Networkinig of heat pumps and PV to optimize own-consumption of solar energy

At Intersolar – the world's largest specialist trade fair for the solar industry taking place in Munich from 4th to 6th June – Bosch Power Tec will present its intelligent networked solutions that use both electrical and thermal energy, such as photovoltaic systems with leading-edge heat-pump technology. These considerably increase the amount of solar power used directly in the home, which also reduces users' electricity bills at the same time.

Heat pumps need electrical drive energy in order to extract heat from the air, water or soil and convert it into energy for use in central heating systems or hot water supplies. The Bosch energy management system detects the energy consumed by the heat pump and, if the solar irradiation is sufficient, covers this amount using solar power.

The heart of the intelligent control system is the e.Control, a control unit that is connected to the household electricity meter and detects the energy flows around the home. The system is designed so that supplying the consumers that are currently running in the household is prioritised at all times. If energy is also generated by the photovoltaic system with a Bosch inverter, the e.Control sends a signal to the heat pump to heat up the hot water storage tank. The result is optimum usage of solar energy, as this prevents the additional photovoltaic energy from being fed into the public electricity grid at low tariff rates. It also relieves the burden on the public electricity grid.

If the customer requires it, the BPT-S 5 Hybrid solar-energy storage solution can also be integrated into this energy system to further increase their own consumption of the electricity generated by their photovoltaic system. This is because the accumulator continues to provide the heat pump with a reliable supply of electricity, even when there is little sunlight or after the sun has set.

If the storage system is integrated into the network, surplus electricity is stored in the powerful lithium-ion batteries before a signal is sent to the heat pump. The heat pump must have an interface in accordance with the specifications of the "SG Ready" label in order for this to work. Electrical energy is converted into thermal energy by the hot water storage tank heating up. This increases the capacity of the energy stored, which means that users of a system networked in this way are largely energy-independent and consume very little electricity from the public grid.

Bosch Power Tec will be demonstrating this solution with a heat pump from Junkers, a Bosch Thermotechnology company, live at Intersolar.

New Bosch BPT-S series inverters offer not only outstanding performance and quality but also numerous benefits to installers and end customers.

As the only solar inverters on the global market, the inverters feature an RFID interface for contactless data transfer, for example. All data relevant to initial start-up is saved on the e.Key, which is only about the size of a credit card. When the installer holds this against the inverter, all the data is transferred correctly in a matter of seconds and then the inverter is ready to go. The menus can also be navigated contactlessly by gesture control. A particular advantage of gesture control is its long service life, as the interface is weather-resistant and does not use any electromechanical components.

The new Bosch inverter series is integrated into the "e.World" communication system, which offers installers and system operators a wealth of options from system planning to monitoring.

With the Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid storage system, the self-reliance level of a four-person household can be increased to 75% or more – even without being used in combination with a heat pump. During the summer months it is thus possible to achieve 100 % independence from the public electricity grid. Thanks to its extremely high charging and discharging power and the high-performance batteries with lithium-ion technology, this system is one of the most efficient on the market. Long-term tests by independent research institutes have shown that, in terms of service life, Bosch-system batteries are vastly superior to all other alternatives and continue to put in a reliable performance even after well over 20 years in use – without maintenance and without the efficiency of the system decreasing. As the only system on the market, the BPT-S 5 Hybrid is component-certified and therefore meets the very highest requirements for safety.

Visit us at Intersolar at stand 310 in hall B3.