Introduction to PEA HiVE Platform
With respect to Thailand’s Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP) 2015, the power generation from solar energy is targeted at 6,000 MW in 2036 where residential rooftop solar PV holds significant portion of it. For example, the 100 MW rooftop solar PV self-consumption pilot scheme was announced in 2016 in order to encourage the use of solar energy in residential sector. In addition, it is expected that in coming years, there will be more homes and buildings with rooftop solar PV installed as the cost of installation is steadily decreasing to be more affordable.
However, without tools to monitor energy generation from solar PV, to monitor energy consumption of loads or perhaps to control/schedule appliances, the benefits of having rooftop solar PV are untapped and most of the time owners do not make the most of it. For example, homeowners might not be at home or schedule to use an appliances when energy from solar is available. Moreover, these rooftop solar PV system and appliances inside homes/buildings inherently interacts with each other in a complex nonlinear ways. Therefore human interactions trying to optimise energy usage from solar in conjunction with energy consumption do not capture equipment and environment interactions.
PEA HiVE is an IoT platform specifically for energy management systems in homes and in buildings. The main objectives are to be able to agnostically orchestrate devices from various manufacturers where different communication technologies and protocols are used (e.g. Modbus solar inverter or Cloud-connected air conditioner). This is to have a software with applications that helps home/building owners to understand and automatically manage their energy consumption in accordance to available energy from solar rooftop with the ultimate goal to achieve net-zero energy building. With PEA HiVE, home/building owners are able to track electricity bill, energy consumption, solar PV generation, sensors as well as appliances in real-time. They can choose applications in our marketplace such as “home comfort management” to automatically fine tune temperature set point of AC as well as dimmable lamps to help save and minimize their electricity bills. There are four software layers of PEA HiVE platform :
(1) user interface
(2) application
(3) operating system
(4) device connectivity
in which software and hardware developers can contribute to our source code repository (e.g., developing demand response application for home/building or making new sensors with communication over MQTT protocol)
With the introduction of Internet of Things (IoT), connected sensors and smart devices are getting cheaper and more available in the markets. PEA HiVE aims to be an open-source, open-architecture IoT platform that is able to work with devices from various vendors as well as hardware makers.
PEA HiVE is engineered to work with different communication technologies: such as Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), Serial (RS-485), ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4), and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) and different communication protocols: MQTT, BACnet, Modbus, Web, ZigBee API, OpenADR, and OCPP. [1]
We also published article on Bangkok Post on “unstoppably, PEA is now developing the “As Thailand 4.0 progresses PEA is now developing the PEA HiVE” smart home platform”
Here is our commercial ads that you can learn more what PEA HiVE does.
Here is real implementation for Blockchain energy trading among Smart Buildings at Sisaengtham School, Ubon Ratchahani, Thailand
For more information please contact smarthome.pea@gmail.com or visit our Facebook Fan Page at https://www.facebook.com/peahiveplatform/
or contact
Dr. Warodom Khamphanchai
Lead IoT Platform Developer
Research Division, Power Research and Development Department
Provincial Electricity Authority, Thailand
Email: warodom.kha@pea.co.th
Cell: +66–9516–15011
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kwarodom
