Haier Europe, Smartability – IoT Ecosystems & Energy Saving
Once again, launching today in Milan, Haier Europe shapes the boundaries of connectivity through its smart service roadmap and agreements for the adoption of efficiency measures with regards to energy consumption at home.
The pathway started a few years ago and led the world’s no.1 company in the appliances sector to revolutionize the Smart Home and the Internet of Things concepts with its brands, namely Candy, Hoover, and Haier. To Haier Europe, the connected home becomes a real partner of the daily life that foresees, provides advice and guidance for a further sustainability and a big energy saving. Technology, innovation, and Artificial Intelligence come together in the Internet of Beings idea, at the core of the “zero distance to consumer” corporate philosophy.
Gianpiero Morbello – Head of Brand & IOT Haier Europe, Benvenuto Pogliani – Head of IoT Ecosystem Business Development Energy&Emobility&Services Haier Europe, Davide Chiaroni – Full professor and Co-founder of the Energy&Strategy Group of Politecnico in Milan, Gianluca Corbellini – CEO Hive Power, and Marco Adriano Landoni – Business Development & Innovation Director at Edison Energia SpA took part in the press conference.
Energy Scenario
The initiatives and the agreements launched today are included in a context where energy prices increase steadily over the upcoming years, if compared with the recent past. Over 2022, the price of electricity has almost become 10 times compared to January 2021 (543 €/MWh in August 2022). Even if decreasing, energy prices over the upcoming years will, anyway, remain higher than their recent past. Hence, a scenario is emerging with the increasingly more widespread diffusion of non-programmable renewable sources which are changing the energy system, but without changing the need to constantly ensure the balancing between the consumers’ energy demand and the energy production. This is why the Time-of-Use Rates are becoming widespread; they aim at providing variable rates based on the time slot according to the final user’s needs, while keeping the public network load low.
The Energy Class and Artificial Intelligence: Saving Indicators
Talking about energy class for Haier Europe is not only necessary, it is a priority. Today’s A class dishwasher compared to the old A class allows to save up to 130 Euros per year and up to 200 Euros compared to D class that have been widely installed in Italy. These figures refer to “normal” energy costs that are by now outdated, considering that those at the current cost have almost doubled. When it comes to dishwashers, saving overcomes 75 % comparing a current A class to a D class, again the most widespread on the national market. A more practical example? A family that runs its dishwasher 6-7 times per week can save up to 250 Euros per year.
“As a Group, we hold 50% of the connected appliance market and the most of the A-class codes. It’s an achievement we are proud of and it comes from a well-defined strategy” – stated Gianpiero Morbello, Head of Brand & IOT Haier Europe -. “We decided a long time ago to move towards efficiency strategy that can have immediate and functional applications in the short term. Today, we present a roadmap that includes a partnership with the suppliers of energy and initiatives that we hope can pave the way for the international industry. This has been made possible thanks to Artificial intelligence to make our solutions increasingly more efficient and the hOn app, the digital platform that, with its 5 million active users in Europe, guides all the Candy, Hoover, and Haier connected appliances”.
“By connecting all the appliances to the home WI-FI, through the hOn app, consumers can receive prior alerts about the right time to clean filters or advice about maintenance that for washing machines allows to save up to 20% energy.
Integration with weather services, on the other hand, warn in case of rain to avoid the risk of not being able to hang the laundry” went on Morbello – “Moreover, it is possible to have a smart scheduling of appliances by choosing the priorities of use without burdening the power grid and having to increase the meter power, always with the customer’s comfort in mind”.
In order to reduce significantly the energy costs at home, Haier Europe is planning collaborations that will allow the customers to obtain the utmost efficiency from the use of smart appliances. Moreover, it is about to release an innovation that will allow the hOn app to plan the starting of an appliance based on the time frame by including tariffs in the consumers’ power contracts.
“At the beginning, users will include tariffs manually, but with some energy retailers, such as Edison, we are working to automate the process and provide streamlined power contracts for customers able to make bill savings” – explained Benvenuto Pogliani, Head of IoT Ecosystem Business Development and Energy & Emobility & Service Haier Europe – “Abroad, we are testing the integration with time fee systems which allow appliances to run taking into account the power market and its relevant time prices which see fluctuations up to 300% in the same day. This would mean a further saving for the final customer”.
“Moreover, in some European countries we are starting a pilot test to provide a flexible service to the grid to reduce overloads and distribution costs” – continued Pogliani – “Through the hOn app, we talk to customers and ask their availability to not start appliances in some time slots. The customer will be rewarded and reimbursed on the bill. We are sure that through new agreements and our energy saving strategy, AI applications and the easy connection resulting from the easy use of the app will revolutionize the pathway for an aware power consumption. This is a tool to help customers to better understand the leverage they have to reduce energy costs at home significantly, combining consumption with production simply and promptly”.
Partnership with Hive Power for energy communities
Energy communities aim at providing environmental, financial, and social advantages for the community to encourage people coming together to create a positive impact on their area through the tool of production, sharing and collective consumption of energy. By spreading energy communities and Smart Buildings, data and information generation will be increasingly necessary to best manage the functioning of the building and its devices, which interact with the energy system through smart rationales and IoT technologies. Nowadays, renewable energies are irregular and uncontrollable; therefore, it is important to act from the consumption point of view to streamline the contemporary production of renewable energy and its use. Thanks to Hive Power, the leading supplier of innovative solutions for smart grids, Haier Europe will install appliances inside some energy communities and participate in the European Horizon project, a project aimed at establishing energy communities in Europe supplying connected smart appliances that can be remotely controlled, in order to enhance local consumption of renewable energy relying only on the home WI-FI and the hOn app.
Partnership with Edison Energia: Smart Solar
The partnership between Haier Europe and Edison Energia allows customers who have an Edison connected solar system to enjoy the innovative Smart Solar function that streamlines the starting of appliances and enables customers to save up to 70% of energy consumptions from the end of 2022. For example, it will be possible to load the washing machine or the dishwasher and set a time slot when Edison can take control and, through its Prosumer digital platform, start the hOn app when the energy production or the solar battery storage level allow the appliance to not have an impact on the energy costs. The same mechanism will apply to air conditioning or heat pump systems. The Smart Solar function allows customers to set a temperature in their favourite time slots to act automatically on grades, based on the solar system production, exploiting it to its maximum or reducing the withdrawal from the grid, in case of bad weather conditions.
