Best Practices for Scalable Energy Management Systems
How Open Platforms and Smart Software Are Accelerating the Energy Transition
The energy transition poses complex challenges for companies: different protocols and a lack of standards make it difficult to integrate energy producers, consumers, storage facilities, and meters.
Boris Crismancich (Business Development Manager at KUNBUS), Jochen Marwede (CEO of Wendeware AG), and podcast host Madeleine Mickeleit discuss how intelligent software can overcome this complexity with flexible hardware in the IoT Use Case Podcast Interview.
From Solar Systems to Energy Systems
“At the beginning of the energy transition, the entire market was busy trying to procure solar modules,” recalls Boris Crismancich.
“Then the question arose: What do we do with the renewable electricity now?” This is precisely where the partnership between Revolution Pi and Wendeware comes in.
Wendeware has been developing intelligent energy management systems since 2011 (originally at Fraunhofer ITWM). Its AMPERIX® platform orchestrates energy flows between photovoltaic systems, battery storage units, wall boxes, heat pumps, and other assets.
The challenge: Every manufacturer implements protocols differently.
“We have to write a driver for every device we connect, similar to printer drivers,” says Marwede, explaining the complex integration work.
To cope with this variety of protocols, a flexible hardware platform is essential as a basis.
Flexibility is Crucial
“Revolution Pi is the system that enables energy management solution providers to address everything they encounter in their customer projects,” explains Crismancich.
The open platform integrates protocols such as:
- Modbus RTU and TCP
- CAN bus
- Wireless M-Bus for meters
- OCPP for e-charging stations
- BACnet for building automation
- PROFINET, EtherCAT, and more
“When the question came up how to set up our energy management system in the commercial sector, Revolution Pi's industrial-grade Raspberry Pi was a tremendous step forward,” explains Jochen Marwede.
Several factors played a role in the search for the right hardware:
"We searched very thoroughly. In KUNBUS, we found a partner that had already proven itself in industrial automation and manufactures according to ISO 9001.
The product quality is superb, as you can see when you open up a device and compare it with others."
Best Practices for Scalable Energy Management Solutions
In the IoT Use Case Podcast interview, Boris Crismancich and Jochen Marwede also share important lessons learned from their many years of practical experience:
1. Invest Time in Architecture Decisions Early On
“We are currently looking at solutions with Docker containers,” reveals Marwede. Containerization enables better separation of the operating system and the application software.
This makes it easier to scale and update systems and run them in different environments.
2. From Rapid Prototyping to Industrial Solutions
“Rapid prototyping on the Raspberry Pi and then industrialization on the Revolution Pi,” says Crismancich, summarizing the ideal development path.
Revolution Pi's Raspberry Pi OS-based operating system speeds up development:
“There are ready-made software solutions for almost every cloud connection, every mathematical problem, every machine learning topic, etc., that can be used on the Revolution Pi,” explains Crismancich.
3. Consider Cybersecurity From the Outset
With regard to the Cyber Resilience Act, a well-maintained operating system with secure boot and Trusted Platform Module (TPM 2.0) support is becoming increasingly important, adds Crismancich.
The Future of Connected Systems
The trend is moving away from optimizing individual devices toward holistic system optimization across batteries, charging solutions, and other assets. Marwede describes key questions for the future:
"There are many exciting topics:
- Where do the signals come from?
- Who determines what should happen?
- How do we bring together decentralized energy assets with central decision-makers such as grid operators?"
The partnership between Revolution Pi and Wendeware shows that open, modular hardware platforms and intelligent software can be used to master the complexity of the energy transition – reliably, scalably, and with future-proof solutions.
Read the Whole Interview
Read the whole interview (audio podcast available in German) with many more technical details, practical examples, and insights into specific projects:
Revolution Pi for Your Energy Solution?
Numerous companies rely on Revolution Pi as flexible, industrial-grade hardware for their energy solutions.
The open Linux platform offers you complete freedom in application development.
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