Written by Duncan Nicol, Sales & Marketing Manager- Device Connections

The energy market is changing rapidly as the cost of renewables and battery technology continues to fall. As a result it is becoming more cost effective to generate and store electricity locally to where the demand is.

With this trend towards local production and consumption, the technology is evolving to connect this local grid together.

Take a home solar/storage solutions as an example. The solar panels will be connected to an inverter which in turn will be connected to a meter (to measure solar generation) and then to the domestic AC grid (or ring main).  A battery storage unit will also be connected to the domestic grid to store energy from the solar panels for use at night.

There will also be a utility meter and cloud connectivity for data collection used for billing and system management. In the near future there will also be vehicle to grid connectivity to make better use of the electric vehicles battery.

Connectivity is at the heart of this new local grid approach, and at Phoenix Contact we have a wide range of solutions to meet these new demands, from power to data and signal.

For more information, contact Duncan on 07799 072059 or email dnicol@phoenixcontact.com