Flexibility and External EMS
Let a flexibility provider or an external energy management system steer the strategy's devices.
→ Overview
Two optimization modes hand part of the control of a strategy to an outside system:
| Mode | Who controls | How it connects |
|---|---|---|
| Flexibility | A flexibility provider or aggregator, for example the Reduxi Flex platform. It activates the site's flexibility for a limited time, within the limits you set here. | A Flex connector entry that points to this strategy. |
| External EMS | Your own or a third-party energy management system. It sends time-slot setpoints for the battery, EV chargers, PV and HVAC. | The MQTT v3 connector. |
Each strategy can have one Flexibility mode and one External EMS mode.
While a flexibility activation or an External EMS setpoint is active, the devices no longer follow the strategy's goal, the AI agent or the price optimizations. Agree with the site owner and the provider which devices may be controlled, and keep the grid limits and fuses on the strategy correct: they remain the last line of protection.
1 Flexibility
Add the Flexibility mode
The Flexibility mode only defines what the provider may do. Activations reach the controller through a Flex connector entry that is enabled, points to this strategy and has a provider selected. Without it, only the battery reservation below has an effect.
How an activation works
- The controller reports the strategy's available flexibility to the provider.
- The provider sends an activation with a requested power and a duration. The activation ends by itself when the duration is over, or earlier when the provider stops it.
- During an activation the battery follows the provider's request. This wins over the goal, the AI agent and External EMS setpoints. If set, Override grid export limit and Override grid import limit replace the strategy's grid limits for the time of the activation.
- Outside activations, the battery reservation applies: other parts of the strategy may not use the reserved part of the battery.
Parameters
| Parameter | What it does | Unit / default |
|---|---|---|
| Schema for flexibility provider | Message format used with the provider: Schema A, Schema B or Schema C. Schema A is the Reduxi Flex format. Use the schema the provider asks for. | Schema A |
| Export as global module | Tooltip: "If module is exported as global, endpoint at flexibility provider is static and it does not include the strategy id. Use only when flexibility module is active in one strategy at the time." | Yes / No · Yes |
| Reserve full battery capacity for flexibility | Yes: no other part of the strategy can charge or discharge the battery; it is kept for the provider only. Hides the partial reserve slider. | Yes / No · No |
| Reserve partial battery capacity for flexibility | Slider with two handles. Below the left handle, no other part of the strategy may discharge the battery (Reserved discharge capacity). Above the right handle, no other part may charge it (Reserved charge capacity, shown as 100 % minus the handle position). | % · 10 % / 10 % (handles at 10 and 90) |
| Override grid export limit | Export limit during an activation. Empty = the strategy's own export limit. Tooltip: "Use with caution to avoid overloading the fuses." | kW · empty |
| Override grid import limit | Import limit during an activation. Empty = the strategy's own import limit. | kW · empty |
| Override the flexibility module grid meter | Device used as the grid meter of the flexibility module instead of the strategy's measurement. The list shows all devices of the controller. Empty = the strategy's own measurement. | device · empty |
| The PV system is installed bypassing the selected meter. Allow PV power limiting to maximize the export power at the selected meter. | Shown only after you select a meter above. Yes lets the controller limit PV during an activation so that the export measured at the selected meter is as high as possible, for PV connected behind a different point than that meter. | Yes / No · No |
| Use time window for grid limits | Tooltip: "Use the default import and export active power time window. When enabled, power may be temporarily reduced further if the limit is exceeded." Yes: during an activation the grid limits are averaged over the time windows on the Details tab. No: they apply instantly during an activation. | Yes / No · Yes |
| Confirm | Closes the editor and adds or updates the Flexibility row. Nothing is saved yet. | — |
An override import or export limit replaces the strategy's limit during an activation, also when it is higher. Enter values no higher than the grid connection agreement. The fuse values on the Details tab still apply.
A reserved battery cannot do self-consumption or price optimization in the reserved range. With the default 10 % / 10 %, the lowest and highest 10 % of the battery are kept for the provider.
2 External EMS
What it does
External EMS lets an external energy management system send schedules of setpoints to the strategy over the MQTT v3 connector, separately for:
- battery active power,
- EV charger active power,
- PV active power,
- HVAC state.
Each schedule entry has a start time, an end time and a value. During an entry, its value replaces what the strategy would do for that device type: it wins over the goal and over AI setpoints. Outside the entries, and for device types without a schedule, the strategy regulates as usual. If the external EMS stops sending, its control ends with the last entry.
The MQTT topics and message format are described in MQTT v3 connector.
Add External EMS
| Parameter | What it does | Unit / default |
|---|---|---|
| External EMS row → bin icon | Removes External EMS after you confirm with Yes. Click Save to make it permanent. After that, schedules from the external EMS are ignored. | — |
Setpoints from the external EMS are still limited by the strategy's import and export limits, so an external battery setpoint cannot push the site over the limits of the mode in effect.
3 Order of control
For the battery, the strategy uses the first that applies:
- Fallback to safe values, when a measuring device without a fallback entry is offline.
- A Flexibility activation.
- An External EMS setpoint.
- An AI energy manager or Battery optimization setpoint.
- The goal of the mode in effect.
For EV chargers, PV and HVAC, External EMS setpoints likewise win over AI setpoints.
4 Check the result
On the strategy's Last measurements tab:
- The Flexibility card shows Enable, Activation, Requested active power, Realized active power and further flexibility values.
- The External EMS card shows Enable and the current Battery, EVSE and PV active power setpoint and HVAC state setpoint from the external EMS.
See Strategy measurements, charts and archive.
5 Checklist
- Flexibility: the schema matches the provider; the battery reservation matches the agreement.
- Flexibility: override limits are empty or within the grid connection.
- Flexibility: a Flex connector entry is enabled for this strategy and shows Connected.
- External EMS: the MQTT v3 connector is connected to the broker of the external EMS.
- External EMS: the External EMS card shows setpoints when the external EMS sends a schedule.
- The site owner knows that these systems can override the strategy's own optimization.
- Save was clicked.