Smart home with photovoltaics part. 1 – is it worth it?

Satellite TV quickly gained popularity in its time, as it made it possible to watch television programs from all over the world, and it also gave access to better visual quality. To make using it possible, residents needed set-top boxes. Satellite TV was popular at the time, nowadays producing your own energy is all the rage. To generate your own power, you need solar panels in your smart home.

Photovoltaics and smart homes – why are such solutions so popular?

An increasing number of roofs are equipped with solar panels. Installation and connection to the house’s existing, "traditional" electrical wiring allows the home owner to enjoy power consumption savings.

However, this does not mean that the potential of a photovoltaic installation is realized 100%. Only the Grenton Smart Home system, i.e. a modern electrical installation with automation, gives such opportunities – just like LCD TVs once enabled the reception of digital images, and in time offered HD quality.

There is a way not to lose 20% of the energy produced to energy companies that supply coal-based power. There is also a way to make the system execute planned actions without our intervention. The Grenton Smart Home system significantly expands the capabilities of a smart home equipped with solar panels.

What you get when you combine a smart home with photovoltaics

In smart homes with photovoltaic installations, it is common practice to use energy from the panels to heat water. Residents using this type of innovative solutions can also:

• check the level of power consumed and produced by them, e.g. in a mobile application, on the inverter and meter screen, among others
   
• in the case of energy overproduction – turn off the DHW furnace (to save gas or oil) and start the electric heater in the DHW tank and in the heat tank
   
• check if the excess electricity produced has been used up – if so, disconnect the electric heater before it taps into the external grid

How a smart home with the Grenton system helps you save money

It's worth creating a safe house of the future, ready for challenges related to savings and remote operation. By default, each house equipped with the Grenton Smart Home system:

• will turn on the DHW heater when the inverter signals power overproduction
• can turn on all electric heating devices, or only the selected ones, so as to adapt to the amount of energy currently produced

All this happens automatically, without the interference of household members who only notice low or near-zero energy bills. The Grenton Smart Home system saves time and allows you to avoid the risk connected to unplanned use of electricity from the power grid.

Where problems with energy billing come from – examples

Installations mounted on the roofs of houses, the so-called micro-installations, have a capacity of up to 10kWp. Most of them have a capacity of over 3kWp, making it possible to get three-phase alternating current from the inverter, just like from the power grid. This is the source of frequent discussions with the electric company.

A bidirectional meter, owned by a prosumer (using a solar PV system) may incorrectly count and balance phase-to-phase differences. Let us explain with examples:

 -> when your installation produces 2kW of power in the first phase, and the hairdryer in the bathroom is connected to the second phase, the meter may (but does not have to) count or balance the power sent to and received from the grid.

 -> when we produce 2kW of power and use the same amount at a given moment, we do not send anything to the power grid, but it may be that 2kW was transferred to the grid in the first phase, while energy is taken from the second phase – then, according to the contract, you have to pay for 20% of the consumed energy.

How to balance phase-to-phase differences hassle-free

Thanks to relays and meter circuits, the Grenton Smart Home system allows for:

 - the collection of data that will help clarify any disputes with the energy company

- smooth switching of circuits between phases to limit the amount of energy sent to the grid

 If you want to save time and money on a regular basis, and at the same time ensure that everything runs without your participation, it's time to get to know the Grenton Smart Home system.

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There's more – soon you will be able to read the follow-up to this article on our blog.
This time we will focus on the convenience and usefulness of such solutions.

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