What is it?
SPAN PowerUp™ is an energy management system embedded in every SPAN Panel that protects your home by keeping electricity flow below a setpoint. Unlike other energy and power management tools, PowerUp gives SPAN owners freedom to change the order of appliance management at any time.
PowerUp Setpoint #1: Fixed service rating
A home’s electrical service has components sized to supply a certain amount of power. We refer to the maximum power a home can support as its fixed service rating. Many homes cannot support additional electrical appliances without upgrading the electrical service, which can add major cost and delay to your project.
When configured with the home fixed service rating as its setpoint, PowerUp adds a new layer of electrical overload protection so you can install more electrical devices (e.g. EV, induction stove, hot tub) without upsizing your utility electrical service.
PowerUp may be especially helpful for homeowners who are:
- Adding cooling or backup electric heat
- Executing a home addition or renovation
- Adding an EV charger
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Facing schedule, cost, and/or logistical barriers to an electrical service upgrade
- a utility with a long upgrade queue
- buried electrical service that is hard to modify
- gas meter within 3 feet of the main electrical panel that blocks utility approval
PowerUp Setpoint #2: Dynamic Service Rating™
The electrical system upstream of the home (the grid) can also only safely support a limited amount of power at any given time. When the grid is congested and operating near its limits, SPAN Panel owners can earn money and help grid operators keep the lights on. Your local utility will call on participating homes to temporarily reduce electricity consumption during peak electricity events. Your SPAN panel will then intelligently adjust your electricity consumption according to your PowerUp power management preferences in the SPAN Home® App. For example, you can prioritize your air conditioner or EV charger to reduce electricity use – it’s up to you, and you can make adjustments as needed.
PowerUp Gives You Control
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When electrical current approaches the limit of what your home’s service can safely provide, PowerUp manages the appliances in your home to stay below setpoint following a user-adjustable priority sequence. Once electrical current has stabilized comfortably below setpoint, PowerUp begins restoring normal operation to appliances in the opposite order that they were managed. By default, PowerUp manages EV chargers, tank-type electric water heaters, and electric heating and cooling equipment first. These types of appliances can reduce their electricity use for a few minutes (the typical duration of PowerUp control) with minimal disruption. Cars, water heaters, and homes each store energy that can be used to smoothly “ride through” a short period of high electricity demand. If you have SPAN Drive® installed with your SPAN Panel, it will always be the first circuit to be controlled by PowerUp. With SPAN Drive, PowerUp can continuously vary charge rates to maximize charge speed when enough power is available. Homeowners can drag and drop to reprioritize how PowerUp takes action - before, during, or after a high electricity demand event. Homeowners always have control over their experience. Circuits that a homeowner or installer designates as “always on” (e.g. internet router or other critical appliances) cannot be prioritized and under normal circumstances will never be managed by PowerUp. |
Note: PowerUp circuits priorities are for SPAN’s continuous energy management, only while on-grid. For information about energy management when off-grid, see backup priorities and backup overload protection.
Homeowners will receive a push notification (if enabled) and see a banner in their Home App to alert them that PowerUp is temporarily managing appliances. Follow this banner to view details about PowerUp actions.
If you experience a PowerUp event and want to understand how your circuits were impacted, you can download data from the event day and review the changes in circuit activity at the time of the event. Learn more about downloading data here: Downloading Energy Usage Data.
How long might an appliance stay off at any one time?
Homeowners rarely turn on most or all of their major electrical appliances at the same time. As a result, in most cases PowerUp rarely, if ever, needs to manage appliances to keep electricity use below the fixed service rating. When PowerUp takes action in this fixed service rating context, the action typically only lasts for a few minutes.
If PowerUp needs to manage appliances for a longer period of time to keep electricity below a setpoint, PowerUp limits the amount of time that any one appliance will be turned off. Most appliances will be managed for no more than 30 minutes before being allowed time to operate normally.
However, Dynamic Service Rating™ setpoints are often in place for several hours while electricity use is at its peak. Some major electric appliances, like EV chargers, may be throttled or off for the duration of an event.
What happens to PowerUp if my panel loses Internet connection?
PowerUp will continue to manage appliances using the most current PowerUp settings even when home internet or cellular service is temporarily lost. PowerUp settings in the Home App can be changed when the Panel is reconnected to the internet.
How do I get PowerUp?
PowerUp empowers you to install more electrical devices (e.g. EV, induction stove, hot tub) without upsizing your utility electrical service. Ask your SPAN-authorized installer to enable PowerUp and use the SPAN Panel UL1741 for Power Control Systems listing to help you avoid costly upgrades and delays. They will review documentation, complete required load calculations, seek permit approval from your local jurisdiction, and properly label your panel so that you can leverage the full benefits of PowerUp.
What if I'm an Installer looking to add PowerUp to a Homeowner's panel?
First, you'll need to complete our PowerUp training, as detailed in this article: Getting SPAN-Authorized. Once trained, SPAN offers many helpful resources as you get started installing SPAN Panels and enabling PowerUp. We have a web-based Project Planner that will help you perform load calculations and also will help you facilitate a conversation with your customers about their everyday experience with PowerUp. There’s also an application note with guidance about code compliance and a great video overview of the feature. Learn more on our Tech Portal.