The American power grid is becoming electrified by the increasing use of renewable energy, and homeowners are following suit by replacing gasoline-powered vehicles and appliances with electric-powered alternatives. However, some households are facing the problem of too much electrical load and insufficient power to meet it. Savant is a recognized leader in both smart home and smart power solutions, developing solutions to balance electrical loads in the era of residential solar and storage. Ian Roberts, VP of Sales Excellence at Savant, talks about the feasibility of energy load management in this episode of Solar Spotlight.

Below is a written portion of this podcast, but be sure to listen to the entire episode on your favorite podcast service.

SPW: For our listeners who don’t know your company, can you tell us a little about Savant and what you do?

Ian Roberts, Vice President of Sales Excellence, Savant

Savant is a smart home brand that has been around for about 20 years. We started in 2005 with the goal of providing every homeowner with an intuitive experience for all their home technology. We have a background in telecommunications, where we are revolutionizing soft switching. Our expertise has allowed us to standardize practices in this field and become the market leader in areas such as smart lighting, entertainment and other home technology. More recently, we have applied this to home power, bringing together all the technologies emerging in the market today.

What products do you offer to solar companies and homeowners who want to harness the power of the sun?

We offer a full range of energy solutions. At the heart of it is our Power Storage 20, an energy storage system that can scale to any size home. The main difference to other solutions solar installers use today is that it can cover the entire home load, essentially powering the entire home. So if a homeowner wants seamless operation of all the appliances powered in the home, we can deliver that. Of course, we can also provide a partial backup solution.

It turns out that many solar panel owners also drive electric cars. However, not every homeowner can install a charger. Why is that?

If you think about a normal home that was built a long time ago, the electrical system that was built into that home was really designed around everything in the home when it was built. Fast forward and new technologies are coming into the home. People are looking for new energy efficient heating systems or buying that new electric vehicle that just didn’t exist when the home was built. They just don’t have the overhead of their electrical system to power these new things in addition to their existing appliances and everything else built into their electrical panel.

How many homes are we talking about? What obstacles and options are there for these homeowners?

Our research found that over 50 million homes have less than 200 amps of power. This is a challenge for the many people who want to upgrade their appliances or put a new electric vehicle in their driveway but want the best experience when they can charge at home. This is intended for those 50 million homes, but really this technology is suitable for anyone whose power connection is at capacity.

The traditional solution would be to request a costly power upgrade from the utility, which could cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars and would take a long time to implement.

So what does Savant do differently to avoid service upgrades?

We’re using our load management technology, which we’ve had on the market for several years, in a new, unique way we call Savant Smart Budget. It allows a homeowner to use their existing electrical connection, but decide which elements of the home they power at any given time. We know the homeowner may not need to power everything 24/7, and this gives them the ability to add an electric vehicle charger and direct the available power to where they need it most.

Savant’s Smart Budget feature prioritizes household electricity usage by monitoring power usage, turning off unnecessary loads, and balancing usage within a limited power supply. This powerful solution starts at just $1,499 and can be scaled to monitor and manage individual or all circuits in the home. Savant will be at RE+ in booth 63069, where you can learn more about Smart Budget and the entire Savant Power System.

This podcast is sponsored by Savant