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Overall planning of a Climkit site

Jean-Nicolas Turlier Updated by Jean-Nicolas Turlier

The Climkit energy management system covers various needs related to managing energy flows on a site. Depending on the building configuration and intended uses, a project can address a single energy flow or combine several.

This article presents all the solutions offered by Climkit as well as the main associated technical installation options. It serves as project planning support to quickly identify relevant elements and structure the installation coherently.

Solutions can be deployed independently or combined according to the site's needs. This flexibility allows adapting the installation without unnecessary complexity.

Climkit Solutions

A Climkit solution corresponds to setting up all the elements required to manage a given energy flow on a site.

It combines hardware equipment, software features, and commissioning services, supplemented where applicable by operational services.

Each solution allows measuring and monitoring consumption, ensuring fair allocation and individual billing among the various occupants and consumers.

For each solution, a list of preliminary questions serves as a guide for technical reflection and helps anticipate points to clarify during project preparation.

In case of doubt about the configuration to adopt or compatibility with an existing site, an early exchange with Climkit allows validating a schematic diagram and avoiding subsequent adjustments.

The fictitious project Le Chemin des Sourires concretely illustrates the implementation of Climkit solutions in a residential building.

Communication with the Climkit Gateway

All Climkit solutions require the Gateway to communicate with the various installed equipment, particularly meters and charging stations.

Preliminary Questions

  • Is a wired Internet connection available on site, or should a Climkit 4G router be planned?
  • Is there a 4G signal in the electrical room, or should an extension cable and/or external antenna be planned?
  • Are there multiple buildings on the site, and multiple electrical rooms? Can they be connected via a bus or Ethernet cable?
For more details and answers to these questions, see the connection diagrams for the Climkit Gateway

Electricity Management and RCP

In a building equipped with a photovoltaic installation and set up as a Self-Consumption Community (RCP), Climkit handles the complete management of produced and consumed electricity by connecting the various meters to a Climkit Gateway to measure, allocate, and visualize energy flows.

This approach enables optimized collective self-consumption, while ensuring fair billing of the energy used. Each resident can track their consumption in real time on the platform.

The principle relies on private electricity meters connected to the Gateway via an RS485 communication bus and the open Modbus protocol:

Installation Examples

RCP site including private meters for apartments, common areas, photovoltaic production, and the main grid feed-in, in series with the DSO main meter.

RCP site with, on one side, a distribution board and its private meters for apartments and common areas, and on the other side, an incoming panel with private Climkit meters and DSO meters for the grid feed-in and photovoltaic production:

The meters are connected in series to the Climkit Gateway via an RS485 communication bus.

Panel with Climkit meters installed on existing DSO meter locations using the Climkit T-Box kit (DIN plate and housing):

Preliminary Questions

  • Is electricity management planned, for example as part of an RCP?
  • What are the number and type of meters to plan?
    • Main grid feed-in
    • Photovoltaic installation(s)
    • Housing / apartments
    • Ancillary rooms, commercial spaces
    • Common areas
    • Other shared areas such as parking
    • Electric vehicle charging stations
    • Battery
    • Other areas
  • Which meters are direct (< 80 A)?
  • Which meters are indirect with CTs? What amperage for the CTs?
  • Are all meters in the same location (electrical room, electrical panel) or distributed across different locations?
  • Are the meters integrated into the electrical panel, or is it planned to install them on existing DSO meter locations?
For more details, see the connection diagrams for electricity management (RCP, RCPv, and LEC).

Energy Optimization and Storage (EMS)

The Climkit Energy Management System (EMS) increases the self-consumption rate of solar electricity produced on site. It manages a storage battery to store surplus energy and release it when production drops, and controls specific appliances (water heaters, heat pumps, charging stations) based on surplus production.

Preliminary Questions

Battery
  • Is energy storage in a battery planned?
  • If a storage battery is planned: is the goal only to read its data, or to control charging/discharging?
  • If a battery is planned: is it compatible with reading/control via Modbus TCP (brand/model)?
  • If a battery is planned: AC coupling (dedicated inverter) or DC coupling (hybrid inverter)?
Control Relays
  • Can self-consumption optimization be planned by controlling the heat pump or water heater?
  • List of appliances that could be controlled based on solar production: water heaters, heat pumps, charging stations, others?
  • Number of relays to plan (4 per I/O module)?
  • If hot water tank control is planned, is it already equipped with an immersion heater?
  • If heat pump control is planned, does it have an SG-Ready potential-free contact?
For more details, refer to Planning energy optimization and storage.

Electric Vehicle Charging Station Management

Climkit enables the installation and management of charging stations in shared parking facilities.

The system dynamically balances charging power based on grid capacity and available energy, controls access via individual RFID badges, and handles charging billing for each consumer.

Charging stations communicate with the Gateway via Wi-Fi or Ethernet using the OCPP protocol:

For more details, see the list of connection diagrams for electric vehicle charging station management

Flat Cable and Wi-Fi

Climkit recommends a basic infrastructure consisting of a flat cable and a Wi-Fi network to facilitate the gradual addition of charging stations without major rework on existing cabling.

Preliminary Questions

  • Is it a scalable installation with a flat cable or an installation limited to a few charging stations?
  • How many parking spaces could accommodate a charging station?
  • How many flat cable feeders are planned in the electrical panel?
  • How many charging stations need to be provided immediately?
  • Do the charging stations communicate via Wi-Fi, or are they connected to the IP network via wired Ethernet/RJ45?

Thermal Energy and Water Management

Climkit ensures the reading of heating and hot water consumption in accordance with federal regulations for individual metering and billing of energy and water expenses (DIFEE/VHKA).

Each housing unit or area is equipped with a thermal meter (heating) and a hot water meter, supplemented by main meters to allocate the share of common areas and hot water production.

These measurements are used to generate transparent and accurate expense statements based on actual consumption rather than estimates or surface area ratios.

For more details, see the list of connection diagrams for thermal energy and water

Example of a heating manifold located in an individual apartment and equipped with a thermal meter:

Preliminary Questions

  • Is it planned to install wired M-Bus heating and water meters?
  • What types and quantities of meters are planned: hot water, cold water, heat?
  • Is the meter bus brought back to a single location near the electrical panel?

Collective Laundry Management

Climkit offers a simple and reliable system for managing shared laundry facilities.

An RFID reader connected to the Gateway identifies users and switches on the power supply for washing machines, tumble dryers, or room air dryers (secomats).

This system integrates seamlessly with other Climkit solutions, allowing all consumption data to be gathered on the same platform.

For more details, see the connection diagram for collective laundry management

Laundry stack with RFID reader wall-mounted on the left:

RFID reader without keypad for a single laundry stack:

Preliminary Questions

  • What is the number of laundry rooms?
  • How many washing machines, tumble dryers, and secomats per laundry room?

eBike Charging Management

Climkit allows installing connected power outlets enabling residents to recharge their electric bikes or scooters.

Access is managed via RFID badges and consumption is billed individually.

Here is a typical connection diagram:

For more details, see the connection diagram for eBike charging management

Installations with surface-mounted or integrated power outlets:

Preliminary Questions

  • What is the number of bicycle rooms to equip?
  • Is the bicycle room indoor or outdoor?
  • What is the number of power outlets?

How Did We Do?

Installer getting started guide (read first)

Climkit site implementation process

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