Energy
Seeing consumption as clearly as you pay for it
Most sites run on a mix of grid supply, generators, batteries and solar. Without central monitoring it is hard to know how much is used, which source supplied it, or where avoidable waste sits.
Context
Industry context
What shapes technology decisions in this sector.
Energy management is a basic operational requirement rather than an optimisation project. A site that cannot attribute consumption to a source, a building or a machine is paying for something it cannot examine.
The mix itself is the difficulty. Grid supply, generators, batteries and solar each report differently, at different intervals, and often to separate tools — so the total is assembled by hand or not at all.
Equipment condition is the second constraint. Generators and inverters are usually checked on a schedule, which means a developing fault is found either early by luck or late by failure.
Constraints
Key operational challenges
The conditions any solution here has to work within.
- Sites running on a mix of grid supply, generators, batteries and solar.
- Equipment condition that is only checked on a schedule, not continuously.
- Fuel and generator running costs that are hard to attribute.
- Production and consumption data that arrive in different formats.
Capabilities
Relevant ZouhThings capabilities
What we can bring to this sector, stated as capability rather than track record.
Consumption visibility per source
Can support attributing consumption to a building, floor, department or machine, and to the source that supplied it.
Generation and storage monitoring
Designed for tracking output against expectation, battery condition and charge cycles, so a decline is visible before it is a shortfall.
Generator and fuel visibility
May enable tracking running hours, fuel level and maintenance need, which are otherwise reconstructed from paperwork.
Analytics on operational data
Relevant to identifying abnormal consumption patterns that indicate a fault rather than a change in demand.
Solutions
Relevant solutions
Solution areas that apply here. Each links to how it is delivered.
Platforms
Relevant platforms
Platforms that would apply to this sector.
- thethings.io
Applications
Example use cases
Possible applications, to show the shape of the work.
Per-source consumption reporting
Possible use cases include separating grid, generator, battery and solar contribution so cost is attributable rather than aggregate.
Solar performance against expectation
Can support comparing array output with expected output, so underperformance is distinguishable from a cloudy week.
Generator condition alerting
May enable alerting on running temperature, fuel level or run-hours reaching a service interval.
Site-level energy baselining
Designed for establishing a baseline before a change, so any claimed improvement is measured against something.
These are possible use cases, described to illustrate what the technology can support in this sector. They are not descriptions of completed work, and none should be read as a reference. Where a confirmed project exists, it will be named and linked under Related projects.
Security
Security considerations
What has to be decided early rather than added later.
Monitoring separated from control
Relevant where a monitoring system must not be able to operate a breaker, an inverter or a generator.
Device identity for field equipment
Each connected meter or sensor identifiable and revocable, so replacing a unit does not mean trusting an unknown one.
Integrity of readings
Availability and integrity matter as much as confidentiality here: a wrong reading acted on is worse than a missing one.
Update paths decided early
Designed so firmware can be updated without a site visit, which is a design decision rather than a later addition.
This describes how we approach security in this sector. It is not a claim to hold any specific certification, accreditation or compliance attestation — where one exists, it will be named. It is also not a claim to hold any operational or functional safety certification, and nothing here should be read as qualifying equipment or a system for a safety-related duty.
Integration
Integration considerations
Where the difficulty usually sits in this sector.
Reading existing meters and inverters
Designed for taking data from equipment already installed, through whatever interface it exposes.
Reconciling intervals and units
Can support normalising readings that arrive at different intervals and in different units into something comparable.
Intermittent connectivity
Local buffering with observed and received times kept separate, so a backlog is not read as a spike.
Named ownership for alerts
Relevant because an energy alert with no named recipient produces a dashboard nobody acts on.
Evidence
Related projects
Confirmed work in this sector, where any is published.
No project is published for this sector yet. When one is confirmed and approved for publication, it will appear here — so an empty section means exactly that, rather than work we cannot discuss.
Next step
Discuss a requirement in this sector
The useful conversation is usually about a specific asset, site or corridor rather than the sector in general.