A powerful open source IoT-platform to build your smart energy management system or EMS
OpenRemote offers a powerful open source EMS platform particularly suited to support the design of smart energy management systems. Our platform offers a complete and flexible data integration and management solution for microgrids and distributed energy networks. It can integrate any asset and has specialized features in an easy-to-use application to address the unique energy management needs of smart cities, smart buildings and other special sites such as airports or commercial facilities.
Open source energy management system for Island or distributed energy networks
Our open source EMS or energy management solution is a powerful tool for smart cities and buildings to fulfill their energy monitoring and optimization needs. The solution is designed to work in an island (behind a single meter) or distributed setup. You can connect any energy production, consumption, or storage system independent of brand and communication protocol. By using pre-configured asset types you can quickly set up your smart energy management system and add your electricity supplier to monitor the net energy flow and flexible tariffs, leading up to increased energy efficiency and cost-savings.
Make optimal use of your renewable energy
At the heart of the system lies the smart use of energy to minimise carbon emissions and maximise financial gains. Using the data provided by the communication systems of PV panels, wind turbines, buildings, and EV chargers, as well as weather predictions and historical data, the IoT platform creates forecasts of electricity production and consumption. Based on these forecasts, optimisation algorithms determine the system’s behaviour to maximize self-consumption and optimize energy efficiency.
Control electricity consumption and backfeed
OpenRemote’s open source EMS platform identifies the best moments to use electricity or feed it into the grid based on flexible energy tariffs and your variable renewable energy production. Then it decides how to control electricity consumption and energy storage assets, for instance charging the car fleet during the night, or activating air-conditioning units of an office building earlier in the morning.
When V2G chargers or large batteries are available, the system uses them as a buffer for surplus green energy. That surplus can be fed back into the grid at the most appropriate time to benefit from favourable electricity prices, or be consumed when electricity import is deemed more expensive.
Data analysis and reporting
Data analysis is crucial to the improvement of microgrid performance. Thanks to the “Insights” page in the application, you can easily compare assets and time periods. For example, users can clearly see how solar panels perform over time or compare the electricity consumption of similar buildings. They can create their own Key Performance Indicators to keep track of progress, such as break-even points of investments and rates of self-sufficiency. Since this analysis is project specific, it can be fully customized and added to your own report.
Start building your smart energy management system
To get started with the design of your smart energy management EMS application, you can either choose to rely on our service team to implement a full IoT solution for you, or you can build it yourself using our open source solution, no strings attached. For guidance to try use our 100% open source EMS, just check our wiki Create your own energy management system.