Energy Management
The platform can automatically control how your energy assets behave throughout the day. Rather than adjusting equipment by hand, you define the goals and conditions that matter to your site - the system then makes the moment-to-moment decisions to meet them.
Strategies
A strategy is the operating mode the platform instructs the gateway to maintain. Each strategy represents a different goal for your energy system:
| Strategy | What the system does |
|---|---|
| Net Zero | Keeps grid import and export as close to zero as possible by matching battery output to the site's current demand. |
| Discharge | Actively draws energy from the battery - to supply load on-site, reduce grid import, or export surplus. |
| Charge | Actively charges the battery from the grid or from available solar. |
| Peak Shaving | Limits the peak power drawn from the grid during high-tariff periods to reduce demand charges. |
| Manual | Automatic control is suspended. Equipment operates on its last setting or according to its own built-in defaults. |
Workflows and rules
A workflow is how you tell the platform which strategy to apply and when. It is a list of rules in a defined order. Each rule describes a condition and the strategy that should be activated if that condition is true.
When the platform evaluates your workflow, it works through the rules from top to bottom and applies the strategy from the first rule whose condition is met. Rules below it are not evaluated further.
Rules are re-evaluated each time the platform receives a telemetry update from your gateway, so the active strategy stays in sync with what is actually happening on site.
What the platform looks at
When evaluating rules, the platform has access to live data from your site and from external sources:
Site measurements
- Battery charge level - how much energy is currently stored, as a percentage
- Solar output - how much power your panels are generating right now
- Grid import or export - whether you are drawing from the grid or feeding energy back into it, and how much
- Battery charge or discharge rate - how fast the battery is currently responding
Time and tariffs
- Time of day and the current hour
- Whether it is currently night-time (between sunset and sunrise)
- Whether the current hour falls inside your configured peak-tariff window
Electricity pricing
- The current spot electricity price
- Whether the current hour is above or below the daily average price
Rules can combine any of these signals. For example, a rule might fire only when the battery is partially charged and the current hour is a cheap-price hour.
For developers
See Energy Advisor - Workflow Engine for the full evaluation context reference, expression syntax guide, and rule expression examples.