CE Pro October 2023 - 50

TECHNOLOGY
Power Management
automatically disconnected
or reduced during a mains
power outage.
Savant has heavily
invested in battery backup
systems and offers close integration
with their battery
systems, enabling batteries
to store and supply power
as needed to manage consumption
and demand, as
well as prevent outages.
As utility rates go up, and
with utilities trying to limit
peak demands to avoid
new power plant construction,
there is a need
to adopt creative energy
management to manage
costs. Batteries can be an
important part of these
strategies, but the overall
management can be far too
complex for most users.
Integration of all sources
and power loads into a single
system can manage everything
far better, deciding
when to charge batteries
and electric vehicles, when
to reduce or cut off loads,
and when to draw power
from the grid automatically
and dynamically.
Backup generators are
another key component.
They can provide large
amounts of power for extended
periods, relying on
locally stored fuel or natural
gas. Generator power is not
dependent on sun or wind,
so it is always available, but
it is expensive and noisy to
operate. It does not run in
sync with the grid power, so
it requires a transfer switch
to isolate it from the grid.
Backup generators can be
permanently installed, or a
portable generator may be
plugged in when needed.
Permanently installed
50 | CE Pro October 2023
Another technology innovation that has been critical to
the advancement of energy management happens at the
breaker boxes, whether it's smart modules or devices that
loop into the systems for programming.
ed adversely during the
transition. A UPS or battery
backup should be provided
for sensitive electronics
such as computers, network
equipment, and AV devices.
Some of the smart
breaker panels will support
a variety of generator
connections, but many offer
only limited support. Homes
that include grid power,
Surge protection is
critical, but only solves part
of the problem. Surge protection
should be installed
in layers, with primary
protection at the service
entrance to block and
weaken major surges, then
additional lower-threshold
protection downline
to protect more sensitive
electronics. Whole-home
units such as the Generac
Guardian (generac.com)
run on either natural gas
or propane, while portable
generators more often
use gasoline or propane.
Portable generators need
to be started when power
goes out, but most installed
units will start and
transfer automatically.
Transferring from grid
power to a generator may
take a few seconds, and
may be accompanied by
surges, noise, and voltage
fluctuations, so sensitive
electronics may be affectsolar/wind,
batteries, and a
generator require complex
design engineering and
management, but having
the ability to manage them
all allows for robust power
availability at a minimum
operating cost.
Power Quality Impacts
System Design
Decisions
With the proliferation of
sensitive electronic components
throughout most
homes, especially high-tech
homes, power quality is an
increasingly vital issue.
surge suppressors are
available from a variety of
manufacturers and are also
available to plug into many
load centers.
Grid power, although
generally reliable in most
areas, can suffer from noise,
surges, brownouts, and
other more insidious disturbances
that most surge
protectors cannot protect
against. Solar or wind power
sources are variable by
nature, and battery power
and generators have limitations.
In addition, switching
between alternate power
sources can induce serious
glitches on the power feed
to all devices. Most UPS
systems, while protecting
from complete loss of power
to protected loads, only
offer limited immunity to
such spurious power issues.
That's why some companies
offer systems to completely
isolate power within
a home from these disturbances.
Rosewater Energy
Group (rosewaterenergy.
com) has their SB20 Energy
Hub, for example, which
has redundant systems
to provide high reliability
and can be provided with
extended battery packs for
long outages.
They do it by creating a
large online UPS system
where the various sources
of power are used to
charge banks of batteries,
then the battery power
feeds inverters to regenerate
120v/240v clean 60Hz
sine-wave power that is
decoupled from the grid
and other sources. They are
designed to store enough
power to prevent blackouts
even under extended
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CE Pro October 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro October 2023
