The ability to remotely manage energy systems is increasingly important in South Africa, as residential and commercial installation of off-grid generation, backup energy and storage systems is fast becoming the norm.
The race towards developing a homogenous operating system, capable of multiple functions and operations is driving developers to arrive at solutions that appeal across the board.
ApexOS (Operating System) is the innovative new software from leading energy solutions manufacturer APEX, a subsidiary of sustainable technology company Rubicon. “ApexOS is going to be a gamechanger,” says Nick Roche, Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Rubicon. “ApexOS has been designed to deliver unparalleled remote control and monitoring capabilities for any device using it.”
“ApexOS is a huge step forward in the world of energy management and control,” explains Roche. “We designed it from the ground up, specifically to facilitate cloud monitoring and control of renewable energy-related products. We currently design and manufacture a range of products, from residential batteries, inverters and geyser controllers, to microgrid controllers for commercial battery energy storage applications. ApexOS is used in all of the latest generation of these products, and it gives us a powerful communications interface, as well as a suite of tools on the devices.”
In terms of energy management, ApexOS does not actually do the management – instead, it enables that functionality. “Devices with ApexOS are now ready to be controlled by our remote energy management cloud software and tools – APEX Cloud Services,” explains the CPO. These include remote monitoring and control for individual devices, fleet management, and cloud-based intelligence such as making the devices loadshedding aware or site optimisation.
“Practically speaking, we can now tell the device what we want it to do – charge, discharge, join a Virtual Power Plant (VPP), dump loads, change modes and so on. For example, if we are in a situation where the loadshedding schedule suddenly changes to level 6, we can either manually or automatically reconfigure a device to respond appropriately to ensure continuity of supply,” says Roche.
This feature helps to manage some of the challenges caused by loadshedding. “When a loadshedding event ends and power is restored, every appliance in your neighbourhood wants to use that power supply. In particular, all the geysers that have been off for two hours will try to reheat at the same time, which is a significant collective load on the grid. A new problem that is massively adding to that is all the backup systems that have been added to the networks, which will also try to recharge at the same time once power has been restored,” says Roche. “Distribution networks are subjected to massive spikes in demand that they were never designed to handle, and that is, at best, causing municipalities to pay large notified maximum demand penalties, and at worst, causing damage.”
Using ApexOS and Apex Cloud Services’ smart load resumption, these loads can be managed, protecting power infrastructure and ensuring a smoother, acceptable grid load.
ApexOS includes some other tools to help users. ApexOS-equipped devices have a local Wi-Fi hotspot that hosts a webpage for local monitoring and control, as well as device configuration. This helps when the internet is either not available at all or is temporarily down – it allows you to still be in control.
When asked if this technology can be used if a client is using non-APEX hardware, Roche responds, “We have developed a hardware solution for that – we call it our ‘EDGE’ device. It is agnostic, so we can connect it to many popular brands – inverters, batteries and gensets can benefit from many of the same features.”
Proudly South African
ApexOS is designed, coded and tested in South Africa. “Our team designed the software to perform tasks and functions that a couple of years ago were unheard of,” says Roche. “We started designing ApexOS for our geyser controller originally. It took about two years’ worth of coding at our head office in Cape Town. Our cloud development team is based in Port Elizabeth, and it has been a massive collaborative effort.”
What sets ApexOS apart is that it is firmware – software resident on the microcontrollers of the device. “All of our new generation products, whether commercial or residential, now run ApexOS,” says Roche, adding, “What may be different, though, is the APEX cloud interface, depending on the device. For example, a geyser controller has an end-user-friendly interface, while the microgrid controller has a more engineering-centric layout.”
To make the most of this product, Roche adds that “understanding the basic features such as fleet control, VPP participation, and secure communications will enable installers or resellers to effectively promote this technology for use in projects with these needs”.
Staying up to date
Users can easily stay up to date with upgrades, says Roche. “When there is a new feature, for example, you will get a notification, or you can configure your system to automatically download and install updates. Software design does not stand still – we continually develop it, and we add new functionality all the time. If there is a security patch or critical update, we will probably push it automatically to devices.”
Roche concludes, “ApexOS combined with APEX Cloud Services is a massive step forward in terms of function and operability, and we think that it is going to make working with our devices not only easier, but more fulfilling as users customise their homes and offices to deliver the best experience possible.”
