How can an advanced EMS enable energy transparency?

Read on to see the seven ways in which an advanced energy management system (EMS) enhances transparency and strengthens the entire energy ecosystem.

7 ways an advanced EMS enables transparency along the value chain

Benefits for end users

1. See how shifting consumption reduces energy prices

When we say “see”, we mean that literally. One of the most immediate benefits of an advanced EMS is the ability for end users to see in their energy management app how shifting energy consumption to off-peak times can directly reduce their costs. With real-time data and intuitive interfaces, users can easily understand the impact of features like time of use (ToU) tariffs on their bills.

For example, when an end user gets home from work, they might plug in their EV and expect to see charging begin immediately. Afterwork hours have some of the most expensive electricity prices because this is when more people are home and using large appliances, such as stoves, TVs, wallboxes, etc. 

With an advanced EMS with a Tariff Timer, an end user can see prices fluctuate, for example decreasing in the middle of the night, and understand why their EMS makes the decision to shift charging (i.e., not start charging immediately). This transparency answers common end user questions, such as Why isn’t my EV charging from surplus energy? What is preventing the battery from discharging? Why are you charging the battery from the grid? 

The Tariff Timer takes this transparency a step further by illustrating choices made in the past and the present. For example, the app may alert a user that their battery energy storage system (BESS) is being charged from the grid right at that moment. By opening up the notification, the user can see that the BESS is being charged during a cheaper price right now, so that energy can be expelled when prices rise just two hours later. The app also includes a percentage of how much the user’s EMS was optimized based on electricity prices, demonstrating the financial savings they can expect.

With this deeper understanding, the user begins to trust that the system makes the optimal decisions. In turn, the user may be more inclined to change their behavior, for example, by opting for safety charge rather than always defaulting to quick charge (the least cost-efficient charging mode) simply out of a habitual desire to see their car battery full before going to bed.

2. Understand the behavior of assets

In addition to end users understanding how their EMS’s decisions impact their wallet, an advanced EMS also lifts the veil on the energy flows of assets. Using gridX’s mobile or web app, users can see the live energy flows of their assets. These present themselves as icons of the assets, be it a PV, EV, heat pump, household appliances, etc., and live energy readings. Measurements showing the Watts and kilowatts production and consumption of the energy go up and down in real-time, letting users know what is happening in their household at that very second.

This live view allows users to not only better understand the power going in and out of their home, but also enables them to prioritize where they want surplus energy to be directed. Most often, this is PV surplus and users can decide, for example, if they first want it to charge their EV or send it to the heat pump. These priorities can be managed in an easy drag-and-drop tool that can be updated by the user at any time.

3. Know when consumption will be dimmed according to §14a

While  Paragraph 14a EnWG may be specific to Germany for now, similar regulation has the potential to begin in other European countries down the road. §14a gives grid operators the ability to temporarily dim controllable energy-consuming assets in the event of an imminent overload. In return, consumers can benefit from a reduction in grid fees.

With an advanced EMS with push notifications, end users can receive notifications directly to their EMS app informing them about dimming their consumption (for how long and to what extent) and to which degree they will be impacted by it. An advanced EMS ensures these users feel maximum comfort by compensating for consumption restrictions with stored and smartly optimized energy. Receiving a notification of the process allows them to stay informed, giving them even greater agency over their own energy use. It also allows them to understand both regulations such as §14a and how it works with an EMS, thus giving them more confidence in their energy system.

Benefits for operators

4. Monitor and assess EMS systems

For home energy management system (HEMS) providers and charge point operators (CPOs) alike, gaining an overview of their systems’ statuses, and understanding how customers interact with them is crucial for reducing maintenance efforts, optimizing their offering and thus enhancing end-customer loyalty. A transparent EMS solution provides detailed diagnostics and analytics for holistic understanding, real-time monitoring and control of all systems and assets.

gridX’s own Diagnostics tool supplies EMS providers with real-time, detailed insights into the status and performance of their EMS systems – both the operational status and how customers are using them. The feature offers a clear and accessible view of the entire system, including the status of energy flows and consumption patterns.

By making this information readily available, the feature allows for informed decision-making and timely intervention, ensuring systems operate efficiently. For example, for CPOs and logistics providers, this clear and comprehensive view of all charge points across different sites helps target any issues or areas of improvement, and can also help identify any charging trends that can lead to new business strategies. For HEMS providers, this diagnostics tool finds potential issues early, allowing for proactive measures to resolve them before they escalate, ensuring uninterrupted service for customers and optimal efficiency.

5. Easily view security certifications to ensure customer data is protected

To state the obvious: today, data security is paramount. How often are there news stories about big data leaks and breaches? Too often. That’s why EMS providers, who work with numerous partners and deal with sensitive data in a critical industry, need to ensure that their systems are not only compliant with industry security standards, but that they are robust enough to safeguard their customers’ valuable information (and their even more valuable trust). 

An advanced EMS provider needs to make it simple for companies to access and review their security certifications, providing transparency to customers and stakeholders about the measures in place to protect sensitive data. This means having a security portal, where partners can review public security documents and request access to private ones, should it be applicable to their operations. Full transparency means keeping all facets of security out in the open, such as status monitoring for infrastructure, policies, information about the firewall, SecurityScorecard rating, corporate security and more, while of course excluding any sensitive information.

6. Be notified of any incidents and receive detailed postmortems

When incidents occur in the development of energy management systems, companies should receive a postmortem so that they can understand what happened and how it will be prevented in the future. In tech companies, a postmortem is exactly as it sounds: examining something after it has “died”. Although, in this case, what has “died” is the incident or error that kept an EMS or energy asset from functioning to the best of its abilities.

The postmortem that companies receive is an autopsy; pulling back the layers and opening up every nook and cranny of the incident to see each choice and process that led to a certain outcome. By examining this in depth, both the EMS customer, OEM and the EMS provider can learn how to prevent the incident in the future.

Click here to view a postmortem from an incident that occurred on July 16, 2024.

At gridX, in addition to sharing these postmortems with partners, internal postmortems are also shared so that all gridX employees can understand the incident. These internal postmortems include detailed timelines and processes that start from when/why an incident was detected, what any initial theories were and the step-by-step process to the solution. Just as sharing energy insights with consumers builds trust in energy providers, sharing these postmortems with all gridX employees creates trust between our company, with our product and with our team, keeping everything out in the open for all to see.

7. Developers talk directly to other developers

When HEMS providers and CPOs partner with gridX, they can choose to create their own app using our API. When this happens, the two development teams, from gridX and the EMS customer, need to communicate with each other to resolve issues. Often, they speak through project managers. Because in-house development teams can be expensive, some providers use a development team from an agency, which then adds yet another line of communication. Soon, just like in the game of Telephone, one question or phrase gets passed through too many channels until it becomes garbled and unrecognizable, and conflicts arise.

We’ve seen [transparency] improve the implementation process. It’s also improved mutual understanding and knowledge sharing." - Wolfgang Werner, Backend Team Lead

To avoid this issue and create more transparency in the EMS value chain, we created a Developer Forum, where every developer interacting with gridX’s API can communicate. This platform allows developers from all sides to communicate directly using technical language that both sides understand, enabling them to resolve technical queries swiftly and efficiently, and address challenges promptly. “We’ve seen this improve the implementation process,” says Backend Team Lead Wolfgang Werner. “It’s also improved mutual understanding and knowledge sharing.”

Transparency must be a core feature of energy management

Transparency is a critical component of energy management. Transparent operations between the grid and energy assets are necessary for seamless integration, control and optimization. On the consumer side, transparency lets users understand an EMS's mechanisms and trust its performance and data handling. It also helps them understand their own energy use and consumption in a way that gives them more control and turns them into active players in the energy transition. It builds trust between consumers and their EMS providers, plus between EMS providers and their software.

In the energy industry, transparency is so much more than simply handing out a list detailing an EMS’s processes. It’s opening up the lid to energy and allowing others – energy players and consumers alike – to have a look around. It’s providing the answers to questions that players and consumers might not have even thought of. It’s also opening up the pathway for clear communication between all technical assets – digital and physical – so that every step of the way is clear.