SMA Sunny Home Manager Maximises Self Consumption for Solar PV Owners

Exporting the unused energy produced on domestic Solar PV systems is a bad idea. The current rate in our area is only around £0.03 per kWh and some countries are removing export tariffs completely,

It’s much better then to use every ounce of your home made energy yourself and well known German manufacturer SMA has a unit to help you do that automatically. We asked them a few questions about their system…

The SMA Sunny Home Manager appears to be designed to maximise self-consumption for homes with Solar PV. Can you describe a typical scenario?

The SMA Sunny Home Manager is installed in a family household were people want to use their self-produced PV energy in the most cost-effective and intelligent way. The Sunny Home Manager monitors all energy flows in the home, identifies potential savings automatically and improves solar power use. To do so, it compiles and combines information from the PV system and household energy consumption data. Being connected to major household appliances, Sunny Home Manager optimizes the energy flow between all relevant loads and the available solar energy.

Do you require battery storage and new inverter to use Home Manager?

No, the Sunny Home Manager may also be used without battery storage and in already existing PV systems with SMA inverters.

Can the system use external data like weather forecasts to estimate the days generation and plan ahead?

Yes, the Sunny Home Manager uses a specially optimized PV prognosis algorithm including weather forecasts from the Internet for that.

Home Manager can control special appliances, like those from Miele @ home. Is there a way to control older ‘dumb’ appliances too?

Yes, older appliances can be controlled via the SMA radio-controlled sockets that may be purchased in a set with the Sunny Home Manager.

What communications methods does Home manager use to communicate with devices around the home?

The system can use Ethernet / Plugwise radio-controlled sockets via Ethernet-ZigBee and our own SMA radio-controlled sockets via Bluetooth.

How many devices / circuits can HM monitor and control and is the information available online?

Power consumption can be monitored on up to 23 devices with active control on up to 12. The information is available online in our Sunny / Sunny Places online portals.

Does the system make decisions autonomously or is it programmed by the home owner?

After the home owner has set the parameters to his preferences, e.g. which time he needs the dishwasher or the washing machine program to be finished, the system operates independently and selects the ideal start time for cost optimized energy consumption.

Can Home Manager be an entire home automation system or is it an add-on to one?

In a Smart Home context, SMA’s focus is on energy efficiency through automated appliance and storage control. In addition, an entire home automation system usually also comprises remote control of appliances and security/health applications. SMA’s system can be combined with the other Smart Home systems. Our open interface policy supports complete integration into comprehensive Smart Home system dashboards.

Can Home Manager be fitted by the home owner or does it need to be professionally installed?

We recommend installation by a trained installer. With a suitable system setup, system operation is stable and yields good energy cost savings via the automatic control of appliances and storage systems.

Thanks for talking to us. Whats the best place to find out more about Home Manager?

Thanks, you can find all information, downloads, etc. on the Sunny Home Manager Website.