PV Submetered Insights

More and more homes and businesses are being equipped with Photovoltaic (PV) Solar Panels which transform them from pure Energy Consuming locations into Electricity producing and consuming locations. When a location adds a PV system to their location, it adds new Data Streams that make up the energy usage of the location. Compared to a pure Energy Consuming Location that Consumes all of the electricity that is Imported, a PV-equipped location has a more complex energy usage where energy that is produced can be self-consumed or exported.

Accessing all necessary data to provide PV Insights to end users requires data from the PV inverter in combination with the electricity meter. Data from PV inverter usually provides the data for the locations Produced energy as well as Consumption while the Electricity Meter provides data for electricity that is imported and exported.

How does it work?

Eliq can support the receiving and returning of PV-related Energy Data to and from the Eliq Platform that help consumers track and understand their Energy Usage over time.

PV equipped Locations have 4 streams of data that for electricity; Production, Consumption, Import & Export that are interesting to show to consumers in as high resolution and detail as possible.

Eliq offer 2 high-level Use Cases for PV Owners:

1. PV Insights for locations where access to Actual PV Inverter and Smart Meter Electricity Data is available.
   • For Locations where all 4 Data Streams can be accessed and provided to Eliq, it is possible to create engaging experiences that allow users to see insights based on their actual, available Import, Export, Production, Consumption data. We call this experience PV Submetered Insights.
2. PV Insights for locations where no PV Inverter Data is available
   1. For Locations where there are only 2 Data Streams available (Import & Export), it is possible to create equally engaging experiences for PV-equipped locations based on Eliqs Disaggregated (Estimated) Production and Consumption data. We call this experience PV Dissagregated Insights.

There are 4 Data Streams that are typically available from a PV-equipped location as described below.

Import

Import is the energy that is “bought” from the the grid (sometimes called offtake) and that a PV equipped location will pay for on their energy bill. This Data is usually available from a Smart Meter in the consumers location.

Export

Export is the energy that is “sold” to the grid (sometimes called injected) and that a PV equipped location will get payed for in some way, usually with a discount on their import energy bills if energy is bought and sold from and to the same energy company. This Data is usually available from a Smart Meter in the consumers location.

Production

Production data is the electricity that is generated by the PV system and that can exported to the grid or consumed by the location.

• Actual Production Data is commonly available from the installed PV system and would require access through some kind of smart device to be provided to Eliqs Data Management API.
• Disaggregated Production Data is generated by the Eliq platform by estimating the maximum solar energy curve on a clear sky day. Then, by using machine learning techniques that are based on import, export and weather data, calculates the production data for the location. See PV Disaggregated Insights for more details.

Consumption

Consumption is the energy that the location consumes that is either provided through Import or through Production.

• Actual Consumption Datais commonly available from a connected device in a location that registers the total consumption that is passed from either Production or Import data. This can be provided to the Eliq Platform via the Eliq Data Management API.
• Disaggregated Consumption Data is generated by the Eliq platform by estimating the maximum solar energy curve on a clear sky day. Then, by using machine learning techniques that are based on import, export and weather data, calculates the consumption data for the location. See PV Disaggregated Insights for more details.

When should you use PV Disaggregated Insights?

PV Disaggregation is a feature that fills a gap for consumers that have a PV system where only 2 of the 4 required data streams are available, namely Import and Export. If a location can only provide Import and Export data streams, it isn’t possible to show insights related to Consumption such as forecasting, Similar Homes Consumption and Energy Usage Categories since they require Consumption Data for a location.

PV Disaggregation solves this, unlocking full insight into a locations 4 data streams and unlocks all Consumption Insights for he PV equipped location.

PV Disaggregation makes it easy to offer great insights to any PV equipped location without a need to gaining access to every locations PV system.

If all 4 necessary data streams are available from a location, the PV Submetered Insights can be offered.

API Reference Documentation

Use Get Location to determine which data is available and to build app dynamics. The source parameter determines if PV disaggregated data exists or not as well as whether or not Import and Export Data exists.

Use Get Location Production to fetch Production Data for a location.

Use Get Location Consumption to fetch Consumption Data for a location.

Use Get Location Import to fetch Import Data for a location with a PV system.

Use Get Location Export to fetch Export Data for a location with a PV system.

Supported fuel types and Units

PV Submetered Insights is only available for electricity

All fuel directions; Consumption, Production , Import and Export can be shown in the unit Energy (Whs)

Import and Export can be shown in Cost with provided Price Formulas that define the cost for the electricity that is bought (imported) or sold (exported). For PV equipped locations, providing cost for consumption of production is not applicable.

Supported Location Profile Types

PV Submetered Insights are supported for both residential and business locations (Locations with residential or business Profile Types). For more information about Location Profile Types, please visit the Location Profile article

Use Cases

Show an overview of Import/Export data on a Home Screen in an app

Present all 4 Data Streams in a graph

Import/Export & Consumption/Production in a graph with the ability for an end user to switch between them

Your Electricity Production Insights & Savings

Today’s electricity production compared to Yesterday’s, updated every 15 minutes to show insights on the end users PV inverter over the course of the day and in comparison with the previous day.

Your savings present a calculation of electricity consumption that has been saved as a result of self-consuming.

PV Insights in a graph including a summary card

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