Smart energy management helps you maximize your energy storage. In this blog post, we will delve into the details of this process and introduce the powerful energy management solution, Powernaut, developed by the Estonian manufacturer Sandfox. In a previous blog post, we discussed the Qilowatt solution, and in this post, we will focus on Powernaut.

But first, let's briefly remind ourselves what energy management entails and what problem it solves.

Why Manage Energy Smartly?

If you have your energy production, such as solar panels, you have likely encountered the issue of producing a surplus of energy on sunny days. Due to the abundance of producers, the earnings are low. The logical solution is a storage system that allows you to store excess energy during peak production times, either to sell it to the grid at a higher price or to use it for your consumption during low production periods or at night. Even if you don't have your energy production, you can still choose when to store or consume energy based on electricity market prices.

Most inverters, including the Deye inverters offered by Thunor, allow time-based programming. This enables you to decide when to store energy from the grid, when to sell it back, and when to use stored energy exclusively for your consumption. Additionally, you can set simple restrictions, such as selling energy to the grid only when the battery level is above a certain percentage of its capacity.

However, daily inverter adjustments can be cumbersome and require a good understanding of the inverter. This is where smart energy management solutions come into play, automating storage, selling, and consumption control.

What is Powernaut?

The product we want to introduce this time is Sandfox's smart energy management solution, Powernaut. Compared to other available solutions, Powernaut excels in its ability to simultaneously control up to seven different energy consumers (e.g., boiler, heating system, car, sauna heater, etc.) separately, integrating the energy storage, production station, and consumers into a unified system.

Powernaut allows users to create different rules for managing consumers based on prices, battery charge level, solar production, or time. For example, you can set a rule to charge your car with solar energy, heat the boiler at night, and control the overall heating system based on the five cheapest market prices or when the market price is below 10 cents/kWh.

Powernaut enables automatic mode changes according to seasons and real-time weather information when the grid is available. The entire system can be controlled both over the network, using a dedicated control environment, and through the Powernaut device installed in the system. Internet connection is not required when controlling the system directly from the Powernaut device.

Powernaut automatically sells the produced electricity at the highest market prices.

Powernaut's dashboard

Powernaut is compatible with Thunor batteries, providing a detailed overview of the battery's 'health' and implementing several additional protective features to optimize the battery's lifespan—features not found in other available solutions.

The Powernaut and Thunor team assist in configuring the system to meet your specific needs, with an investment ranging from 200 to 2000 euros depending on the solution. Ongoing fees may apply depending on the chosen solution.

Example installation with a Deye inverter

If you are interested, contact us at info@thunor.eu or call us at (+372) 55 941 611. Together with the Powernaut team, we can tailor a solution to make your entire energy management smart!