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76 E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON
SUMME R 20 1 6
SMARTER SOLAR
A
s Australia’s energy consumption
and pricing continues to grow, the
demand for distributed energy
technologies grows with it.
In an Australian first, renewable energy
tech start-up, Evergen has launched an
intelligent home energy management
systemwhich, compared with existing
domestic solar and battery solutions, is
expected to deliver an additional 20%
energy saving.
So how does it work?
The technology gathers data on
household power consumption patterns
and analyses local weather reports,
then combines both sets of data to
determine and use the most efficient
source of energy, whether it be solar,
battery or grid.
This way the system is less likely to over-
store power or unnecessarily use power
from the grid.
Users also have control over which
energy source the system draws power
from, but this is not recommended.
According to Evergen chief executive
Dr Glenn Platt, the system’s ability to
store power and intelligently source
energy can save households “60-80% on
energy costs”.
And with less over-storing of power, he
says the “lifetime of the system is longer
than standard solar battery systems”.
Every installed Evergen system can be
remotely monitored and managed at the
Evergen office. Not only does this give
the research team access to a lot of data
to work with for ongoing development,
it also plays a vital role in the system’s
maintenance, enabling many system issues
to be rectified remotely.
The technology was developed by
CSIRO, in partnership with AMP
Capital. Evergen was granted exclusive
usage and distribution rights to roll out
the technology.
Today, the start-up is doing limited
releases of the system as the company is
managing scale. The units are undergoing
rigorous safety and performance testing in
anticipation of a full commercial release in
January 2017.
Glenn says the system costs no more
than for what you would buy a standard
solar panel and battery unit.
“But with Evergen systems, you get the
intelligent control functionality as well,”
he says.
As technology development aims to
enable societies to become less reliant
on non-renewable resources, the
integration of solar, battery storage
and smart technology can prove to be a
game-changer.
With our abundance of sun, Australia
is a prime candidate to be a leader in this
technology with pioneers like Evergen and
the CSIRO leading the way.
> Evergen
www.evergen.com.auA START-UP WHICH SPUN OUT
OF CSIRO RESEARCH IS
PRODUCING AUSTRALIA’S FIRST
EVER SOLAR PANELS WITH AN
INTEGRATED BATTERY AND
INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY.
THE SYSTEM CAN DELIVER
HOUSEHOLDS AN 80% ENERGY
SAVING.
JOEYOUNG
REPORTS.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT