I like the idea of a smart home where the electrical circuits themselves are smart enough to keep your house powered, save on your energy bill, manage solar, and charge electric vehicles, but I don't know if Schneider Electric will be able to crack it.
Four in 10 US households already have one of Schneider Electric's Square D circuitbreakers. There will be gadgets that won't be hidden inside your walls today.
An entire smart main electrical panel called the Schneider pulse that can control its own relays and acts as the brains of a 7.6 watt inverter large enough for whole- home solar and a pair of batteries, with a dedicated EV charging port a wall-mountable, 10kWh battery called the Schneider boost that
You may ask, what is the big deal? Can't you buy all those pieces from a single company? Some systems attempt to balance solar, battery backup, and car charging.
The company is promising synergy if you buy more than one product.
Do you want to know how much power your devices use? If you combine the main panel and outlets, you will be able to measure consumption at each outlet and every breaker, as well as an energy monitor powered by Sense.
There is a power outage. The app will let you choose which devices to turn off at the circuit, outlet, switch, or light fixture level. In Schneider's example, it will encourage you to make choices that could make a difference. It will let you know when the power comes back.
Schneider claims that homeowners will be able to install an EV charging station even if the electrical service line isn't large enough.
I can understand. I wanted to get a 200A main panel upgrade myself, but my solar company told me that my service line was too skinny, and that I would have to rip up my front yard to get a thicker one. Schneider VP Jaser Faruq told me that you can upgrade the panel itself and save a lot of money.
The upgrade will still cost a little bit. If you include all the parts of the system, it will cost $10,000. If you have to pay your utility for an upgrade to a service line or a full- home battery backup, the cost of the pulse panel alone could be double.
The Inflation Reduction Act gives you a 30 percent tax credit on the battery and a 30 percent tax credit on the smart electrical panel.
Schneider doesn't sell that piece of the puzzle itself, so if you want solar panels, you'll need an electrician or a solar contractor. Most of these upgrades will need to be inspected by your local town hall.
If you have already installed solar, you may have to consider the sunk cost of your existing inverters, which you would need to replace to get the full benefits of Schneider's offering. Faruq says that they are targeting customers who are first in line for solar and electrification. Over ninety percent of homes in the US don't have solar or energy storage.
People don't need to buy all the components in order to get benefits, and parts of the system are compatible with third-party parts. You should be able to plug most batteries, solar, and EV chargers into the panel and/or inverter, and they have a miniature backup control switch you can pick instead of the main panel. He wants to control it all with a single app and a minimum of boxes.
Schneider's new parts are still in the process of getting their certification, but the intent is to start the first installations this summer and ramp in the second half of 2020
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