In today's rapidly changing world, energy consumption management is becoming increasingly important, both from a financial savings and environmental perspective. In this post, we will discuss how Estonian companies Thunor Solutions and Qilowatt It help make your home energy consumption more efficient, sustainable, and environmentally friendly.

Energy storage

If you are installing a solar panel system, it is wise to also purchase a battery bank, which allows you to maximize the use of renewable energy in your home. We have written more about the benefits of battery banks in a previous blog post.

In short, a battery allows you to store your own-produced solar energy or charge the battery from the grid, thus shifting the household consumption curve.

The important added value of a battery bank is that it can keep important consumers running in the event of a power outage.

The risk of power outages is high, especially in sparsely populated areas in Estonia, where thousands of households are left without electricity for shorter or longer periods of time during the autumn-winter period. Storing energy for the time of an outage allows you to keep critical consumers running on battery power. For one household, this could be a refrigerator and lights, while for another, it could be a water pump or another important device that ensures the functioning of everyday life.

Energy cost savings based on the stock market price

In order to use the energy produced by the solar panel system and to control the battery bank, it is necessary to purchase an inverter. We have also written about inverters in the past, and if you are interested, you can read about them here.

The preferred choice of Thunor customers is the Deye multifunctional hybrid inverter, which performs the functions of an inverter, a solar energy charger, and a battery charger.

Most inverters do not track the stock market price, but they can be set to perform certain tasks at certain times of the day (e.g., store from the grid, sell to the grid, and specify when to use only stored energy in the household).

Since stock market prices change every day, manually setting the inverter according to the stock market price can be quite inconvenient.

Qilowatt It has created a solution for controlling inverters and batteries - Modbus R2, which allows you to control the operation of the inverter according to the stock market price.

This small, intelligent device that works over a Wi-Fi network can get the most important information from the inverter about the energy produced and stored in the batteries. Modbus R2 gives the inverter the command to stop selling electricity to the grid if the price is not beneficial for the customer, to always charge the batteries from the grid at the cheapest hours, and to sell electricity from the battery to the grid at the most expensive hour.

Control large consumers

Modbus R2 has two relays that can be used to control household consumers. The most common use is to limit the operation of an air-to-water or ground-source heat pump at expensive hours with one relay. This allows you to keep consumers running on the battery that we cannot control - lighting, refrigerators, TVs, computers, etc.

If your heat pump supports the SG Ready function, the second relay can be used to use tap water and heating as an "accumulator" as well and to store excess cheap electricity as heat. Such interfaces are available on, for example, Nime, Thermia, Daikini, Fujitsu, and several other manufacturers' heat pumps. If the battery(ies) are full and the electricity is sufficient, it is possible to raise the temperature of the tap water by 5 degrees Celsius with the SG Ready interface. When the temperature of a 200-liter boiler is raised by 5 degrees Celsius, 1.1kWh of energy is stored in the water.

In addition to the heat pump, you can control various electrical appliances, such as air conditioners, electric boilers, accumulator tank electric boilers, swimming pools, etc. Below are some examples of typical settings, where all parameters can be changed by the user:

• If electricity is cheaper than 0.007 euros/kWh (energy sales margin, limit electricity sales). Set the batteries to charge from the grid until they reach 95%;
• Sell from the battery at the most expensive hour of the day at a power of 5000W, leaving 50% of the battery capacity for your own consumption;
• Charge the batteries at one of the cheaper hours at a power of 5000W, until the battery reaches 95% charge or until the hour is over;
• If electricity is more expensive than 50 cents/kWh, sell the battery empty, leaving 10% in the battery;
• Allow the heat pump to run for 18 of the cheaper hours. This setting allows you to specify the number of hours per day during which the heat pump is allowed to run. This is useful for maximizing the use of cheap electricity during off-peak hours.
• If electricity is cheaper than 3 cents/kWh and the battery is charged to 95% and the sun is producing more than 1000W, set the heat pump's hot water setpoint 15% higher and the heating setpoint 15% higher (heat pump with SG Ready support). This setting uses the SG Ready function of the heat pump to store excess cheap electricity as heat. The hot water setpoint is increased by 15%, which means that the heat pump will heat the water to a higher temperature. The heating setpoint is also increased by 15%, which means that the heat pump will provide more heat to the home

Flexibility market - make your batteries earn money!

The European electricity system is undergoing significant changes. The continued growth of the use of renewable energy sources, the increasing share of distributed generation connected to distribution networks, changing energy consumption habits, and growing demands for energy supply have created the need for new smart solutions.

Modbus R2 allows you to connect energy storage systems to the Elering flexibility market through Fusebox. This allows you to earn money from the electricity grid by storing excess energy in the batteries and selling it from the batteries to the grid in case of a shortage.

Connecting energy storage systems to the flexibility market helps to reduce network overload and the need for fossil fuel-based power plants. Fusebox compensates consumers for their contribution to network balancing.

In addition to direct financial savings, it is important not to forget the environmental aspect, because green energy is not only electricity consumed at home, but also electricity that is not produced for one household, which does not need to be moved through the network.

Conclusion

Thunor Solutions and Qilowatt It offer a range of solutions that can help you optimize your home energy consumption. By combining a solar panel system, an energy storage system, and a smart controller, you can reduce your energy costs, improve your energy efficiency, and help the environment. Reach out to us via our website or send us an email at info@thunor.eu. You will also find exploring Qilowatt's website useful.