Connected home technology company PassivSystems is to supply Engensa customers with solar photovoltaic monitoring systems. The two companies have signed the deal as part of Engensa’s Street by Street Solar campaign, which aims to supply free solar PV equipment to 100,000 homes across the UK.
From now on, every Engensa PV installation will come with the PassivSystems’ monitoring solution, which collects data directly from the generation meter as opposed to the inverter. This should make meter reading easier and more accurate as well as making it easier to claim for the feed-in tariff.
Engensa Chief Technology Officer, Dr Toby Ferenczi said, “Energy generated from solar power is pivotal to reducing UK carbon emissions and helping to manage consumer bills so PassivSystems’ solar PV monitoring solution will play a massive part in that. It enables us to provide the best service and the latest technology to our customers and makes claiming the feed-in tariff and monitoring performance much easier for Engensa.”
Engensa’s Street by Street campaign works by installing the customer’s solar equipment free of charge, allowing the homeowner to take advantage of the electricity generated while Engensa takes the feed-in tariff payments. This should take approximately £300 off the customer’s annual electricity bills as well as helping them to ‘go green’. Engensa will monitor performance of those PV systems on either the PassivLiving remote diagnostic monitoring portal or via GSM data packets and be able to react if the system is not performing to the right specification.
“Accurate monitoring can be the difference between really making the most of an investment and exposing that investment to serious risk,” said Colin Calder, Chief Executive Officer, PassivSystems. “You wouldn’t install any other major equipment without monitoring performance and solar PV should be no different. Engensa recognises this and their customers can only benefit from working with such a forward-thinking company.”
PassivSystems also makes its PassivLiving monitoring portal available to the homeowner, which enables homeowners to view generation performance at the click of a mouse. If they purchase the PassivController they can also view generation in real-time.
“PassivSystems is a company that recognises the importance of incorporating home energy management and micro generation on the same platform,” said Toby Ferenczi. “We’re excited about offering PassivLiving to homeowners and look forward to being able to offer other PassivSystems energy systems over time.”
The solar PV monitoring system is a part of PassivEnergy, the innovative home energy management service launched by PassivSystems in 2010. Focusing on heating and hot water, PassivEnergy learns a household’s energy requirements to automate energy use in the home and early customers have seen an energy reduction of up to 25%.