As energy prices rise and grow more volatile, homeowners are increasingly choosing to generate clean, free power at home by adding home energy devices such as solar panels, batteries, electric vehicle chargers, and heat pumps that can lower their power bills.
The challenge is managing these devices so they work together to optimize when your home energy system stores the power it generates and when it distributes that power. Previously, that has meant juggling data across multiple mobile apps and manually piecing it together to make the best decisions.
A new technology called Heartbeat, backed by AI, is changing that. Developed by 1KOMMA5, Heartbeat is currently on the market in Australia. Let’s take a closer look at the technology.
What is Heartbeat technology?
Heartbeat is a small device that connects your home energy systems using Internet of Things (IoT) technology, enabling you to view and manage usage from a single software platform accessible via a smartphone app. The app gives you all-in-one insight into your rooftop solar panel system, your home battery, your heat pump, and your EV charger.
Heartbeat monitors your home’s energy consumption and combines your energy usage data with external information, including weather forecasts and utility electricity prices. Using AI, it then scrutinizes this data to make decisions about how and when to most effectively store and discharge your solar power.
For example, Heartbeat can tell your battery to store power when electricity prices are low. If there are clouds in the forecast and electricity prices are high, Heartbeat will tell your home battery system to store electricity in advance to reduce your exposure to those high costs.
Heartbeat also tracks the performance of your solar panels to identify any issues. Sometimes it can proactively resolve the problem (e.g., by reducing the power output of a panel), while other times it will notify you of the fault so you can resolve it quickly.
What's the difference between Heartbeat and a home energy management system (HEMS)?
Like a HEMS, Heartbeat connects devices so you can monitor and control energy usage from a central location. Both HEMS and Heartbeat learn your energy patterns and preferences over time, giving you greater visibility into how your household uses energy so you can make cost-saving changes.
The main difference is that HEMS are usually only compatible with devices from the same manufacturer. Most homeowners have devices from many different brands, however, which usually means managing each device independently. By doing that, you miss the valuable insights and automations that can result from the systems working together collaboratively.
With Heartbeat, you can centralize the control and data collection across all your smart energy devices — regardless of brand — so they can work together. This maximizes efficiency and comfort and allows you to prioritize charging based on your needs.
What are the advantages of using Heartbeat technology?
Technology like the Heartbeat Platform provides a number of homeowner benefits:
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Lower bills and less energy waste. Heartbeat helps you maximize the potential of your solar power and home battery system. By ensuring your system stores and distributes solar energy at the best times, Heartbeat keeps your bills down so you get the most value from your solar power.
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Easier energy management. By linking all your devices together in a single platform, Heartbeat makes it much easier to control your energy usage in the home and make informed decisions.
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Optimized system efficiency. Heartbeat monitors performance to keep all energy systems operating at their best. It also identifies faults early, helping to minimize the time and costs involved in rectifying any issues.
The Heartbeat platform provides an exciting glimpse into the new normal for home energy management. Homeowners in the U.S. can take advantage of similar technologies. Panasonic’s EVERVOLT® SmartBox energy management device, for instance, connects your home battery system, smart devices, your solar panels, and the grid all in one place.
SmartBox makes it easy to optimize your energy usage and prolong your battery’s charge, ensuring you get the most out of your solar energy. It will also seamlessly switch your home to battery power if there’s a grid outage, and it ensures that your critical appliances are powered at all times.
Learn more about Panasonic’s home energy solutions, including the SmartBox management device.
