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Modern solar systems and battery technology are getting complex year over year. With the many benefits that come with these advances, it has also become pertinent to manage them using an effective Energy Management System (EMS).
An EMS is designed to provide a dashboard for all your power needs. It provides an in-depth glimpse into the health of the battery, chargers, and solar cells.
Additionally, thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced algorithms powered by big data, these systems are smarter than ever before and provide valuable insights that can save you money over time.
An Energy Management System is not only crucial, but it is necessary for managing PV (generation) and storage through an effective Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).
Read on to learn more about Energy Management Systems, their impact on costs, tariff details, demand control, and more:
Solar generation is done through a series of components, such as the solar panels, the battery, and the inverter. These three components combine to provide a comprehensive solar system that can help power businesses, homes, EVs, and more.
Solar systems use PV or solar cells to generate electricity. This energy is stored in batteries. A battery is managed through a system called a Battery Energy Storage System or BESS. This system is designed to help maximise the charge cycle, battery quality, life, and efficiency. The BESS is tasked with keeping control over the battery and its variables.
Battery storage technology has come a long way, and with the demand for solar tech increasing every year, it became clear that manufacturers had to work on a management system to derive maximum efficiency from these systems.
This is where concepts like EMS and BESS come in. An Energy Management System can be seen as an umbrella that covers all components, such as PV, BESS, and EV chargers. The EMS is tasked with presenting users with a unified dashboard that shows all the relevant information regarding the EV infrastructure.
This is an important tool because, instead of previously looking through every component individually, users can simply check all the data feeds from each component from their phone, and often from anywhere in the world through the internet.
To help understand EMS better, let’s go over a few crucial concepts that we will be using throughout this guide:
kWh is the energy requirement, which is calculated in kilowatt hours. The kWh figure is the total amount of usable energy the battery can store and is perhaps the most important reading on the EMS.
The EMS will display the total energy capacity on the dashboard, usually at the top, which is also accompanied by several charts and graphs. This data is used to monitor the overall capacity of the system and compare the kWh with adjustments or tweaks.
Using the BESS, users can also see the Power rating, which is displayed in kW. Power rating is the maximum instantaneous charge or discharge power that the battery and its inverter can deliver.
The Depth of Discharge is also part of the BESS. It is highlighted in the battery section on the EMS and is simply the fraction of the total capacity used in a cycle. For example, a DoD of 80% means that 80% of the total capacity is used and 20% is left in the battery or “reservoir”.
The charge cycle or cycle life is the number of charging or discharging cycles the battery can endure before its capacity degrades to some threshold, often to 80% of its original capacity.
Charge cycles are important to understand because they allow users to know the overall efficiency and performance of the battery and can help them figure out the expected lifespan according to their specific usage.
The Energy Management System will also display all the relevant information for the installed EV chargers at your property.
The benefit of having an EMS is that it integrates everything: the battery, the solar cells, and the inverter, which manages the output of the stored energy.
The EMS creates an ecosystem where users can see how much energy is being generated, stored, and ultimately consumed by the property and the EV chargers.
Using the dashboard, you can see all the relevant EV charging data, such as the number of chargers installed, the total load on them, the average load across all chargers, statistics on usage, and the total energy consumption over a period of time.
This information is extremely important because it enables users to determine the overall efficiency of the system and the Return on Investment (ROI) on their solar purchase.
The EMS is also useful for displaying errors, highlighting problems in the chargers, logging incidents, notifying about surges, and more. With this information, users can know exactly when things go wrong or require professional troubleshooting.
Here are all the ways an EMS can help users increase savings:
An EMS not only provide all the relevant information about your PV, BESS, and EV setup in one dashboard, but it also uses this information to calculate the overall efficiency of the system against the current tariff in your area.
This is an incredibly useful tool, especially when the EMS uses advanced algorithms or cloud processing. Advanced and smart EMS systems process all the incoming data from the system over online servers.
The usage statistics, power generation, storage, and EV charging patterns are processed in real time to provide users with tips on how to increase efficiency even more. The system can also point out problems or inefficiencies that may result in faster component degradation, which can further help drive savings.
The good news is that most EMS systems are designed to help you understand these comprehensive setups intuitively. You do not have to be well-versed in mathematics or statistics. Everything is presented in neat charts and graphs that can help you get all the information you need at a glance.
EMS provide in-depth information about the Time-of-Use and can also process dynamic tariffs in real time.
After learning usage patterns and the tariff in your area, the system automatically schedules energy usage for the cheapest tariff windows. This means the system will charge batteries or EVs when electricity prices are the lowest, such as overnight or off-peak hours. Similarly, it will use the battery storage or solar power during expensive peak periods.
This helps users bring down their total energy consumption and empowers them to minimise costs and increase savings. Additionally, through dynamic tariff integration, Energy Management Systems can automatically shift loads like EV charging based on real-time price signals, which can significantly drive down overall energy costs.
Real-time notifications are another great way that the EMS can help users save money. The EMS can generate custom alerts for various events.
For example, you can receive a push notification on your desktop or phone when:
These real-time notifications can help users get the most out of their EV setup and fix or address issues before they cause problems or increase costs.
We mentioned above that the system can “learn” patterns. The EMS does this with the help of Machine Learning, or ML, a technique where the system processes current and past trends and learns the usage patterns of your setup.
The system can then use the same trends to predict and forecast as well. For example, the system detects rush hour at a particular time and can adjust the battery and solar usage accordingly to maximise savings and to drive down energy costs.
This concept is called Demand Control Logic or DCL. It enables the system to shift or curtail non-critical loads during peak pricing or high-demand events, thereby avoiding high-demand charges.
This adjustment enables users to achieve “peak shaving”, which is essentially when the system draws on stored energy from the battery or solar panels to counteract higher tariffs or spikes.
As mentioned above, perhaps the biggest benefit of EMS is that it can provide detailed reports on all your solar components.
Think about it, since the EMS covers data from all fronts, it can provide you with a comprehensive view of everything, which can help you make more informed decisions.
The reports can be presented in a simple way, where you can access the data, graphs, and charts, and view everything at once, or you can also go with a detailed view and get full insights.
EMS systems offer users to download reports and even export them to other software where you can process them further. These reports can be used to analyse historical data and performance metrics to highlight inefficiencies.
It is important to keep in mind that most EMS systems have built-in analytical tools, and some may even support AI forecasting, which can help you get all the information you need in one dashboard.
Another benefit of Energy Management Systems is its ability to host compatible hardware on the same dashboard. EMS can integrate with smart meters in your property as well as IoT sensors, building systems, and more.
It does this by integrating devices that use the same communication and security protocols. This way, you can get in-depth information about the various appliances in your property, which includes lighting systems, TVs, smart fridges, and any compatible device with IoT capabilities.
The benefit goes beyond integration, though, as you can also automate tasks and help drive down costs even more. For example, the EMS can integrate with the HVAC or lighting system of the property and turn these devices/machines on and off and even adjust their settings to be more efficient during the day/nighttime.
This gives even more control to the user and allows them to not only monitor but also actively adjust settings and set logics to better cater to their needs of saving costs.
Energy Management systems are only half of the coin. These systems are designed to support and integrate hardware into one dashboard. This means that you need to really focus on the PV, BESS, and EV infrastructure in your property and ensure that you source hardware that supports these advanced capabilities.
There are several factors that go into the implementation of such a project, from choosing the best location to assessing the energy needs and picking the best hardware for the job.
The best way to go about this is to plan every little detail on paper with a professional electrical installation company like Calder Electrical.
A professional team can help you with various aspects of the project, the most important of which is hardware selection. Selecting the appropriate hardware for your property can help you pair your BESS with a solar PV and help you optimise everything using an EMS.
Professional installers can also help you figure out how to go about the installation, as well as various other variables such as site selection, wiring layout, inverter configuration, panel type, and more.
The benefit of going with a professional installer is that you can get all the services and solutions under one roof. This method ensures that you get the complete package, where your system is not only installed but also regularly monitored by the installation company.
Even though EV systems are advanced, use a lot of analytics, and have fewer mechanical components, they still require maintenance and tweaks to ensure that the system is running smoothly and is geared towards maximum cost savings.
By conducting regular maintenance, technicians can ensure that you continue getting the most out of your investment, secure a great Return on Investment (ROI), and guarantee the longevity of your EV infrastructure.
Calder Electrical Services provides a wide range of solutions to help you play your part in making the world a more sustainable place.
If you wish to have solar panels installed on your residential or commercial property, our experts can conduct a site visit to determine your requirements and propose the best type of solar system for your needs.
We also offer solar battery storage installation so that you can minimise any wastage of the energy you create. This will help lower your energy bills and make you more independent from the grid.
We can install and maintain EV chargers for domestic and commercial premises in line with the current regulations, and can offer a government incentive to reduce installation costs. We are authorised and registered OZEV installers, and our EV charge points come with a 3-year warranty.
We have been providing electrical services to residential, commercial, and industrial properties for over 40 years and are specialists in all aspects of electrical installations, maintenance, and testing.
All our work is fully insured and meets the current regulations and standards set by the NICEIC. Also, all the notifiable work is signed off by the local authorities.
Contact us here or call us at 0800 612 3001 to get in touch with our professional electricians for more information on Energy Management Systems and how to use one dashboard for PV, BESS, and EV to save money.
Photo by Dominik Ferl on Unsplash
