How to set up power settings

Power settings are a crucial aspect of power monitoring for a site. They ensure that any calculated statistics are accurate representations of the power usage of a site. A lot of the power dashboard depends on having these settings accurately setup so it is highly beneficial to take time and care when setting them up for your site and the tenancies of your site.

Benchmarks

Benchmarks are setup using power profiles which are accessible from grid view. Power profiles are required to provide energy savings calculations and allow benchmarks (indicative power targets) to be set for tenancies on the site. For an in-depth explanation of power profiles, see our dedicated FAQ.

Areas

Areas are drawn perimeters of a floor plan which can be optionally assigned to a tenancy which are used for calculating power statistics. Settings for how areas are calculated for sites and tenancies can be accessed from the site settings and tenancy management pages respectively. You can choose to have the area size calculated automatically by the cloud based on the map areas that have been drawn using plan view or you can enter a manual area size for your site or each tenancy.

You can draw areas on a floor plan from plan view by entering edit mode and selecting the Area heading from the top toolbar. Drawing areas works very similarly to drawing groups on plan view. You select a shape you want for your area then draw it on the map. The points of an area can be edited after the initial drawing has been completed. You can then customise the area to have a different style as well as giving it a label or assigning it to a tenancy by selecting the area and then changing the options using the panel on the right side.

Tariffs

Tariffs are how much is paid per kWh during any given time for a site and/or a tenancy. Tariffs can be set for a site from the site settings page. This setting is used for tenancies if no tariff settings are provided for a tenancy. Tenancy tariffs can be configured from the tenancy management page.

Schedules can be set up for tariffs if the cost of power changes during specific times. They may also be set for each tenancy as the cost of power may differ between each tenancy at different times. Tariffs are using for calculating savings for the site and/or tenancies on the site.

Max power for ECGs and ECDs

Max power is pretty straight forward. It is the maximum amount of power a fitting can output. The max power can be configured in grid view for both control gears and control devices. If the max power is known for a fitting then it can be manually entered on the relevant view.

If the max power of a fitting is not known but it is a device type 51 fitting then a calibration command is able to be sent to the fitting using the right click menu in grid view. This will set the fitting to its maximum light level for a set duration. After it has finished, the maximum power usage is calculated based on the observed power consumption during that period. That value is then applied to the fitting's max power value.

Greater than 80% of the ECGs and ECDs need their max powers set for the max power on gauges to function.