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I'm working on a project for France to rollout virtual power plant flexibility with domestic electric heating. We get pressure to rapidly increase the rollout n

I'm working on a project for France to rollout virtual power plant flexibility with domestic electric heating. We get pressure to rapidly increase the rollout now. Let me know if you want to join us!

yetanother-1 5y ago
What is the project, I would like more details please.
- heyyeah 5y ago
  Here is the customer site (in french): https://economie-chauffage-electrique.tiko.fr/ https://economie-chauffage-electrique.tiko.fr/ + our B2B site (in english) which explains a bit more the platform: https://tiko.energy/ https://tiko.energy/
  - yetanother-1 5y ago
    I got it installed via engie less than a week ago. But I can only manage it through engie. Do you know if I can manage it through my own Home Assistant instance?
    - heyyeah 5y ago
      no, sorry. just through the app or website for the moment. we're looking at this though.
  - seszett 5y ago
    Is it "simply" a cloud-connected pilot wire controller? I don't really see anything about what I understand about virtual power plants. Also, why is a Linky meter necessary, shouldn't it work with any electricity meter? On another note I don't understand how pilot wires aren't more widespread outside of France. I bought my radiators in France because I couldn't find here anything that would be easy to control, and anything controllable at all was 5 to 10 times as expensive.
Faaak 5y ago
Hey heyyeah I can't see your e-mail in your profile. Could you contact me ? Cheers !
- heyyeah 5y ago
  my colleague will email you. Our careers page is https://tiko.energy/careers/ https://tiko.energy/careers/ Cheers :)
CalRobert 5y ago
That's fascinating, I haven't seen you on naturetech.io or climatebase.org, do you know a good way to find EU sustainability jobs and organisations?
johnchristopher 5y ago
It's a shot in the dark but... Erwan ?
- heyyeah 5y ago
  https://tiko.fr https://tiko.fr (FR) https://tiko.energy/ https://tiko.energy/ (EN) we have our own branded product and we also white label with energy companies
  - yetanother-1 5y ago
    I just installed it in my apartment in France, wonderful system.
  - dotancohen 5y ago
    After reading that page in its entirety, I still have no idea what this is. > Be an architect of the energy transition OK, what do I do as an architect? If I'm not university trained, do I still qualify? > A unique Home Energy Management System What is home energy management? Energy - electricity - comes into my house then straight to the fusebox. From there wires to the lights, the refrigerator, the air conditioner, the water heater. Each of those appliances I turn on when I want. Does energy management mean that this system manages when to turn them on?
edelans 5y ago
I'm curious : what is virtual power plant flexibility ?
- hkt 5y ago
  Virtual power plants are smart batteries in homes which in aggregate behave as a power plant, taking energy when it isn't in demand and supplying it when it is. It is a very strong contender for replacing gas power plants for peak load situations.
  - VaxWithSex 5y ago
    They can be more than that: https://www.emsysvpp.com/products/virtual_power_plant/technology.php https://www.emsysvpp.com/products/virtual_power_plant/techno...
    - hkt 5y ago
      Neat, TIL! Thanks
pauletienney 5y ago
Hi heyyeah. It sounds interesting. I am now in Bordeaux and looking for software job or freelance missions in energy/environement sectors. Can we talk? My email is on my profile.
- heyyeah 5y ago
  Sure, my colleague will email you. Our careers page is https://tiko.energy/careers/ https://tiko.energy/careers/
hkt 5y ago
This sounds awesome but I'm in the UK - how are you for mostly remote work with the occasional week in office? (I'm a DevOps person if that makes any difference)
VaxWithSex 5y ago
You could also join energy & meteo systems, which I presume, powers this virtual power plant.
- heyyeah 5y ago
  Yes! Daily meteo has a big impact on the domestic heating consumption
  - VaxWithSex 5y ago
    I meant the company https://www.energymeteo.com/ https://www.energymeteo.com/ that, I presume, provides the technology behind your vpp
    - heyyeah 5y ago
      no, we have our own VPP
      - VaxWithSex 5y ago
        Ah, I think I missinterpreted the `EMS` part
germinalphrase 5y ago
Are you strictly EU based or do you have a presence in the USA?
- heyyeah 5y ago
  At the moment EU but we have done some pilot projects in other regions (Australia)
konschubert 5y ago
I think your timing is great. Electricity is getting very cheap in Europe sometimes. Being able to hit this "sometimes" as often as possible, combined with reduced grid fees through load throttling, can make heat pumps economical. If heat pumps become economical, it's a game changer.
agumonkey 5y ago
old.reddit.com/r/france would probably be thrilled if you made a thread or an AMA
- skywal_l 5y ago
  I don't get the enthusiasm. It's just the old IoT radiator controller. Am I missing something here?
  - agumonkey 5y ago
    Heh, I commented before reading, it seems it's simpler than I expected too
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
thetis 5y ago
Short summary here so people can understand why this is massive in France: * (super summarized), France developped nuclear electricity back in the 70s. As a counterpart, Electric heaters were massively deployed * Electric heaters were deployed with a technology named "fil pilote": when you change the phase, you can drive the target temperature https://www.vitahabitat.fr/blog/qu-est-ce-que-le-fil-pilote-et-comment-savoir-si-vous-l-avez--n42 https://www.vitahabitat.fr/blog/qu-est-ce-que-le-fil-pilote-... * Unfortunatly, to drive the temperature, you need... something to drive it which was not deployed: you cannot plug a NEST and plugin in in a thermostat is complex * In recent years, DIY based solutions based on Home Automation or Shelly were deployed by DIY communities but hey this require high skills & dedicated server (synology like), and sometime soldering. There is no plug and play solution on the market * Heatzy.com proposed a wifi based solution but you can only do On/Off, not select a target temperature (so this is useless) So having a single wifi small box to plug on the heater to drive the target temperature is a game changer --> Since i'm looking at this market every years since 2013, it has not evolved until this post on hcknews! Very happy to see this solution coming! you made my day! (unfortunatly we're at the end of winter :))
- skywal_l 5y ago
  I don't understand why you can't just have some wiki/bluetooth/RF/powerline module that turns your electric heater on and off depending on a signal from some random home automation controller? "fil pilote" was probably useful in the 90s but it sounds outdated to me.

I'm working on a project for France to rollout virtual power plant flexibility with domestic electric heating. We get pressure to rapidly increase the rollout now. Let me know if you want to join us!

yetanother-1 5y ago

What is the project, I would like more details please.

heyyeah 5y ago
Here is the customer site (in french): https://economie-chauffage-electrique.tiko.fr/ https://economie-chauffage-electrique.tiko.fr/ + our B2B site (in english) which explains a bit more the platform: https://tiko.energy/ https://tiko.energy/
- yetanother-1 5y ago
  I got it installed via engie less than a week ago. But I can only manage it through engie. Do you know if I can manage it through my own Home Assistant instance?
  - heyyeah 5y ago
    no, sorry. just through the app or website for the moment. we're looking at this though.
- seszett 5y ago
  Is it "simply" a cloud-connected pilot wire controller? I don't really see anything about what I understand about virtual power plants. Also, why is a Linky meter necessary, shouldn't it work with any electricity meter? On another note I don't understand how pilot wires aren't more widespread outside of France. I bought my radiators in France because I couldn't find here anything that would be easy to control, and anything controllable at all was 5 to 10 times as expensive.

Faaak 5y ago

Hey heyyeah I can't see your e-mail in your profile. Could you contact me ? Cheers !

heyyeah 5y ago
my colleague will email you. Our careers page is https://tiko.energy/careers/ https://tiko.energy/careers/ Cheers :)

CalRobert 5y ago

That's fascinating, I haven't seen you on naturetech.io or climatebase.org, do you know a good way to find EU sustainability jobs and organisations?

johnchristopher 5y ago

It's a shot in the dark but... Erwan ?

heyyeah 5y ago
https://tiko.fr https://tiko.fr (FR) https://tiko.energy/ https://tiko.energy/ (EN) we have our own branded product and we also white label with energy companies
- yetanother-1 5y ago
  I just installed it in my apartment in France, wonderful system.
- dotancohen 5y ago
  After reading that page in its entirety, I still have no idea what this is. > Be an architect of the energy transition OK, what do I do as an architect? If I'm not university trained, do I still qualify? > A unique Home Energy Management System What is home energy management? Energy - electricity - comes into my house then straight to the fusebox. From there wires to the lights, the refrigerator, the air conditioner, the water heater. Each of those appliances I turn on when I want. Does energy management mean that this system manages when to turn them on?

edelans 5y ago

I'm curious : what is virtual power plant flexibility ?

hkt 5y ago
Virtual power plants are smart batteries in homes which in aggregate behave as a power plant, taking energy when it isn't in demand and supplying it when it is. It is a very strong contender for replacing gas power plants for peak load situations.
- VaxWithSex 5y ago
  They can be more than that: https://www.emsysvpp.com/products/virtual_power_plant/technology.php https://www.emsysvpp.com/products/virtual_power_plant/techno...
  - hkt 5y ago
    Neat, TIL! Thanks

pauletienney 5y ago

Hi heyyeah. It sounds interesting. I am now in Bordeaux and looking for software job or freelance missions in energy/environement sectors. Can we talk? My email is on my profile.

heyyeah 5y ago
Sure, my colleague will email you. Our careers page is https://tiko.energy/careers/ https://tiko.energy/careers/

hkt 5y ago

This sounds awesome but I'm in the UK - how are you for mostly remote work with the occasional week in office? (I'm a DevOps person if that makes any difference)

VaxWithSex 5y ago

You could also join energy & meteo systems, which I presume, powers this virtual power plant.

heyyeah 5y ago
Yes! Daily meteo has a big impact on the domestic heating consumption
- VaxWithSex 5y ago
  I meant the company https://www.energymeteo.com/ https://www.energymeteo.com/ that, I presume, provides the technology behind your vpp
  - heyyeah 5y ago
    no, we have our own VPP
    - VaxWithSex 5y ago
      Ah, I think I missinterpreted the `EMS` part

germinalphrase 5y ago

Are you strictly EU based or do you have a presence in the USA?

heyyeah 5y ago
At the moment EU but we have done some pilot projects in other regions (Australia)

konschubert 5y ago

I think your timing is great. Electricity is getting very cheap in Europe sometimes. Being able to hit this "sometimes" as often as possible, combined with reduced grid fees through load throttling, can make heat pumps economical. If heat pumps become economical, it's a game changer.

agumonkey 5y ago

old.reddit.com/r/france would probably be thrilled if you made a thread or an AMA

skywal_l 5y ago
I don't get the enthusiasm. It's just the old IoT radiator controller. Am I missing something here?
- agumonkey 5y ago
  Heh, I commented before reading, it seems it's simpler than I expected too

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

thetis 5y ago

Short summary here so people can understand why this is massive in France: * (super summarized), France developped nuclear electricity back in the 70s. As a counterpart, Electric heaters were massively deployed * Electric heaters were deployed with a technology named "fil pilote": when you change the phase, you can drive the target temperature https://www.vitahabitat.fr/blog/qu-est-ce-que-le-fil-pilote-et-comment-savoir-si-vous-l-avez--n42 https://www.vitahabitat.fr/blog/qu-est-ce-que-le-fil-pilote-... * Unfortunatly, to drive the temperature, you need... something to drive it which was not deployed: you cannot plug a NEST and plugin in in a thermostat is complex * In recent years, DIY based solutions based on Home Automation or Shelly were deployed by DIY communities but hey this require high skills & dedicated server (synology like), and sometime soldering. There is no plug and play solution on the market * Heatzy.com proposed a wifi based solution but you can only do On/Off, not select a target temperature (so this is useless) So having a single wifi small box to plug on the heater to drive the target temperature is a game changer --> Since i'm looking at this market every years since 2013, it has not evolved until this post on hcknews! Very happy to see this solution coming! you made my day! (unfortunatly we're at the end of winter :))

skywal_l 5y ago
I don't understand why you can't just have some wiki/bluetooth/RF/powerline module that turns your electric heater on and off depending on a signal from some random home automation controller? "fil pilote" was probably useful in the 90s but it sounds outdated to me.