Sunamp in partnership with Vcharge

[Triassic]

I see that Sunsmp and Ovo energy have announced a partnership with Vcharge.

 

According to the blurb....

 

”VCharge is OVO’s proprietary platform and the first system of its kind. VCharge is a highly scalable, intelligent technology platform that captures the value of flexibility present in domestic assets of different types. VCharge remotely connects distributed flexible electrical devices (electric vehicles, home batteries, storage heaters) and uses a range of market, device and customer preferences to determine the most appropriate actions to maximise value.  VCharge provides the intelligence and control necessary to symbiotically react to changes in demand and supply, enabling our transition to a cheaper and low carbon energy system.”

 

Any thought on its applicability to Self Build pioneers?

[ProDave]

And that quote gets "gobbledegook of 2018 award"

 

Anyone care to have a guess at what it actually means?

[Barney12]

5 minutes ago, ProDave said:

And that quote gets "gobbledegook of 2018 award"

 

Anyone care to have a guess at what it actually means?

 

Who knows but for the full feature set you probably need to fit a din rail timer to switch it off and on again each morning.  

[Triassic]

Sun amp and Ovo have just got a £1.6 million Government grant to develop the technology.

 

Just found Some further info on the subject

 

https://www.vcharge-energy.com/

 

Sunamp  and Ovo have put out a joint statement 

 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-newsroom/press-releases/2018/december/cheaper-cleaner-smarter-ovo-and-sunamp-secure-funding-to-transform-how-we-heat-our-homes.html

Edited December 22, 2018 by Triassic

[Simplysimon]

going by the v-charge page, someone who can talk a good game has had a good idea and is now looking for people to bring it to fruition.

[ProDave]

14 hours ago, Simplysimon said:

going by the v-charge page, someone who can talk a good game has had a good idea and is now looking for people to bring it to fruition.

Yep, I have read it again and am still none the wiser, and I regard myself as reasonably intelligent. 

 

When you drop in a word like "Symbiotic" into the description, that to me is a "bamboozle alert"

 

I suspect they mean it only charges the Sun Amps when green, low or zero carbon electricity is available, if that is the case, why not say that?

[Jeremy Harris]

26 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Yep, I have read it again and am still none the wiser, and I regard myself as reasonably intelligent. 

 

When you drop in a word like "Symbiotic" into the description, that to me is a "bamboozle alert"

 

I suspect they mean it only charges the Sun Amps when green, low or zero carbon electricity is available, if that is the case, why not say that?

 

The misuse of language like this also sets off a similar reaction with me.  Symbiotic has a specific and unrelated  meaning ( the giveaway is the last part, "biotic", from the Greek, referring to living organisms or life itself), specifically the beneficial relationship two living organisms may have when living in close proximity to each other and sharing resources.  To the best of my knowledge, there are no living organisms associated with either of these products/services (apart from the human users).

 

I do wish that plain English would be used as the base standard for documents like this, as it would make understanding what on earth the writer was trying to convey to readers a great deal simpler.

 

As for charging a Sunamp only from renewable energy, then frankly they need to fix the outstanding problem with their control system in order to make that a reality.  Having to fudge the damn thing by turning it off, then on again, every day, just to allow it to perform its primary function in our application is not fit for purpose, in my view.  I have now acquired a slim (17.5mm wide) DIN rail mount time switch, and will be fitting that inside the control box in the new year, to automate the reset procedure that I'm currently having to do manually every morning.

[scottishjohn]

"I do wish that plain English would be used as the base standard for documents like this, as it would make understanding what on earth the writer was trying to convey to readers a great deal simpler."

I feel the reason is simple --like politicans --don,t want to be specific as that could  be used against them if they siad anything definative 

they have to leave plenty of wriggle room to back track as required

[ProDave]

Yes but how many customers would buy this when promised a "symbiotic relationship" compared to how many would buy it if they were just promised that by clever grid controls it would only use low or no carbon renewable energy to run the heating system?

 

There was also some waffle about bolstering the grid which to me meant exporting power to the grid to cover short term shortages, but if my understanding is correct, please tell me how they do that from a Sun Amp?

[vfrdave]

I seen this announced on their Facebook page and asked about the no charge until at least 50% depleted, this is the response:-

"There are multiple settings. Not able to go into the details just now (Technical team are on holiday) but there are settings designed to work best with solar PV self-consumption controllers."