The new ecoLinx home energy management system, from sonnen takes residential energy management to the next level thanks to direct integration with Eaton’s smart breakers and a home automation solution.
At its core, the sonnen ecoLinx is an intelligent, connected home energy storage system, and as the foundation of the product, it does what you would expect — ecoLinx can be configured with anywhere from 10 to 20 kilowatt-hours of energy storage per unit, which it stores in 2 kWh modules of muRata lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePo4) batteries. (muRata was formerly Sony’s battery division.)
ecoLinx has an integrated inverter that was designed to play nicely with the DC feed from a photovoltaic (PV) solar array as well. However, it is much more than just a dumb battery that stores power from the sun and doles it out as needed. It can do that, but it can also do so much more.
The differentiation starts with some good old-fashioned integration with Eaton’s smart breakers. Eaton’s breakers allow ecoLinx to manage loads at the panel by querying the status of individual breakers and even throttling their usage up or down as needed.
The ability for ecoLinx to manage and throttle loads at the panel level gives ecoLinx the ability to see and control all of the loads in the house but sonnen was not content to stay at the breaker level they went ahead and integrated offerings of the two of the leading home automation companies — PanTech Design and Cinegration.
Cloud connectivity gives the system visibility into weather, which is one of the key contributors to home energy consumption. In short, integrating the home energy management that sonnen is known for with home automation allows it to save energy by responding to weather events, by intelligently balancing and conserving energy when the power goes out or enabling the homeowner to shut off the thermostat remotely while out of town.
Reference- Cleantechnica, sonnen website