Access to the reduced French VAT rate of 5.5% for residential solar installations is conditional on the use of low-carbon panels and a home energy management system. Toulouse-based PvPilot said the fourth version of its software orchestrates household electrical appliances in real time based on solar energy production and consumption patterns.
The system is offered under a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) model, aimed at photovoltaic installers and their customers. It is supplied via a USB device that can be connected to equipment such as set-top boxes or televisions and works using relay switches installed in the electrical panel. The platform simultaneously measures solar energy generation and electricity demand, controlling devices such as water heaters, batteries and electric vehicle charging stations.
“The great strength of our platform is that it is compatible with all types of equipment – inverters, batteries, charging stations – from all brands, within a completely open ecosystem,” says Florian Lizon, CEO of PvPilot. pv magazine France. “Our ambition is not just to sell another device, but to provide a tool that evolves with the industry.”
The company says it already has more than 500 systems in use and aims to reach 3,000 homes by the end of the year. Users can access the platform via a mobile app to monitor and adjust consumption in real time.
Lizon cited research from National Center for Scientific Research This indicates that simply visualizing energy data can increase self-consumption of solar energy by approximately 15%.
The installation can be configured manually or automatically by assigning a target share of solar production to each device. As the application of residential storage expands, the system is also designed to optimize AC-coupled batteries.
For example, if a household has a surplus of 500 W of solar energy, but a pool pump needs 1,000 W, the system can charge the battery first. After storing 0.5 kWh, the pump uses 500 W from the panels and 500 W from the battery, allowing full solar operation without using the electricity grid.
