Inverter Control: Solis AI & More

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Inverter Control: Solis AI & More

Overview

As energy prices fluctuate and renewable generation grows, managing when and how you use electricity has never been more important. Smart inverter control helps households and businesses save money, boost comfort, and reduce their environmental footprint by automatically adjusting energy usage to real-time conditions. In this guide, we’ll explore the different control modes available with Solis inverters – from the fully automatic Solis AI to semi-automatic and manual options – and show you how to activate, monitor, and configure them for maximum efficiency.

Table of content:

• When is Smart Control interesting?
• Solis AI (Fully Automatic & Recommended Mode)
• How to activate Solis AI
• Monitoring Solis Cloud
• Self-Use (Semi-automatic)
• Revenue Maximization (Semi-automatic)
• Timed Plans (Fully Manual)

When is Smart Control interesting?

Smart Control helps you use your energy more efficiently – saving money, increasing comfort, and reducing your ecological footprint.

Important: To make full use of Smart Control, you need a Dynamic energy contract. With such a contract, energy prices change every hour/quarter, and Smart Control automatically chooses the cheapest or most sustainable moments to run your appliances. 

The end customer is fully responsible for obtaining a suitable dynamic energy contract.

Smart Control is especially interesting in the following situations:

Maximize the use of your self-generated power by automatically switching on appliances when solar production is high.

With a dynamic contract, Smart Control runs your appliances during the cheapest hours.

Charge your car at the most cost-effective and sustainable times.

Avoid peak consumption and make the best use of cheap or self-generated electricity.

Smart Control takes care of planning and switching, so you don’t have to worry about it.

In short: Smart Control is the right choice if you want to make the most of renewable energy, lower your costs, and have a dynamic energy contract.

Solis AI (Fully Automatic & Recommended Mode)

Solis AI is an advanced energy management system that automatically optimizes energy storage and output based on multiple variables. The system uses real- time data and predictive models to continuously adjust the operation of the installation. 

Note!

SolisAI may need up to 4 weeks to fully learn your household’s consumption patterns. During this learning period, the control may not always be fully optimized. 

The main features of Solis AI are:

The system takes into account the expected solar radiation and adjusts the battery charging strategy accordingly.

Solis AI learns the user's consumption pattern and anticipates future consumption needs.

Based on the Day-Ahead market or other dynamic tariff models, the system can charge at low or negative prices and discharge at high rates.

The system respects set import and export limits to avoid peak loads and stay within grid conditions.

In case of negative electricity prices, the system can limit PV production to prevent injection, and this avoid additional costs.

These functionalities ensure that the system continuously optimizes energy storage and usage, with the aim of maximizing operational efficiency and minimizing costs.

How to activate Solis AI?

When setting Solis AI, you can first set the Dynamic Tariff:

The system works on the basis of dynamic electricity prices, whereby rates for the coming day are automatically loaded. 

Please note! These values are important for the correct functioning of the control system.

Dynamic Tariff

The tariff provider and region are automatically filled in based on the location of the installation. It is also possible to adjust the unit of the tariiffs.

You can choose between Euro/MWh and Euro/kWh. (100 Euro/MWh = 0.10 Euro/kWh)

Actual Price Calculation

With the Actual Price Calculation, you can add an offset to the dynamic prices. This is possible for both purchase and sales rates, and there are two ways to apply it: using a formula or a fixed value.

Fixed Value:

The fixed value is intended for users who work with a fixed rate, for both sales and purchases.

Formula:

When using a formula, you will see components such as Coefficient and Fixed Value:

Coefficient: This allows you to add a percentage-based offset to the dynamic price. An offset represents additional costs on top of the dynamic price, such as transportation costs or VAT.

Example: if the coefficient is changed from the default 1 to 1.1, instead of using the dynamic price, 110% of the dynamic price will be applied.

Net Price: This is the effective dynamic price, for example, the EPEX price.

Fixed Value: This is a fixed amount that can be added to the dynamic price.

Example: 

For Belgium and Netherlands, this is usually around €120/MWh or €0.12/kWh for purchase, and €0/MWh for injection. e.g.: Coefficient = 1    Price = 150 Euro/MWh 

Formula Example:

Purchase Tariff: 1 x EPEX price + 150 euros/MWh

→ In this case, we will always use the EPEX price + 150 euro/MWh. 

Feed-In Tariff: 1 x EPEX price + 0 euro/MWh

→ In this case, we use the pure EPEX price.

1. Allow PV Export to the Grid (Injection)

This setting allows the system to inject electricity into the grid. A maximum power limit can also be set. For Solis AI to function properly, it is strongly recommended that you enable it.

• Enable: Yes/No
• Maximum Active Power Limit for Grid Export: 10 kW

2. Peak Shaving

Peak shaving flattens large spikes in your electricity consumption. In Belgium, this helps limit your peak usage and reduces costs under the capacity tariƯ.

• Enable: Yes/No
• Maximum Active Power Limit for Grid Import: 5 kW

3. Allow Battery Charging from the Grid

This setting allows the system to charge the battery from the grid when it is advantageous. For Solis AI to function properly, it is strongly recommended that you enable it.

Automatic inverter behaviour under negative Dynamic Pricing:

1. When prices are between 0 and the negative offset → The inverter will automatically limit export to 0 W to the grid.
2. When prices fall below the negative offset → The system will automatically perform a complete PV shutdown.

Monitoring Solis Cloud

First of all, you will see that Solis AI is activated (ON).

In the interface, you will find the following tabs, shown in the graph below

 1: Operating Data

 2: TOU Tariff (Dynamic Tariff)

 3: Earnings

4: Energy Management

1. Here you can track what Solis AI has planned for the rest of the day.
2. Below the graph, you will also find an explanation of why the system made these decisions.

Self-Use (Semi-automatic)

In Self-Use mode, the system operates semi-automatically:

• The battery is charged during the cheapest hours.
• Your dependence on the grid is reduced.

Revenue Maximization (Semi-automatic)

In Peak-Valley Arbitrage mode, the system works semi-automatically. The battery is controlled based on dynamic tariffs to maximize profits by trading on the market.

Operating Logic

• Export when the price is higher than:
  1. A percentage of the average daily tariff
  2. A fixed tariff

• Charge (purchase) when the price is lower than:
  1. A percentage of the average daily tariff
  2. A fixed tariff

• Operating mode when the price lies between the set charge and discharge thresholds:
  1. Self-Use 
  2. Stand-by

By configuring the settings as shown in the figure above, the system works as follows:

• Below €100/MWh: The battery charges from the grid, with a maximum consumption of 8 kW , determined by the set import limit .
• Between 100 - 250 €/MWh: The system switches to self-use and optimizes local energy use.
• Above €250/MWh: If there is still energy in the battery, the system injects maximum back into the grid to benefit from the high rates.
• At negative rates: The injection is automatically limited so that no energy is returned to the grid.

These smart settings allow the system to respond dynamically to price fluctuations, ensuring maximum savings and optimal energy management.

Timed Plans (Fully Manual)

The Timed plans can be completed via the Solis Cloud.

• Set charge and discharge times or standby
• Enable/Disable per time slot and per day
• Determine the charging or discharging capacity 
• PV Shutdown
• Enable/disable DO (SGR contact)