P³Power - Plug&Play Storage of Photovoltaic Power

Status

completed

Motivation and research question

The core of the project P³Power is the measurement technology "NetDetection", which is able to detect the power consumption of a household from any point, e.g. a regular wall socket. Based on this technology a plug&play powerplant, consisting of photovoltaics and battery pack, is realized. The system is able to guarantee 100% self-consumption within flexible aggregates (from single households to whole communes) without any changes of existing infrastructure. The measure-ment technology will be implemented into digital hardware, evaluated comprehensively in lab and household environment and subsequently new energy service business models are developed.

Initial situation/status quo

The project leader EET - Efficient Energy Technology GmbH is a start up in the area of decentralized electricity production and storage. The core technology is a patented measurement technology (working title NetDetection System) that is able to detect and quantify the power consumption within a household (of one phase Lx) from any measurement point, most likely a regular Schuko socket.

Based on this technology plug&play storage systems, that can be installed by simply plugging it in, can be realized. The system will be able to realize 100% electricity consumption within an aggrega-tion of households in the simplest possible way, independent of the size of the aggregation.

Decentralized storage of electricity is a keystone of the energy transition. This circumstance in com-bination with the decreasing price trend of secondary battery cells, yields in a highly interesting market potential.

Today's systems are usually installed by specialized personnel through the power supply box. The installation is associated with certain costs, which are the reason why storage systems are only available in bigger scales.

Project contents and objectives

The measurement technology "NetDetection" eliminates these costs completely. Decentralized electricity production (via photovoltaics) and electricity storage of any size will be economical viable. For the first time, existing households in urban areas will be able to participate actively in the ener-gy transition.

Methodical procedure

Within the project the measurement technology will be developed from lab scale to market readi-ness. It will be tested comprehensively within the cluster of the Energy Living Labs Austria. The criti-cal keystone is the digitalization of the hardware components as well as the evaluation algorithm of the measurement signal.

Results and conclusions

Project goal of P³Power was the development of energy services based on a smart photovoltaics and storage system, which can be installed by anybody by simply plugging it in into a regular wall socket.

This goal was achieved with the system called "SolMate". The core component of the system is the measurement technology "NetDetection", which was developed from lab scale to market readi-ness. The final system was tested in a broad field test over a period of three months under real-life test conditions. The cost goal of the hardware component was achieved.

The results of the R&D progress as well as results from the field test are presented in this project report.

Outlook

Next steps of the system are its industrialization and commercialization. In the near future, the system will be available on the market.

Based on inquiries and interviews of numerous experts of the energy sector, the feature "ease-of-use" is of essential importance for future energy-related business cases.

Additionally, changes of regulations are expected within the next decade that will allow new busi-ness models. Most important are the examples of photovoltaic systems for apartment buildings, the interconnection of storage systems to act in a grid-stabilizing way and grid fees that are at-tributed to power rather than energy (in this case storage systems gain further interest due to the possibility of peak shaving). All future developments of energy systems should consider these trends.

Project management

E²T – Efficient Energy Technology GmBH

Project or cooperation partners

• Graz University of Technology, Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology
• Avantsmart e. U.
• Montanuniversität Leoben, Chair of Energy Network Technology

Dr. Christoph Grimmer, E²T – Efficient Energy Technology GmbH
Peterstalstraße 18/3
A-8042 Graz
Tel.: +43 664 2556272
E-Mail: christoph@e2t.at
Web: www.e2t.at