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Enabling Next Generation Demand Response Based Power Distribution
Technology Category
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Utilities
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Energy Management System
The Challenge
There are many sources of electricity available nowadays. In addition to a number of Utility distributors, there is also sun, wind, various co-generation options, etc. Power can also be stored in batteries, facilities or cars. However each of those sources has it’s specifics – the sun doesn’t always shine and wind doesn’t always blow, a battery can get empty… Utility grid is always available, however, power from the grid may be expensive. The challenge that we face next is – how to use those power sources to get the most of them and to justify the investment.
The Customer
Dutch utility Alliander
About The Customer
Dutch utility Alliander
The Solution
In Heinsberg, Germany we tried to solve those issues. We were able to integrate our IoT hardware ZenoBox with solar inverters, SMA Sunny Island battery controller, connect it to Daikin HeatPump control and transform it into a server to host Alliander’s REX and PowerMatcher services. Daikin HeatPump was using modbus TCP protocol, Battery Controller and solar inverters were using Modbus RTU. Communication between their smart algorithms and Zenobox was MQTT. But with our Visual Application environment, we don’t have to deal with low-level programming, it’s just visual development with drag ‘n’ dropping icons, connecting them visually, and setting the properties. Also, the maintenance of such system is easy – just changing properties, changing the way elements are connected or even add new elements and expand functionality on the fly. That means that new devices, no matter if they speak z-wave, 1-wire, I2C, Bluetooth low energy (Ble), RS232, EnOcean… language, can be easily added into the existing system.
We are very proud of this success – that we’ve had an opportunity to participate in the making of the future of smart power distribution. Especially, we are happy to see that Zenodys IoT platform has been validated and that ZenoBox, ZenoConnect and our Visual application turned out to be a tool that can bridge hardware, software and services in an elegant and programming-free way. And the best of all… with the help of our internet of things platform, the project was done in significantly shorter time.
We are very proud of this success – that we’ve had an opportunity to participate in the making of the future of smart power distribution. Especially, we are happy to see that Zenodys IoT platform has been validated and that ZenoBox, ZenoConnect and our Visual application turned out to be a tool that can bridge hardware, software and services in an elegant and programming-free way. And the best of all… with the help of our internet of things platform, the project was done in significantly shorter time.
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