Hi everyone, new here! Hope this is the right place to post this.
I wanted a way to visualise localised grid impacts and foster community balancing across the UK, so I have been building OpenGridNode. It is an open-source, decentralised Virtual Power Plant (VPP) mesh network designed to monitor and aggregate domestic battery storage and solar export data across local DNO regions.
The system maps everything down to physical substation assets based on your node's latitude and longitude. The architecture is fully flexible, you can run a standalone client node connected straight to an existing hub, or spin up your own regional hub to peer with others.
Current Status & What is Working
Live Cluster Map: The topology view automatically groups and stacks multiple nodes within the same DNO region to keep the network map clean.
Regional Telemetry: Tracks active grid export (kW), cumulative daily totals (kWh), and regional capacity. As you can see from the dashboard layout, there is only one node operating currently.
GivEnergy Core: The data structure is currently built around GivEnergy systems using local MQTT data, which is quite similar to the GivTCP approach.
Where I Need Your Help (Call for Testers & Devs!)
The project is up and running, but I have hit the limits of what I can test on my own hardware setup:
Battery Testing: My own GivEnergy battery is not yet fully linked into the live data stream. Right now, the dashboard configuration is reading the old owner's setup state, meaning it is stuck showing a static capacity reading of 5.12 kW. Because of this, I need active users to hook up their systems to help verify real-world, dynamic storage tracking.
Additional Adapters: While I have laid the groundwork for Tesla Powerwall and Victron GX adapters, they are completely untested as I do not have the hardware to try them out.
Local Carbon Intensity: I am currently struggling to get localised carbon intensity fetching to work reliably for specific DNO areas (using the National Grid ESO/NESO API dataset), which is why it currently shows as "Fetching..." on the dashboard panel.
Data Sharing & Home Assistant Ease-of-Use: I want to make it as simple as possible for people to stream their telemetry into the network without jumping through terminal hoops. If anyone has suggestions for implementing native MQTT auto-discovery, clean REST API sensor nodes, or simple template sharing that links standard Home Assistant entities to the client process, I would love to hear your ideas.
Explore the Project
You can check out the live network right now or grab the code to run your own client or hub:
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Live Hub Dashboard: https://opengridnode.co.uk
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GitHub Repository: GitHub - vppnode/opengridnode-hub: A decentralised VPP mesh network and live map for aggregating regional solar export and battery storage across local DNO areas. · GitHub
Take a look, let me know what you think, and if you fancy linking a node to the cluster map to help populate the data, pull the client repo and give it a spin!
