Energeno, a developer and supplier of energy monitoring systems including the Wattson Solar Plus energy monitor, has launched its new Opti-Range of products at Solar Power UK 2012 which is being held this week in Birmingham at the NEC.
Designed for solar PV households, the new range comprises the Optimmersion and the Optiplug. Optimmersion is an intelligent controller which, when added to a solar power installation, automatically diverts free electricity to the immersion heater when the solar PV has produced surplus power. Installed between the immersion tank and the consumer unit, it supplies variable power for hot water depending upon the excess energy being generated. Typical savings are around £55 per year for a gas boiler and £80 for electrically-heated water.
Optiplug is a smart socket which collates data on how much energy appliances around the home are using and switches power to them only when enough surplus energy is available to run them.
Both technologies ensure that householders have greater control over their energy use when they are not at home and ensure they are not paying for expensive electricity bought in on the day from their energy provider. This also means that in the majority of cases they are not affecting the revenue they generate from the Feed-in-Tariff.
The two devices, which work through intelligent RF sensors and are linked to clever switches that calculate the excess electricity being generated, are part of a larger suite of home automation products being developed by Energeno to access free energy produced by solar PV panels. Other products in the range will be launched later in the year and during 2013.
“Thousands of people who have had solar PV fitted have become armchair experts on when to use the free electricity they are generating.” said Mark Elliott, Director at Energeno.
“However, people also have jobs to go to and cannot always be at home to make the calculations to access the free electricity. This is where smart technology comes to the fore because the devices make the calculations for you whether you are home or away,” he added.