HOLISDER

This product is responsible for the definition of the demand response strategies to be deployed over appropriately selected clusters of consumers. It consists of 3 modules that can be sold individually: Energy Tariff Emulator; Portfolio Monitoring and Control Optimization Platform and Aggregators/retailers App. The tool will include interfaces and multi-purpose dashboards. This way, aggregators can optimise business functions and energy transactions of all involved stakeholders.

It is responsible for breaking down the global flexibility requirements into the flexibility that can be offered by each distinct load at the consumer side and for automatically dispatching the appropriate control signals/ actions over these specific loads (following a human-centric approach that preserves comfort and indoor quality), either upon approval of the consumer (in implicit demand response) or through direct load control (in explicit demand response).

This product consists of the following modules: Building Monitoring and Control Dispatch Module; Virtual Thermal Energy Storage; Demand Flexibility Profiling Engine and End-User visualization platform.

This product is an open and modular end-to-end interoperability and data management framework that will enable open standards-based communication along the DR value chain. Its innovation and technological value consists in ensuring communication with any type of Energy Management Systems, or directly with generation, storage and energy-consuming devices in a modular manner, according to the building type and available systems. This will allow utilization of these systems either in an integrated framework in BEMS-equipped “smart” non-residential buildings, or individually, in non-residential buildings and smart homes that have a communication gateway (JACE, dEF-PI extension) but not a full-fledged BEMS/HEMS system.

The Energy Tariff Emulator collects and analyses wholesale energy price data, renewables output, along with information about energy networks constraints, to produce real-time retail prices estimations to promote the use of implicit DR programmes to energy consumers. It goes beyond usual time-of-use tariffs in retail prices and offers dynamic real time prices in a clear and transparent way to consumers. Innovative informative billing will be offered to consumers in order to promote the use of Demand Response programmes.

An enhanced software suite for analysing consumer portfolios and shaping optimized billing strategies, along with forecasting and management of electricity demand flexibility will be offered. The product consists of the following modules: Flexibility Forecasting, Aggregation and Segmentation Module, and Portfolio Monitoring and Control Dispatch Module. The first contains the analytics and algorithmic engine, implementing the required functionalities, while the second exposes this functionality through an API to the end-user. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) can be either the aggregators/retailers app produced within the project, or another custom GUI.

This visualization toolkit will address the needs of aggregators/retailers for optimal portfolio management, clustering and DR strategies implementation, real-time monitoring, DR event realization, portfolio flexibility analysis and improved flexibility bidding, improved demand forecasting, flexibility analysis and DR triggering, DR settlement and remuneration, along with relevant features for monitoring, improved forecasting and analysis of generation DERs at the local and district level.

HYPERTECH will introduce enhance their current residential DR offering by incorporating the optimization algorithms delivered in HOLISDER to further strengthen their positioning in the market. To that extent, apart from the flexibility profiling and building monitoring modules, the LDM will include the Virtual Thermal Energy Storage module, a first-of-a-kind cost-effective software component that will dynamically and optimally couple building occupant thermal needs/ preferences with real-time RES output and energy prices and will exploit the thermal storage capabilities of existing domestic water heaters and building spaces (building thermal inertia) towards appropriately dispatching desired amounts of flexibility without compromising occupant comfort or disrupting daily routines and operations.

It consists in the visualization toolkit about the predictive maintenance of their clients. This app allows ESCOs and Facility managers to check the consumers’ consumption & production which is, forecasted, stored and monitored, as well as the performance of the installed equipment. According to these assets, the app shows recommendations to maintain the equipment in optimal conditions, reduce energy losses and save costs. 

The value of this product is in providing visibility to increase the performance of high energy-consuming demand assets and reduce unnecessary energy wastes in buildings (e.g. such as HVAC and lighting systems.). This software continuously monitors and assesses equipment performance to identify faults, malfunctions or performance degradations and contribute to further optimization of operational and/or maintenance costs. This can help to maximize uptime of each asset, optimize service intervals and prioritize actions for service technicians. Results of the analytics algorithms should be visualized in Dashboards and Mobile Apps used by ESCOs and Facility Managers visualization app and other parties involved, where users can check the described functionalities, such as the current equipment’s performance and the app provides get recommendations on potential cost savings and service actions.

This visualization tool can be sold as a website and as a mobile app. The services provided by this app depends on the DR scenario that consumers contract:

• Explicit DR scenario: The objective is to offer a user interface to the end-user for increasing awareness and understanding regarding consumption patterns and flexibility potential, while enabling non-intrusive communication of DR signals (DR modification request & time), personalized guidance & advice provision (benefits gained from the DR modification).

• Implicit DR scenario: The objective is to allow consumers to setup individual rules for the control of specific devices and align them with variable tariff levels, in order to avoid being charged with increased tariffs, by shedding the operation of non-critical loads when energy is expensive or shifting it at low-price periods. In the non-automated scenario, this app will show the price signals, expected savings based on their baseline (if consumers change their behaviour based on the price). In the automated scenario, the app will show the savings and selected devices based on automated price optimization in relation with automated control signal dispatch over selected loads.

The JACE 8000 is a compact, embedded IoT controller and server platform for connecting multiple and diverse devices and sub-systems. With Internet connectivity and web-serving capability, the JACE 8000 controller provides integrated control, supervision, data logging, alarming, scheduling, and network management. It streams data and rich graphical displays to a standard web browser via an Ethernet or wireless LAN, or remotely over the Internet. JACE can be used in many different ways: among others, it can host functions for equipment performance monitoring or for execution of load shedding algorithms (explicit DR). It can be used either in an integrated framework of BEMS-equipped “smart” non-residential buildings, or individually as a gateway in non-residential buildings that do not have any BEMS. JACE is not intended for any use in residential buildings. The JACE 8000 is the latest and most advanced building controller.

dEF-Pi is a software platform that ensures interoperability at the building and building unit level (at the level of individual dwellings and spaces within a building), enabling communication and data exchange with any smart home device and building load. On top of dEF-Pi energy management apps (such as the Local Demand Manager) can be installed with dedicated human-centric intelligence functions to enable optimized control and automation of building assets in a manner that preserves personalised comfort preferences. The dEF-Pi Extension is the dEF-PI software platform extended to integrate and communicate with other HOLISDER products.

dEF-Pi can be installed easily on a (low-cost) gateway device. The core of dEF-Pi is the EFI protocol. Next to the energy management apps, also resource manager apps can be installed. The objective of the resource managers apps is to translate the various protocols (e.g. Zigbee, Modbus, Bluetooth, etc.) and data models that smart devices use into EFI messages. The EFI messages only describe energy flexibility and provide interoperability between smart devices and algorithms.