The energy management of a building requires taking into account both the energy consumed and the energy generated. SenNet IoT dataloggers are a comprehensive solution for energy management, allowing the measurement of under-consumption but also renewable energy generated by the photovoltaic system.

The self-consumption function includes the control of zero discharge, the activation and deactivation of non-critical loads according to production, as well as the monitoring of the photovoltaic inverters themselves.

The energy of the building, both consumed and renewable generated, is monitored and controlled from the same equipment, which will be connected to the desired energy platform or SCADA, without the need to depend on proprietary options.

Being an integrated functionality in the whole range of dataloggers, the management of the self-consumption enjoys all the advantages of these equipments: integrated meters, communication with probes (being here very relevant the radiation probes), possibility of using radio frequency, etc.

The same equipment for an integral management of the energy of the building, either to measure electrical sub-consumption, the fiscal meter, water, gas or thermal consumption, control of discharge, activation of loads according to the solar production, etc.

The solution is compatible with the main manufacturers and models of photovoltaic inverters.

COMMUNICATION WITH PHOTOVOLTAIC INVERTERS

The communication with the inverters can be done using the full capacity of the dataloggers, i.e. by RS232/RS485 serial communications, via Ethernet or via radio frequency thanks to the RF Gateways, either with RFNet or LongNet technology.

Direct communication with the inverters offers advantages over direct measurement of the energy generated by means of an analyser (a function that is in any case available with the integrated meters, as they allow the measurement of the energy generated). These advantages include

  • In addition to the energy generated, it is possible to measure data only available to the inverter, such as Power, Current and Continuous Voltage, inverter status, alarms, etc.
  • The reading of the status and direct alarms of the inverter allows a better management of the installation, as well as the diagnosis of its operation.

COMMUNICATION WITH WEATHER STATION

In order to obtain the maximum yield from the PV inverters, it is highly recommended to monitor the radiation and panel temperature parameters.

These data can be obtained by adding a simple weather station that is connected to the datalogger by cable or radio frequency and provides reliable local data of actual radiation (including shadowing influence of artificial obstacles) and panel temperature, data that significantly affects the operation of the installed solar field. This data allows the comparison of the actual performance with the expected performance and the detection of possible failures.

ADVANCED FUNCTIONS

Control of discharge to the network
The equipment permanently monitors the grid power, watching its value and its sign (demand or discharge) in order to allow the adjustment of the generation power of the photovoltaic inverters to the desired discharge thresholds

Control of non-critical loads
The device has 4 digital outputs, which can be expanded to 64 with SenNet 4IO devices and can communicate with them via cable or radio. These outputs can be configured to activate or deactivate non-critical loads according to excess production criteria.