (SEAPATH), EV charging firmware (EVerest), control room coordination (OperatorFabric), short-term energy forecasting (OpenSTEF, FlexMeasures), battery data standards (Battery Data Format), transmission rating exchange (TROLIE), grid edge security (GEISA), and AI-enabled grid operations (AINETUS). The foundation provides neutral governance, legal frameworks, and community infrastructure so utilities, TSOs, DSOs, and technology vendors can collaborate on shared building blocks.
Product overview
LF Energy is an open source foundation within the Linux Foundation that hosts a portfolio of over three dozen projects for planning, operating, and modernizing energy systems. The portfolio spans from transmission system modeling (PowSyBl) to substation virtualization (SEAPATH), smart meter integration to EV charging (EVerest), short-term energy forecasting (OpenSTEF, FlexMeasures), power system analysis (Power Grid Model), control room coordination (OperatorFabric), and AI-powered grid operations (AINETUS). Projects address interoperability across standards including IEC 61850, CIM, CGMES, IEEE 2030.5, and OpenADR. The foundation provides neutral governance, legal frameworks, and community infrastructure that turns open source software, standards, and data into deployable digital infrastructure for utilities, TSOs, DSOs, and energy technology vendors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Battery Data Alliance: An initiative under LF Energy focused on standardizing battery data formats and releasing open source battery datasets for research and industry interoperability.
- LF Energy Standards and Specifications (LFESS)
Products and services
- PowSyBl (Power System Blocks) Open source Java library for power system modeling, visualization, and simulation providing modular, plugin-based architecture for load flow, dynamic simulations, CGMES data import/export, and network visualization. Used by major European TSOs and regional coordination centers including RTE, Elia, TenneT, Baltic RCC, Coreso, and TSCNET.
- EVerest Open source firmware stack for electric vehicle charging that ensures interoperability and reliability of EV chargers through standardized protocols including OCPP. Supports multiple commercial EV charger OEMs.
- SEAPATH Industrial-grade Linux-based virtualization platform for electrical substation Protection, Automation, and Control (PAC) functions, enabling utilities to deploy virtualized IEDs, HMIs, and gateways on standard server hardware with real-time performance. Operated in production at RTE across six substations.
- Power Grid Model Open source library for steady-state distribution power system analysis including power flow, state estimation, and short circuit calculations. Cross-platform with native parallelization. Deployed in production at all three major Dutch DSOs (Alliander, Enexis, Stedin) with over 10 million downloads.
- OperatorFabric Modular event-driven platform for real-time collaboration and data visualization in energy system operations, enabling coordination between control centers and distributed energy resources.
- OpenSTEF Open source framework for short-term energy forecasting providing automated pipelines that combine historical load data with external predictors such as temperature, weather forecasts, and price signals.
- FlexMeasures Open source platform for energy management and scheduling that supports forecasting, multi-asset scheduling, and flexibility optimization for utilities and energy service providers.
- TROLIE Open conformance standard and software ecosystem for reliable, secure, and interoperable exchange of transmission facility ratings and related information.
- GEISA Secure, interoperable ecosystem to streamline the cybersecurity, deployment, scaling and operation of next-generation grid edge computing and applications.
- AINETUS AI components providing reinforcement learning agents for topology optimization and redispatch, explainability tools, and operator-facing hypervision interfaces designed to augment decision-making in power grid control rooms.
- URPX (Utility Rate Plan Exchange) Open semantic standard built on W3C technologies (RDF, OWL, SHACL) that defines a machine-readable format for utility rate plan data from simple flat-rate structures to complex time-of-use and dynamic pricing models.
- CUPID Open source interoperability toolkit addressing fragmentation in distributed energy resource (DER) communication, providing IEEE 2030.5 components with NATS messaging architecture for ADMS and DERMS platforms.
- Battery Data Format (BDF) Open standard for battery data interoperability developed by the Battery Data Alliance, enabling standardized battery dataset formats across research and industry for improved data usability.
- Grid2Op Open source platform for power systems simulation-based research and reinforcement learning, enabling AI agents to interact with power grid environments for training and validation.
- OpenLEADR-rs Rust implementation of the OpenADR protocol for open automated demand response, enabling communication between grid operators and customer systems for grid-aware energy management.
Quantifiable outcome
- TenneT achieved 10x performance improvement in grid security calculations, reducing analysis time from minutes to seconds in 5 months
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use LF Energy
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
LF Energy technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration8 records
AI capability15 records
Feature14 records
LF Energy partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- MicrosoftcoreLF Energy's Battery Data Alliance collaborated with Microsoft to release a standardized battery dataset aligned with the Battery Data Format (BDF) open standard. The dataset focuses on cell architecture design variations and cycle aging data to improve interoperability and usability of battery data across research and industry.
- AccentureminorAccenture served as a Diamond Sponsor for LF Energy Summit Europe 2025 and presented on open collaboration and modular architectures redefining operational technology in the energy sector.
- HitachicoreHitachi is a General Member of LF Energy. Yuichi Nakamura presented on OSS trends and LF Energy at the Japan seminar. Hitachi collaborated with RWTH Aachen on a joint white paper helping utilities modernize. Also key contributor to AINETUS project.
- RTEcoreFrench transmission system operator that initially developed and open sourced PowSyBl in 2019. Major contributor to SEAPATH project. Uses OperatorFabric across eight control centers. Operating SEAPATH in production across six substations.
- AlliandercoreDutch distribution system operator and major contributor to Power Grid Model and OpenSTEF projects. Power Grid Model deployed at Alliander for network planning and congestion management. Contributed Power Grid Model DS to LF Energy ecosystem.
- IBM-Hydro-QuebecminorPartnership that developed LF Energy's GridFM project, combining IBM technology with Hydro-Quebec's grid expertise for AI-enabled grid operations.
- Centre for Net Zero / Octopus Energy (UK)minorContributed OpenSynth project to LF Energy, providing synthetic grid data for AI applications in energy modeling.
- Red HatminorContributor to SEAPATH project, bringing enterprise Linux and virtualization expertise. Presented on fleet management and automation for digital substations at LF Energy Summit Europe.
- Savoir-faire LinuxcoreCo-initiated SEAPATH project with RTE in 2019. Active contributor and TSC chair for SEAPATH. Provided commercial support offerings for SEAPATH.
- RWTH Aachen UniversityminorDeveloped SONIA open-source modular OT architecture. Collaborating with Accenture on white paper for utility modernization. Key contributor to AINETUS and CUPID projects.
- ElaadNLminorResearch institute funded by Dutch DSOs. Jointly developed OpenLEADR-rs with Tweede Golf, now housed under LF Energy. Leading grid-aware charging use case for Dutch EV charging infrastructure.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
LF Energy competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Energy Web Foundation: Non-profit foundation building open-source blockchain and digital tools for the energy sector. Closest comparable peer to LF Energy in mission and operating model, both focused on shared digital infrastructure for utilities.
- OpenADR Alliance: Open standards body developing the Open Automated Demand Response protocol. Directly comparable to LF Energy's role in stewarding open specifications (e.g., TROLIE, URPX, BDF) for energy interoperability.
- Open Charge Alliance (OCPP): Industry alliance stewarding the Open Charge Point Protocol. Directly comparable as an open standards community for the EV charging ecosystem that LF Energy's EVerest project also serves.
- Green Software Foundation: Linux Foundation project focused on open-source software for sustainability. Direct peer in operating model (LF-hosted foundation) and partial overlap in the broader energy/climate transition mission.
Broad incumbents
- EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute): Non-profit collaborative R&D organization for the electricity sector. Comparable as an industry-funded research body that produces tools, standards, and analyses consumed by utilities, though more established and broader in scope than LF Energy.
Others
- The Linux Foundation: Parent organization and umbrella for hundreds of open source projects. Comparable as the governance and infrastructure home for LF Energy and adjacent foundations (e.g., CNCF, Hyperledger, Green Software).
- Apache Software Foundation: Long-established open source foundation with similar neutral-governance model. Comparable as a peer foundation in operating structure, though focused on general-purpose software rather than energy infrastructure.
- Eclipse Foundation: Open source foundation hosting projects in IoT, edge computing, and enterprise Java. Adjacent peer given shared focus on infrastructure-grade open source and industry working groups, including some energy-adjacent projects.
- Hyperledger Foundation: Linux Foundation project for enterprise-grade distributed ledgers. Sister foundation under the Linux Foundation with comparable governance model; relevant peer for ecosystem/structure comparison rather than direct domain overlap.
- Open Source Initiative (OSI): Non-profit stewardship body for the Open Source Definition and related standards. Adjacent peer as a foundational open source governance organization that shapes the broader ecosystem in which LF Energy operates.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat7 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
LF Energy social profiles
Digital presenceLF Energy financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
LF Energy leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
LF Energy funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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LF Energy M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about LF Energy
What does LF Energy do?
LF Energy operates an open source foundation that hosts and co-develops shared digital infrastructure software for power systems. Its portfolio of more than three dozen projects covers transmission and distribution grid modeling (PowSyBl, Power Grid Model), substation virtualization (SEAPATH), EV charging firmware (EVerest), control room coordination (OperatorFabric), short-term energy forecasting (OpenSTEF, FlexMeasures), battery data standards (Battery Data Format), transmission rating exchange (TROLIE), grid edge security (GEISA), and AI-enabled grid operations (AINETUS). The foundation provides neutral governance, legal frameworks, and community infrastructure so utilities, TSOs, DSOs, and technology vendors can collaborate on shared building blocks.
Is LF Energy a public or private company?
LF Energy is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was LF Energy founded?
LF Energy was founded in 2019. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is LF Energy based?
LF Energy is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does LF Energy make money?
One revenue line is on record: membership fees.
Who are LF Energy's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Energy Web Foundation, OpenADR Alliance, Open Charge Alliance (OCPP) and Green Software Foundation. EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) is listed as a broad incumbent. Others are The Linux Foundation, Apache Software Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, Hyperledger Foundation and Open Source Initiative (OSI).
Does LF Energy have an API?
No public API is recorded for LF Energy.
What industry is LF Energy in?
LF Energy's product category is Open Source Energy Infrastructure Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUAFAHAF, DERMS Platforms & Utility Integration (ADMS/SCADA Integration, Hosting Capacity), with a secondary code of EUAEANAE, SCADA/DMS/OMS Integration, Upgrades & Managed Services. Its NAICS code is 22112 and its SIC code is 4911.