Your AlphaESS, planned every half hour.
Orza reads your AlphaESS through AlphaESS’s own open platform, with an App ID you register for, and decides what the battery should do each half hour from your tariff’s prices, your roof’s sun and how your home uses power. Every decision comes with its reason.
Connected with your own AlphaESS App ID. Nothing to install.
Orza reaches your AlphaESS through AlphaESS’s cloud, as the AlphaESS app does. No hub, no box and nothing on your home network.
- Register at open.alphaess.comAlphaESS’s own site for owners and developers. Add your system there with its serial number and check code, which are on the unit’s label. If the sign-up asks for an invitation code, ask AlphaESS for one.
- Paste your App ID and Secret into OrzaThey are encrypted before they are stored, and only Orza’s server can open them. If the App ID covers more than one system, you choose which.
- Check the first readingOrza shows the battery’s charge and what the house is using, and asks whether that matches the AlphaESS app.
- Tell it the restYour battery’s size and your panels, which Orza does not read from AlphaESS, then your supplier. The first plan follows soon after.
What Orza reads from AlphaESS’s cloud, and nothing made up.
Every figure Orza shows about your battery comes from AlphaESS’s cloud or from you. This is what it reads.
- Every five minutesSolar, home use, the grid, battery power and the battery’s charge level.
- Each day’s totalsWhat the battery charged and discharged each day, as AlphaESS itself counts it.
- No history to read backAlphaESS keeps no day-by-day record that shows Orza how your home ran before you joined. If you are with Octopus, up to a year of your usage comes from there by itself. Otherwise Orza learns it from your own readings as it goes.
- What you tell itThe battery’s size and your panels. Orza does not read them from AlphaESS, so setup asks.
- What Orza does not readBattery temperature and state of health. Orza shows them as not reported. It never fills them in.
A plan for the next 36 hours, remade every half hour.
Orza works out a schedule for your AlphaESS: when it should charge, hold its charge and run the house, across every half hour it can see at once. Each decision comes with the reason beside it, and Savings shows what the plan would have cost against what your battery really did.
See the app, page by pageWhat the plan is made from
- Your tariff’s pricesOctopus connects with an API key, so your tariff’s prices arrive by themselves, half-hourly ones such as Agile’s included. For British Gas, OVO, E.ON Next, EDF and ScottishPower you enter your tariff.
- Your roof’s sunWhat your roof really made at the same times over the last few days, checked against the forecast.
- Your homeHow much the home uses and when it is busiest, learned from its own readings.
- Your battery’s lossesEvery kWh that goes through the battery loses a little on the way. The plan pays for that loss, so it only moves energy through the battery when the price difference covers it.
Start by watching. Hand over when you’re ready.
Every home starts in Monitor only, so you can see what Orza would have done with your AlphaESS before it does anything.
- Monitor onlyRead-only. Orza works out what its plan would have saved and sends nothing.
- AssistedOrza’s plan as advice every half hour. You decide what the battery does.
- Automatic controlOrza sends its plan to your battery through AlphaESS’s cloud. Hand control back any time.
- PausedOrza stops planning, and your battery follows its own settings.
Before you connect your AlphaESS.
The short answers. The technical FAQ covers how the connection works, how the plan is built and how the saving is scored.
Read the technical FAQDoes Orza replace the AlphaESS app?
No. Keep it for warranty registration, firmware updates and safety alerts. Orza sits alongside it as the plan, reaching your system through the same cloud the AlphaESS app uses.
Is Orza a smart scheduler for my AlphaESS?
Yes. Every half hour Orza works out a schedule for your AlphaESS: when to charge from the grid, when to hold and when to run the house, from your tariff’s prices, the forecast for your roof and how your home uses power. It gives the reason for each half hour, and remakes the schedule when new prices are published.
Why do I have to register with AlphaESS?
AlphaESS gives each owner an App ID of their own through its open platform, and does not charge for it. You add your system there with its serial number and check code, then paste the App ID and Secret into Orza. If the sign-up asks for an invitation code, AlphaESS is who to ask.
How does Orza learn how my home uses power?
AlphaESS keeps no day-by-day record that Orza can read back. If you are with Octopus, up to a year of your usage comes from there by itself. Otherwise Orza learns it from your own readings as it goes.
Which tariffs does it plan around?
Octopus, British Gas, OVO, E.ON Next, EDF and ScottishPower tariffs, including dynamic and time of use tariffs for import and export. A plan is worth most on a dynamic tariff such as Octopus Agile, where the price changes every half hour.
What happens if my internet or AlphaESS’s cloud goes down?
Your battery carries on under its own settings. Orza is never in the power path. The half hours it couldn’t read are shown as missing, and left out of your savings rather than guessed.
What does it cost?
Nothing during the beta. No card is needed to join.
See what Orza would do with your AlphaESS.
Free during the beta. Connect in a few minutes, and start in Monitor only.