LUCID Boiler Module
Smart Boiler Module to enable peak shaving
Retrofit IoT-solution that manages existing boilers to convert surplus energy from the energy grid into on-demand warm water for smart citizens.
Makes existing hot water systems / boilers ‘smart’. This retrofit solution developed by TWTG and Eneco can be attached to existing installations at the personal residences of smart citizens. Thanks to its cellular connectivity, it can shutdown or wake up on demand. This enables storing (surplus) energy in the boiler when needed on sunny or windy days to perform “peak shaving”. As an added bonus, customers can proactively choose to use renewable energy sources to help both the environment and balancing the energy grid.
Our electricity network needs to be more resilient in the coming years in order to cope with the fluctuations due to solar- and wind energy
Evert Jan Althuis Innovation Lead at Eneco
The power of 600 windmills combined
“Our electricity network needs to be more resilient in the coming years in order to cope with the fluctuations due to solar- and wind energy. Aggravate the grid is costly, that’s why we look at innovations that brings supply and demand together. The bigger residential power users are most interesting, because all electric hot water boiler combined, use over the same amount of energy as 600 windmills can generate.”
– Evert Jan Althuis, Innovation Lead at Eneco
The dealing room can take control
Most of existing hot water boilers work by turning them on and off at specific times. The Smart Boiler Module works a little differently. It can turn on the boiler when it’s running out of hot water. But more importantly, it can be turned on and off when a lot of renewable, surplus energy is available in the grid network.
That’s where the dealing room takes control of the system. When the energy grid contains high amounts of surplus energy, due to high winds or generous amounts of sunlight, this peak of energy can be stored at consumer residences who’ll be needing this energy at some point in the near future or, most importantly, hot water shortly after. This solution is durable, smart and conserves energy resources.
This combination of hardware and software is done through “Peeeks”.
Accelerating the energy transition with Home Energy Management
TWTG mentioned in Delta-EE Whitepaper
Go to Delta EE websiteDeliver warm water based on customer needs
The Smart Boiler-Module uses a 2G cellular connection, but is future-ready with LTE-M built-in (no client Wi-Fi is needed – ever). The Smart Boiler Module is made to survive together with the life expectancy of the boiler, or perhaps even longer. Plus, installation is very easy and can be done within 30 minutes.
By leveraging the current temperature of the boiler combined with customer specific usage – the dashboard guides energy to specific boiler locations, automatically. The Smart Boiler-Module communicates its current status to the back-end, and thus can be switched on remotely.
Technical details
Functionality:
- Determine current energy stored in boiler;
- Bypass / control (switch) boiler.
- Button (front) is used to turn on the boiler manually
- Install time: >30 minutes
- Provisioning: QR-code inside, retrofit installation on-site
- Operating temperature: 0°C to +45°C (32°F to +113°F)
- Wireless protocols: (cellular) GPRS, (cellular) LTE-M
- Firmware: remote FW-updates over the air (OtA)
- Expected lifetime: 10 years
- Dimensions: 168mm (height) x 170mm (width) x 42mm (depth)
