Frank Energie
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Prerequisites
- Enabling 'Frank Energie - Slim Handelen'
- Troubleshooting
- Background information
Overview
Frank Energie decides when and how your battery should charge or discharge through their system. Our platform simply carries out these battery operation decisions.
If you have any questions about how your battery is being controlled or disagree with the charging/discharging decisions, please contact Frank Energie directly, as we cannot modify or influence their battery management strategy.
" Slim Handelen " by Frank Energie is a service that allows you as a customer of Frank Energie to use your battery on the imbalance market. The manual describes how we can set this up on the SmartgridOne Controller. At the end of this manual, Frank Energie will have control over the battery and the battery will be shown in the Frank Energie app. When setting up this integration, permission is granted to Frank Energie to control this battery.
Supported Devices and countries
The following devices types are supported by the Frank Energie - Slim Handelen integration:
| Device Type | Variants | Supported |
|---|---|---|
| Solar Inverters | All | ⌛ (coming soon) |
| Storage Devices | ✅ | |
| EV Chargers | ❌ |
The Frank Energie - Slim Handelen integration is currently supported in the following countries:
| Country | Supported |
|---|---|
| Belgium | ✅ |
| Netherlands |
Prerequisites
1. Add the batteries
Login to the commissioning interface and make sure the devices are added to the SmartgridOne Controller.
2. Check the grid power limits
In the settings, the grid power limits should be set correctly. Click Settings and check the highlighted setting in the image. If necessary, adjust the settings.
3. Check the address
Make sure the address is set correctly.
The integration may not work correctly if the address is not correct!
4. Find the customer number
Ask the end customer to look up the customer number (of Frank Energie) and pass it on. The customer can look this up in the Frank Energie app.
Enabling 'Frank Energie - Slim Handelen'
From the commissioning interface, go to the 'External Signals' tab.
Click on 'External signal'.
Select 'Frank Energie - Slim Handelen' and click 'Next'.
In the next page, you have the option to include/exclude devices for remote control. Ensure to mark all checkboxes of devices you'd like to include.
When using multiple batteries, they are aggregated into one (virtual) asset for Frank Energie.
'Frank Energie - Slim Handelen' is now set up on the SmartgridOne Controller.
Troubleshooting
This section only includes troubleshooting steps specific to the Frank Energie integration. For issues with your inverter or battery, please refer to the appropriate section based on your connection type:
- With RS485 connection follow this link : https://docs.eniris.be/Troubleshooting/device-communication/#rs485
- With TCP connection follow this link : https://docs.eniris.be/Troubleshooting/device-communication/#ethernet
Issues related to Frank Energie integration can often be identified by checking the status page of the external signels on the SmartgridOne Controller. Here you can find information about the last received signal, setpoints, and any errors encountered. The example image below shows a successful connection with Frank Energie, but if there are issues, error messages will be displayed here.
I see 'No signal received. Applying default policy.'
This can happen if the grid energy meter is wired in reverse. You can tell the SmartgridOne Controller that the meter is connected in reverse through the device settings in the "Devices tab" of the commissioning interface. See also Reversing energy meter readings. Important: Double check if your grid meter readings are effectively reversed. If they are not, and you faultly reverse them in the settings of the energy meter, this can make the control system unstable.
I see 'Could not resolve DNS. Check your DNS configuration.'
This error is related to a misconfiguration of your network or firewall. Verify that none of the required ports are blocked by the local firewall.
In the app, I do not see any battery activity, even though Frank Energie control is active.
Frank Energie will not always send a command for the battery. When there is no imbalance opportunity, Frank Energie will allow the battery to do self-consumption. During these moments, 'data gap' in graphs and visualizations can show. Note that this is not an issue.
Frank Energie will NOT always send a setpoint. When self-consumption is active, a setpoint is not required, causing a 'data gap' in graphs and visualizations. Note that this is not an issue.
Background information
Frank Energie Control Modes
When Frank Energie is added, the SmartgridOne Controller algorithm has no control over the battery's behaviour. Instead, in the Frank Energie App, two different control modes can be selected: Self-Consumption+ and Handling.
Self Consumption+: When Self-Consumption+ has been selected, Frank Energie will fully control the battery at all times. However, Frank Energie will authorize the SmartgridOne Controller to follow its own self-consumption algorithm during certain periods.
Handling: The handling control mode also gives Frank Energie full control of the battery. There will not be any self-consumption active. All energy will go to and from the grid, depending on the market prices at the time.
'Onboarding' process
When a new 'Frank Energie - Slim Handelen' external signal is added to the SmartgridOne Controller, we forward information to Frank Energie. We call this 'onboarding'. During onboarding, we share:
- The address of the installation (to match with the Frank Energie customer account)
- The maximum charge and discharge power of the battery (to ensure safe operation within limits). This is automatically retrieved from the battery-specific settings in the commissioning interface. When the maximum charge/discharge power are not set, the nominal power of the battery is used.
- The contract id of the customer (to link the battery to the correct Frank Energie account)
- The identifier of the SmartgridOne Controller (to uniquely identify the battery installation)
Besides the initial onboarding when adding the external signal, we will also re-onboard in the following cases:
- When the address of the installation is changed
- When the contract id is changed
- When the maximum charge, discharge power or nominal power of the battery is changed
In the above cases, you might receive a notification from the Frank Energie app that a battery has been added/removed, which is normal. We will not re-onboard in any other cases.
Underperforming battery
During onboarding, we share the maximum charge and discharge power of the battery with Frank Energie. It may occur that these values are overoptimistic, leading to Frank Energie requesting charge/discharge powers that the battery cannot deliver. This results in low (or zero) revenues on the imbalance market for the end customer. To avoid this, please ensure that the realistic maximum charge and discharge power of the battery are set correctly in the commissioning interface. If these values are not set, the nominal power of the battery is used, which may be different from the actual maximum charge/discharge power.
Frank Energie does a regular evaluation of the battery performance on the imbalance market. If they detect that the battery is underperforming, they lower the powers in their system to a more realistic value based on observations in the past. This is undone, when the installer adjusts the maximum charge/discharge power settings again, triggering a re-onboarding (see above).
Offline SmartgridOne Controller or unresponsive battery
Frank Energie expects a battery to be online and responsive at all times. If the battery is offline for a prolonged period, Frank Energie contacts the installer to investigate the issue. If the battery remains unresponsive, Frank Energie and the team behind SmartgridOne may decide to remove the battery from their system to avoid negative impacts on their operations. Frank Energie shares a list of unresponsive batteries with us on a regular basis.
If your battery has been removed due to unresponsiveness, please check the communication of your SmartgridOne Controller and battery, and re-add the 'Frank Energie - Slim Handelen' external signal to the SmartgridOne Controller once the issue is resolved.