Echelon Corporation (Echelon) said that its LonWorks technology is being used in solar energy installations by SMA America, Inc. (SMA America), a subsidiary of SMA Solar Technology AG. Echelon's i.LON SmartServer, equipped with communications drivers for SMA America's inverters, is used to monitor the health of and measure the electricity generated by the panels in a solar array for service, reporting, and verification purposes, helping to maintain their efficient operation.
SMA America is using the i.LON SmartServer with their Sunny Central 250U and Sunny Tower inverters.
An inverter changes direct current (DC) electricity generated by a solar panel into alternating current (AC) for use in buildings and homes. The US solar industry continued to grow at a record pace in 2008, according to a recent report by the Solar Energy Industries Association, aided by generous customer rebates in California and New Jersey. These rebates combined with federal tax credits have trimmed system prices by a third or more.
We are excited to work with SMA, the world leader in solar inverter technology, and to be part of the fast-growing solar market, said Anders Axelsson, Echelon’s senior vice-president of sales and marketing. The i.LON SmartServer is perfect for developing and deploying all types of energy management solutions, including solar and other alternative energy solutions.
Echelon’s technology provides a high level of reliability and flexibility, which we considered necessary in order to offer a more efficient and diverse solution to our customers, said Jeffrey Philpott, director of marketing for SMA America. Because the LonWorks platform is an open technology, it interfaces well with most existing subsystems that our clients use, making data more accessible and helping to reduce overall systems costs.
The i.LON SmartServer automatically reads data from the inverters, and makes this data accessible via standard web-based and local control protocols, enabling the data to be utilized by existing energy management systems (EMS) and building management systems (BMS). This data can be transferred directly to a customer’s portal or it can be stored locally on the i.LON SmartServer, increasing data integrity in case of network outages. This revenue grade power generation data can be used for energy verification and rebate programs.
In addition to inverter monitoring, Echelon’s i.LON SmartServer provides a standard gateway to energy monitoring and energy demand management. Photo cell performance can be monitored remotely, to optimize performance or reduce maintenance costs by automatically scheduling service technicians when necessary.
Echelon’s i.LON SmartServer is used in various energy monitoring applications worldwide, from retail and commercial buildings, to automated demand response programs, to remotely controlled streetlights.
Echelon is a US-based developer of network infrastructure products.