Astrel Group - Application note - 4-noks - Using solar energy to heat water with Power Reducer
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Using solar energy to heat water: how and why Power Reducer can help Problem: why are those “energy bills” not coming down? Many residential users who have photovoltaic panels and a hot water storage system remain dissatisfied with the efficiency of their set-up: they are able to generate clean energy, but find they cannot significantly reduce the amount of electricity and gas they continue to purchase for the purpose of producing domestic hot water. The need for hot water does not always coincide with the moment when photovoltaic energy is available for self-consumption. Similarly, it often happens that the clean energy produced will not be utilized. Instead, it is exported to the grid, but at considerable economic disadvantage to the customer. Fig. 1: Example of electricity usage for DHW with indication of energy produced by photovoltaic system and exported to grid. Fig. 2: “Elios4you” App shows energy exported to grid The solution: use Power Reducer Self-consumption of surplus energy to produce domestic hot water is the ideal solution for this problem. Simply add a Power Reducer control device to the system (operating in conjunction with Elios4you). The Power Reducer is connected to the heating element of the storage system. Once installed, it will automatically use any surplus photovoltaic energy to heat water, rather than allowing it to be supplied to the grid. Astrel Group - Application note - 4-noks - Using solar energy to heat water with Power Reducer.do

What's so special? With the Power Reducer, all available PV energy is used to heat water, so there is no need to purchase energy from the grid. Used in conjunction with Elios4you, the Power Reducer can be connected to: The Power Reducer regulates the amount of electricity supplied to the element of the water heater in real time, according to how much energy is actually available. This means that the storage tank operates only in self-consumption mode. Fig. 3: How energy is used with the Power Reducer Fig. 4: “Elios4you” App shows selfconsumption energy used to heat water in storage tank...

Result: lower bills Using the Power Reducer, it becomes possible to cut spending both on electrical energy and on gas. Why is less electrical energy used? 1. With no Power Reducer, hot water is produced by means of a heating element in simple on/off mode, often requiring the purchase of electricity from the grid 2. With a Power Reducer, the electric water heater draws a level of power variable between 0 and 100% of its maximum rating 3. This means that water can be heated without purchasing electricity from the grid and using only electrical power produced by the photovoltaic system 1. With...

Models available The Power Reducer is available in three models: Power Reducer (standard version) for wired connection to Elios4you (single phase/three-phase) Power Reducer RC (wireless version) for RF connection to Elios4you Smart (single phase/three-phase) Power Reducer SA (stand-alone version) can be installed without Elios4you but provides no remote control Astrel Group - Application note - 4-noks - Using solar energy to heat water with Power Reducer.docx 4