Smart houses and commercial buildings require careful management of utilities, mostly electricity, to both supply smart appliances and to regulate electrical distribution properly. A significant new system for energy management in residential construction is coming online.
Schneider Electric, a leader in digital energy management and automation, has introduced its Square D Energy Center smart panel for purchase in California, with nationwide availability expected in 2023. A first-to-market innovation, the Square D Energy Center is designed for installation in new residential construction projects. This comes as California’s real estate market remains strong with more than 64,000 units of single-family residential construction projected to start over the course of 2022.
The Square D Energy Center seamlessly provides the convergence, scalability, and optimization of residential distributed energy resources. Part of Schneider’s “Grid-to-Plug” program designed to create a true home electrical ecosystem that provides transparency and digital control, the Square D Energy Center is the cornerstone of this ecosystem providing greater energy resiliency and sustainability by integrating utility power, solar, battery backup, generator power, and even EV charging into a single connected panel.
As California builders continue to meet the demands of the state’s housing market, this innovation will help them reduce installation time and cost, while meeting evolving building codes, like Title 24, requiring new homes have solar panels and to be wired for battery backup systems. More than just a smart energy panel, this solution empowers homeowners to take an active role in their home energy management, conveniently through the Wiser Energy app. Energy use can be monitored in real time, usage costs can be compared to utility rates for optimal savings, and power sources can be easily changed to battery or generator backup sources ensuring energy resiliency.
The Energy Center combines multiple electrical components into a single cabinet, allowing the device to be wired in less time and with fewer materials, to provide a better offering to the homeowner, and a greater benefit to the bottom line of the builder. The future-proof design also reduces installation time for adding other components, including battery backup or EV chargers, further increasing installation efficiency when those elements are needed.”
In addition to the Square D Energy Center, the Schneider Electric Grid-to-Plug solution includes the Wiser Energy Home Power Monitor, delivering reatime insight into the energy use and appliance functionality, and the X and DX series of connected wiring devices, offering new levels of control and intelligence with power monitoring at the plug level.
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