Engineering a Connected Energy Management System for Solar Storage

Background

Renewable energy is reshaping how homes and businesses use power. Rooftop solar is now common on residential and commercial sites and is increasingly paired with battery storage. As energy systems become more distributed and dynamic, an intelligent Energy Management System (EMS) is needed to coordinate solar, storage, grid supply and site loads, while enabling local peak shaving and frequency reserve market participation.

A US based solar manufacturer was developing its next generation EMS platform, including a new AC system. It needed advanced connectivity and data monitoring for its controller without disrupting proven functionality, plus simple tools for installers and operators. The customer chose Tata Elxsi to engineer the complete ecosystem with controller firmware, a Web HMI for configuration and monitoring, and a mobile app for secure field commissioning.

Challenges

The customer needed one connected, energy efficient system that worked reliably from the device, through the dashboard, to the installer's phone, which brought several implementation challenges.

• Tight Power Budget: Wi-Fi and LTE modem drivers had to fit within a tight power budget, while delivering maximum throughput with Wi-Fi and BLE running concurrently.
• OTA Within Memory Limits: Dual bank OTA updates had to fit within limited device memory.
• Microservices Coexistence: New microservices had to communicate reliably within a containerized Embedded Linux environment without affecting the existing embedded application.
• Concurrent Wireless Performance:Wi-Fi and BLE had to operate concurrently without compromising throughput.
• Reliable Field Connectivity: Data uploads had to remain reliable over unstable LTE links in remote locations, and BLE commissioning needed packet fragmentation and retry handling.
• Secure, Real Time User Experience: The Web HMI had to manage live device states, exceptions and error conditions, while configuration and operational data required encrypted communication.

Solutions

Tata Elxsi built the solution from the device up, with each layer designed to work together.

• Connectivity Integration & Validation: Multi radio Wi-Fi, BLE and LTE integration, validated for throughput, concurrent operation and long run stability.
• Power Optimized Controller Firmware: Yocto build, BSP and application development on Embedded Linux, with a microservices architecture, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling.
• Data Monitoring & Logging: Data monitoring and logging over MQTT, built within the containerized architecture to run alongside the existing application.
• Cloud Enablement: Cloud connectivity with burst data transfer over LTE, cloud-based development and OTA lifecycle management for efficient updates.
• Lightweight Web HMI: A web-based interface for device commissioning, system configuration and monitoring dashboards, built on a modern, type safe web framework with separate UI, business logic and data layers
• Mobile Commissioning Application: Native iOS and Android apps with secure BLE pairing, encrypted configuration and real time monitoring.

Impact

Tata Elxsi’s integrated EMS engineering approach improved system power efficiency, strengthened connectivity and enabled faster, more reliable commissioning across residential and commercial solar storage applications.

• Lower Energy Footprint: Reduction in overall system power consumption and increase in idle time.
• Reliable Connectivity: Wireless performance and stability confirmed under concurrent and long run conditions
• Next Generation Dashboard: AC system dashboard delivered with comprehensive, structured test coverage.
• Faster Field Commissioning: Fewer commissioning steps and less time on site.
• Longer Product Life: OTA based updates keep systems current, reducing obsolescence and e-waste.
• Built to Scale: Modular architectures support scalability and maintainability for embedded and edge deployments.

Services Rendered

• Embedded Software, BSP and Firmware Development
• Connectivity Integration (Wi-Fi, BLE, LTE)
• Cloud Enablement
• Web HMI Development
• Mobile Application Development (iOS and Android)
• Validation, Performance and Stability Testing