Electricity control in the MultiMa computer:
Transparent and suitable for any Situation

The new electricity control software was designed as a result of the complex situation of electricity production and consumption facing glasshouse companies today.

Is there an internal or external electricity demand? Does electricity need to be imported or exported? Does additional electricity need to be generated or should electricity consumption, in fact, be reduced? And which electricity sources should be used, when, and in what order?

The ‘electricity collector’ was launched in order to create more efficient and transparent electricity management. The electricity collector is where supply and demand meet. An electricity collector is connected to one or more electricity sources which supply electricity. Then there are the lighting sectors and external contacts which require electricity (the so-called ‘export demands’). In addition, there is the ability to limit the purchase of electricity by means of external contacts (the so-called ‘import limit’).

Strategies
Strategies allows you to program how the computer should respond to supply and demand. First you define a period and select the desired strategy. Then you set how much electricity may be exported and the maximum amount that be purchased using that strategy. Finally, you select which sources may be used to supply the electricity required. The software will then automatically determine the order in which the sources should be used based on the available electricity. If not enough electricity is available (because of an external electricity demand, for instance), parts of the lighting sectors can be switched off in the pre-set sequence.

Safeguards
If the total amount of electricity drawn becomes so high that there is a danger of the maximum purchase limit being exceeded, the computer will switch off the lighting sectors in stages and generate an alarm.