SunSpec Modbus 

SunSpec Modbus is an open communication standard that specifies common parameters and settings for monitoring and controlling Distributed Energy Resource (DER) systems.  SunSpec Modbus utilizes SunSpec Information Models and is specified in IEEE™ 1547-2018, the U.S. national standard for DER.

Key Features and Benefits

  • Enables multi-vendor interoperability for manufacturers of solar inverters, energy storage devices, trackers, meters, and other devices incorporated into DER systems. 
  • Semantically identical, and thus fully interoperable, with IEEE 2030.5 and IEEE 1815 communication protocols, thus ensuring a high signal-to-noise ratio for the majority of DER networks that implement multiple protocols.  
  • Specified in IEEE 1547, the national DER standard in the U.S., as one of three mandated standard communication interface options (along with IEEE 2030.5 and IEEE 1815). 

Approved Specifications

SunSpec Information Model Reference

Describes SunSpec Modbus data points and information models for all types of DER devices including inverters, batteries, meters, and trackers. Published in Microsoft Excel format.

SunSpec Information Model Specification

Provides an overview of SunSpec information models associated with the physical devices comprising a photovoltaic system. This document provides communication interface developers with detailed information needed to define SunSpec-compliant device interfaces....

SunSpec Inverter Model Descriptions

Revision: APPROVED Date: April 6, 2015 Describes the SunSpec Modbus information models for inverter monitoring and control. Note: some newer SunSpec models are not documented here.

Specifications in Development

NEW IN 2020

With the publication of the IEEE 1547-2018, SunSpec upgraded its core information models to meet the requirements of the IEEE 1547 specifications. These information models are incorporated in SunSpec Modbus and are now also available in JSON and accessible via the SunSpec RESTful web service interface. The benefits associated with this technology include all those listed above plus these:

  • Utilizes the HTTPS protocol. HTTPS is used by most major internet applications (Google, Facebook, etc.) and by the IEEE 2030.5 standard used in the state of California.
  • Supports TLS 1.2 encryption, the same security standard employed by IEEE 2030.5
  • Designed for simple data transfer, very high speed, and low latency
  • Ideal for gateway applications incorporating IEEE 2030.5, IEEE 1815, or IEC 61850-7-420

The SunSpec Alliance encourages you to download, review, and provide comments to these documents. The comment period will remain open through February 2020; final publications of the APPROVED specifications is anticipated in March. Comments can be entered in this form.

SunSpec Device Web Service API Specification

TEST status.  This specification describes a Representational State Transfer (RESTful) interface, compatible with HTTPS, to read and write device data that conforms to the SunSpec Device Information Models. It enables software developers to implement both the server...

SunSpec DER Information Model Specification

TEST status. This document describes the SunSpec Distributed Energy Resource (DER) information models that provide support for IEEE 1547-2018 functionality using SunSpec information models.