Archived Forum

Dear OpenEnergyMonitor Community!

We are looking for some bright people (individuals or a group) who can build, program and customize 60 pcs. of energy monitoring sets (for AC voltage/current with time-stamp) for a Swiss demonstration project in distributed grid storage. This is a paid job.

InGrid is a Swiss start-up in the business of distributed grid storage. (http://www.ingridag.com) We are about to begin a demonstration project in autumn 2014 with 25 pcs. of mobile battery storage trailers, equipped with a battery (23 kWh) and a bidirectional inverter (12 kW) and our InGrid Box, which controls the charging and discharging of the battery by the inverter and does "grid-friendly" integration of renewable energies.  -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp8rbgB3nkI

The demonstration project layout: See: http://ingridag.com/cms/index.php?d-ingrid-ag-demonstrationsprojekt

This 25 storage sets shall move during 1.5 years 3 to 4 times to different grid knots (or grid "situations") where we will measure and demonstrate the added value of InGrid distributed grid storage. Of course we have to demonstrate this by measuring power flows and voltage.

The open energy monitoring system seems interesting.

What we need:

• 230V/400V and 50 Hz equipment
• For each of the 25 trailers located at very different places (most of them equipped with PV-production)
  • 3-phase voltage and current measurement with a time-stamp in the household where the trailer is plugged-in (power flows out of the house and into the house -> power flow direction must be detectable)
  • 3-phase current measurement with a time stamp of the PV-production
• For calibrating the voltage and current measurement by the inverter in the trailer: 3 rather precise measurement sets, which can be integrated in the trailer
• For 10 MV/LV-Transformator stations: voltage and current measurements with a time-stamp on the LV-side and of the branches to which the battery trailers are connected to

What we then need is  a "thing" that reads the measurement data of energy monitoring system and stores it onto some SD disk or similar. We do not have to visualize or control anything for the moment. Just pure and reliable data acquisition. We will collect the SD cards all few months and load this data onto a professional database, where we will evaluate the data.

Open questions:

• What would be the precision of this measurement devices? (precision of current / voltage measurements and of time deviation)
• One log every second?
• Can the time-stamp somehow be synchronized among the devices, so that we have time-synchronized readings of the energy flows and the voltage?
• I don't think we need internet or GPRS access to the measurement devices. But perhaps you have other ideas?

Finances:

1. We buy all material and equipment necessary
2. We pay the development and integration work necessary
3. We have a budget for this.

Open Innovation: This development can be used and further developed for:

• "GridSpy" = distributed LV-grid monitoring (voltage measurements with time stamp -> send values or alarms to the utility (overvoltage problems caused by PV-production).
• Vizualization Software of grid status collecting measurement values of the GridSpy monitors -> Utilities are blind in the LV-grid today. As PV-Production grows, LV-grid problems grow with it. Such a monitoring system would help a lot (and if it's low cost, then no question to buy it immediately.
• Integration of the "GridSpy" in the InGrid-Box
• .....(up to your fantasy)

How would we proceed?

• Prototype measurement-set for evaluation in May/June 2014
• If reliable, precise enough, and according to specification: Build 60 sets in July/August

Interested in contributing to the energy future? Then please send a mail to max.ursin(at)ingridag.com

Best regards

Max