Panel Discussion: The Rise of OSPOs in Grid Operations: Insights and Lessons From Hydro-Québec, RTE, E.On and Alliander
Event Recap: LF Energy Summit Europe 2025
TL;DR
At LF Energy Summit Europe 2025, representatives from Alliander, RTE France, E.ON, and Hydro-Québec discussed the growing role of Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) within grid operators. The panel explored why utilities are establishing OSPOs, how they build internal support for open source, and how open source can help address challenges related to collaboration, cybersecurity, and digital sovereignty.
Why Grid Operators Are Establishing OSPOs
The panelists described OSPOs as a response to growing digitalization efforts across the energy sector. As utilities continue to digitalize their operations and software development practices, organizations are looking for ways to collaborate more effectively while maintaining internal expertise and governance.
Several speakers explained that open source strategies often began as part of broader digital transformation initiatives. Collaboration and co-creation emerged as common motivations, alongside the need to manage open source adoption, contributions, and governance across organizations facing similar challenges.
The discussion also highlighted the practical questions that arise when organizations adopt open source at scale. Licensing, governance, risk management, contributions, and releasing internal software all require knowledge and processes that organizations need to develop and maintain. OSPOs provide a central place to build that capability and support teams throughout the organization.
Building Open Source Capability Inside Utilities
A recurring theme throughout the panel was that OSPOs do not need to start large. The speakers described early efforts that focused on practical foundations such as internal documentation, communication channels, policies, and creating a place where employees could ask questions about open source.
Several panelists noted that open source knowledge often already exists within organizations, but is distributed across different departments and teams. An OSPO can help bring that knowledge together, make it accessible, and connect people working on similar challenges.
The speakers also highlighted the importance of internal communities and ambassadors. Building awareness of open source practices, helping teams understand how open source applies to their work, and demonstrating early successes were all described as important steps toward broader organizational adoption.
According to the panelists, successful OSPOs focus not only on policies and processes, but also on communication and education. Creating visibility around open source activities and helping people understand available support can be just as important as technical guidance.
Managing Culture Change in a Risk-Averse Industry
The panel acknowledged that utilities operate critical infrastructure and are naturally cautious when adopting new approaches. The speakers noted that this risk awareness exists for good reason, but argued that it should not prevent organizations from benefiting from open source collaboration.
Several participants described open source adoption as an ongoing cultural change process. Legal, cybersecurity, and management stakeholders often need reassurance that open source can be adopted in a controlled and responsible manner. Building trust therefore becomes an important part of an OSPO’s role.
The panelists also argued that the energy transition is increasing pressure on utilities to work more efficiently and collaborate more closely. Open source provides a framework for sharing effort and knowledge across organizations facing many of the same challenges.
The discussion further addressed concerns around releasing internally developed software. The speakers noted that many grid operators are not competing on software itself. Instead, they often benefit from working together on common tools and capabilities, allowing organizations to focus resources on delivering value rather than maintaining separate solutions for the same problems.
Open Source, Cybersecurity, and Digital Sovereignty
Cybersecurity and digital sovereignty were major topics throughout the discussion. The panelists argued that open source has an important role to play in helping organizations understand and manage software dependencies while supporting broader resilience objectives.
The speakers emphasized that cybersecurity challenges apply to all software, regardless of whether it is open source or proprietary. Open source software is already widely used in mission-critical environments, including many systems that utilities depend on every day.
The panel also highlighted the value of established open source communities, foundations, and best practices. Organizations can benefit from existing expertise, governance models, and security processes rather than building everything independently.
At the same time, the speakers acknowledged that misconceptions about open source remain common. OSPOs can help address those misunderstandings by providing education, guidance, and practical examples of how open source is already being used successfully in critical infrastructure environments.
Throughout the discussion, the panelists presented OSPOs as enablers of collaboration, helping utilities build the internal capabilities needed to participate more effectively in open source development while addressing organizational concerns around governance, security, and long-term sustainability.
About LF Energy
LF Energy is an open source foundation within the Linux Foundation focused on advancing collaboration in digital energy infrastructure.
Learn more: https://lfenergy.org
Last updated: June 4, 2026
AI Disclosure
This post used artificial intelligence tools for research, structural assistance, or grammatical refinement. The final content was reviewed, edited, and validated by human contributors to LF Energy to ensure accuracy and alignment with our community standards. We remain committed to transparency in the use of generative technologies within the open source ecosystem.
