I sounds a bit odd to switch off solar panels. But when there’s a surplus of electricity, this might be the right solution. It prevents overloading the grid and you, the solar panel’s owner, will not pay electicity feed-in costs.
Application of the P1 meter of Ecosoft Energy
P1 meters store data output of your smart meter. These are electricity and gas consumption figures. You can view these data on your PC, tablet or smartphone. The P1 meter of Ecosoft is able to perform another useful task, namely the control of the PV system.
With this form, you can share with us the brand and type number of your inverter. We will let you know if we already support this inverter, a compatibility test is needed, or the inverter is incompatible. Then order the P1 meter, which includes the control software. If inverter control is not possible, you may return the P1 meter free of charge. We will refund the shipping costs as well. Continue reading below the form about how this works.
Reduce the power output of your PV system or switch it off entirely
It is all over the news. On sunny days, PV panels deliver a surplus of electrical energy to the grid. It might be the case this is not your problem. You will receive the excess electricity back later thanks to the net metering arrangement (salderingsregeling). But maybe you have a dynamic tariffs energy contract, or your exploitation of the PV panels is professional in some extend. Then you will pay an amount during an electricity surplus, because of the consequentially negative electricity tariff, per unit electrical energy you feed-in. Ecosoft Energy has developed a solution to prevent this problem.
- The P1 meter gets the current electricity prices from our server
- If there’s a negative price and you are using less energy then the panels generate at that time, we will scale down the PV system’s output proportionally or turn it off temporarily.
- And we can switch on more energy consuming devices, if you are using Ecosoft Energy systems to control them. A heat pump or heating element can be controlled by an Ecosoft Smart Grid Controller.
- Of course we will switch the PV system back on when the feed-in price is positive again .
How this works
The basis is that the P1 meter knows the electricity prices because it receives them from our server. In addition, the P1 meter exactly knows the energy consumption and energy feed-in, via a connection to your smart meter. In your own local network, the P1 meter can send commands to the inverter of your PV system via the ModBus protocol.
Besides this, the P1 meter can still be used to register electricity consumption and electricity feed-in at home.
Connected to a server in the Netherlands
As a user, you have access to our server in the Netherlands. You can access the P1 meter in your house directly to retrieve power consumption figures, or access these figures at our server.
For which inverters will this work? Our proposal to you.
The used technique is based on an open standard and methods documented by manufacturers, but the possibilities and compatibility differs between inverter types.
Therefore the proposal is as follows:
- You share with us which inverter you own, so brand and type number.
- We will let you know if we already support this inverter, a compatibility test is needed, or the inverter is incompatible.
- You order the P1 meter, which includes the control software.
- If inverter control is not possible, you may return the P1 meter free of charge. We will refund the complete amount including shipping costs.
You will have to know and accept that inverters differ in possibilities. Some inverters can be controlled proportionally, while others we can only switch on or off.
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