Once identified the energy requirements of your family and defined the most appropriate solar PV system to install (energy power needed), the most important aspect to bear in mind is how to adequately use this renewable resource and make your house energy independent thanks to self-consumption.Improving self-consumption up to 100% does not simply mean using the whole energy produced by the system, but also to make sure such energy is actually enough for your household energy requirements.

For a greener use of renewable resources, it appears necessary to reach self-consumption, meaning using the electric energy produced by the system, the moment it is produced.

To optimize self-consumption of the energy produced there are two possible ways:

1. Using electric consumptions mainly during production hours
2. Considering the conversion of energy consumptions from other resources into electric energy

Here there are a couple of clear examples:

• Washing machine
• Electric water heater, domestic heating and car

With a regular domestic PV system (3 kW) a family of 4 members is normally able to self-consume only 20-30% of the energy produced. Hence, to improve self-consumption it is necessary to change habits and concentrate consumptions (e.g. washing machine, dish washer, heat pump, etc.) during central daytime hours, when users are hardly home. A possible solution is offered by the system 4-noks Elios4you, an easy and efficient solution which can also manage self-consumption via App, even remotely.

Thanks to 4-noks products for solar PV systems, several customers consistently increased the self-consumed energy.

We collected their experiences in the following “Case studies”:

• How to increase self-consumption up to 85% with Elios4you system
• Hot water for free and self-consumption up to 80% with Power Reducer SA