Sense announced today a new standards-based open source effort to enable software to automatically adjust the power use of edge devices in the home. RT-PMP is a set of standards-based protocols and software modules to allow this level of energy control in homes and buildings. Sense is making this available as open source under the MIT open source license and enlisting partners to contribute.
Real-time energy monitoring along with software control of edge devices can solve this problem, making the electrification transition more equitable and accessible for all households.
The new project, Real-Time Power Management Protocol (or RT-PMP), will make the transition to a low carbon future when homes increasingly rely on electricity without the need for major upgrades to the electrical system. With software for real-time control, electric vehicle chargers, HVAC systems and other high-load devices will adaptively vary their power usage to avoid overloading the home’s electrical panel capacity and reduce strain on the grid.
If new electrical loads include smart real-time control, Sense has found that more than 98% of homes could stay below their current panel limits by dynamically controlling these new loads less than 1% of the time.
To do this requires tight measurement and control to stay within capacity limits. For some homes, an electrical panel upgrade with direct breaker control may be needed. But in many homes, the same benefits can be achieved through real-time energy monitoring and tight software control of just a small number of edge devices that are major consumers of energy. The software control needs to be low latency and have strong security and fail-safe mechanisms.
