(Frankfurt a. M., 16.06.2025) The law to restart the digitalization of the energy transition stipulates, among other things, that the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) will develop or update the required protection profiles and technical guidelines. In addition, the legally defined standardization partnership encourages further intensification of cooperation between the stakeholders involved, including between the BSI and DKE.
A regular quarterly exchange between the BSI, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWK) and DKE was implemented several years ago in order to define the major guidelines for upcoming topics. A current core topic is the secure and seamless integration of smart metering systems into the existing infrastructure in order to realize a flexible energy system and make benefits available to consumers.
Joining forces: From regular participation to intensive cooperation
"With the standardization partnership enshrined in law, however, we have achieved a completely new level of quality and efficiency," says Bernd Stäblein from the DKE. It is now much easier for institutions such as the DKE to gain direct insight into the development of new technical guidelines and protection profiles. To this end, experts from the BSI or its partners are involved in the DKE working groups in order to discuss current standard specifications with each other. "While the industry benefits from the BSI's technical feedback, the BSI in turn receives valuable input from the field in order to prepare technical guidelines for commenting on the market," says xx from the BSI.
On time and efficient: first standard revised, others in planning
The first project from the standardization partnership has already been successfully completed: At the end of 2024, a new state of the art for the WAN interface on the smart meter gateway was published with the revision of DIN VDE V 0418-63-8. At the same time, the associated Technical Guideline TR-03109-1 was adapted and the standard from the Technical Guideline was referenced. This allowed experience from the rollout to be incorporated and superfluous information to be removed in order to simplify the application. "Changes to the TR were incorporated into the revision of the standard in real time and findings from the standardization process were incorporated into the guideline," says Janosch Wagner from DKE/K 461. "Thanks to the agile and transparent approach, we were able to deliver on time."
Following these positive experiences, further projects are already on the agenda, for example the revision of the Local Metrological Network (LMN) standard. This covers communication between the smart meter gateway and connected meters in order to record water, gas and heat consumption.
