What Is an Energy Management System and How Is PowerFlex X Different?

As companies aim to lower operating expenses, reduce their carbon footprint, and enhance energy efficiency, many are adopting cleantech solutions such as solar energy, battery storage, and electric vehicle charging. To fully optimize financial and environmental benefits, it's crucial to implement an energy management system (EMS) alongside these assets. However, not all energy management systems are the same.

PowerFlex X is more than just an energy management system — it’s an energy management platform that provides real-time insights and intelligent control of all energy assets installed at a site. Let’s learn more about why facilities need to consider investing in an EMS, what makes PowerFlex X unique, and how the platform sets your business up for long-term success.

What Is an Energy Management System?

An energy management system (EMS) uses computer-aided tools to monitor, control, and optimize Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), which include cleantech assets like solar panels and EV charging stations. An EMS combines hardware and software components with a central controller installed on site to communicate with DERs and gather operational data. This data is processed by software, which optimizes energy generation and consumption. An EMS typically stores historical data for reporting and analysis, helping facilities improve asset performance and track sustainability progress. Overall, an EMS provides a comprehensive solution for managing energy use effectively.

Common EMS Functions vs. PowerFlex X

An energy management system operates seamlessly in the background to help the cleantech assets you have installed on your property perform to their full potential. Here are just a few common functions of an EMS and how PowerFlex X goes even further.

Data Acquisition & Communication

In order for a facility to operate efficiently, there needs to be a steady stream of data from equipment like meters and sensors, as well as communication between energy assets. An EMS is essential for facilitating these interactions. It helps each element of a clean energy system talk to each other, talk to a broader network like an EV charging network, and talk to the electricity provider in your area.

When assessing the strength of an EMS, you’ll want to make sure it has the ability to reliably communicate with a wide array of asset types and can easily integrate into your existing tech stack. This is one area where PowerFlex X excels. It’s an asset-agnostic platform that complies with open-industry standards — allowing you to leverage a wider technology ecosystem without vendor lock-in.

Control & Automation

An EMS dynamically orchestrates the activities of your energy assets to achieve optimal operational and financial performance. For example, an EMS can execute predefined actions to  take advantage of energy cost savings — like storing surplus solar energy in the afternoon and dispatching it to power building loads in the evening, when the cost of electricity is greater due increased demand on the grid.

PowerFlex X goes beyond mere automation to intelligently analyze data, recognize patterns, and adapt to changing conditions at your facility. The platform has the ability to learn over time from historical data and can exercise autonomy in predicting and reacting to events as they happen in order to achieve the best possible results.

Monitoring & Reporting

Another key function of an EMS is monitoring the performance of energy assets and organizing the data into reports. This means tracking everything from solar energy production to greenhouse gas avoidance to the operational status of electric vehicle chargers. Metrics are downloaded into reports that can be used for a variety of purposes including proving the strength of clean energy investments to internal stakeholders, tracking sustainability progress, and fulfilling compliance requirements.

The PowerFlex X platform offers real-time monitoring of all energy assets at a single site or across an organization’s entire portfolio of properties. Users can access personalized, role-based views through the online dashboard, with the ability to retrieve granular details like the speed with which a single EV charger is powering up a fleet vehicle as well as broader information such as aggregate solar generation. Personnel can create customized reports to track performance trends over days, weeks, and months.

Optimization

Lastly, energy management systems optimize the generation and utilization of energy at a site to achieve key outcomes. For one, an EMS undertakes optimizations to maximize energy efficiency. It also improves environmental sustainability by coordinating the use of renewable energy from clean technologies like solar arrays to fulfill building loads and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Most importantly for businesses, an EMS optimizes cost savings by helping customers avoid high time-of-use energy prices and demand charges.

PowerFlex X deploys multiple optimization strategies in real time to help organizations meet their goals. The platform continuously learns from real-world operating conditions, allowing it to make better predictions over time. A hallmark feature of PowerFlex X is Adaptive Load Management^® (ALM), which leverages patented algorithms to optimize onsite EV charging. ALM takes into account a variety of data points such as charging demand, facility consumption, and driver inputs to make the most efficient use of your electrical infrastructure, eliminating expensive spikes in power draw and reducing the need for equipment upgrades.

How PowerFlex X Future-Proofs Your Business

It’s essential to choose an EMS that grows with your goals and can account not only for your current needs but your future ones too. PowerFlex X does this and more through a collection of intuitive and intelligent capabilities.

Scalability

Organizations that are just starting to implement clean energy into their operations will typically launch a pilot project consisting of a single asset type, such as a solar array. Based on how well the pilot performs, an organization will likely expand its clean energy footprint to include more assets and asset types like battery energy storage and EV charging stations.

PowerFlex X is completely scalable and well equipped to handle a customer’s growing infrastructure throughout every level of its clean energy maturity. The platform is flexible across all asset types and is agile enough to keep up with changing technology as well as the ever-evolving regulatory landscape.

Interoperability

Part of the reason why PowerFlex X can scale so well is that it’s an open and agnostic system, which means that it can work with a wide variety of cleantech hardware rather than being compatible with only a handful of brands. The platform adheres to interoperability standards, the software protocols that allow a variety of clean technology equipment to communicate with each other intelligently.

With PowerFlex X, you can aggregate the data you're receiving from EV chargers made by one company, solar panels from another company, and battery systems from a third company. PowerFlex X also integrates with third-party data services and applications through a public API, helping you avoid adding more software to your workflow by surfacing data into existing systems and apps.

Security

The software components of any clean technology can be susceptible to bugs and crashes if not updated periodically. If integrated into wider systems, like a charging network, they can be vulnerable to hacks or other outages without ongoing maintenance. These threats pose a significant risk to your business and jeopardize its long-term viability.

PowerFlex X ensures that your clean energy system stays a step ahead of the challenges of cybersecurity by providing peace of mind with automated updates and regular software enhancements. The platform also adheres to the latest data privacy protocols, maintaining compliance with SOC II Type II.

Reporting

Many companies leverage state-based incentive rebates and federal tax credits to offset the installation of clean energy assets. These programs typically require beneficiaries to track and report on metrics related to the performance of their solar, energy storage, and EV charging systems in order to receive funds.

PowerFlex X allows you to create recurring reports and easily export them in just a few quick clicks, providing you with the data you need to satisfy incentive program reporting requirements. By maintaining compliance with your current incentives, you'll remain an applicant in good standing for future programs you might choose to apply to down the road.

This data can also prove useful for showcasing the strength of clean energy investments to internal decision makers. When you have specific success metrics, you can make a much more convincing case for expanding your clean energy efforts in the future.

Trust Your Energy Management to PowerFlex X

An energy management system is an essential tool for getting the most out of your cleantech assets in terms of energy efficiency, sustainability benefits, and cost savings — but only PowerFlex X can offer organizations the reliability and flexibility to maximize their clean energy performance now as well as years to come. Ready to learn more? Schedule a demo with us today.