On their own, solar panels are simply a way of generating electricity — what they're really worth depends on how cleverly you use the power they produce. In most households, in the middle of the day, when the panels are producing the most, nobody is at home to switch on the washing machine or charge the car — so the surplus goes to the grid, for much less than you'd pay to buy that same energy back in the evening. Loxone energy management closes exactly this gap: it continuously monitors how much energy is being generated and how much is being used, and decides on that basis whether the surplus goes into the battery, the car, the heating or the grid — all from a single system, without anyone lifting a finger. This article is part 6 of our Loxone series: we look at how the system keeps track of the home's entire energy balance, and how it coordinates the solar panels, the battery, the EV charger and the heating.
📚 Loxone Article Series
Why do you need energy management if you already have solar panels?
Many homeowners think the job is done once the solar panels are installed — but in fact, that's the point from which it really starts to matter when electricity is used, not just how much. When all your power came from the grid, it made no difference; with solar panels, however, every kilowatt-hour the house uses from its own generation instead of exporting it to the grid is a direct saving — because what you're paid for exported power is typically much less than what grid electricity costs you.
Loxone automates this decision: you don't have to keep a constant eye on generation and consumption, because the system does it in the background.
This kind of energy management isn't a separate ‘solar app’ bolted on afterwards — it's built into the same smart home system that also runs the lighting, heating, shading and security. The practical benefit is that you don't have to check the inverter's app, the EV charger's app and the heating controller separately: everything comes together in one place.
One shared picture — consumption, generation, storage
The Loxone Energy Flow Monitor shows the home's entire energy balance on a single screen: generation, consumption, storage and grid import/export, linked together by meter blocks. The system doesn't just display the data — it also works out how much you've saved compared with having no generation of your own, how much CO₂ has been avoided (even expressed as a number of trees), and what percentage of your consumption comes from your own sources.
Behind the scenes, this needs energy meters — in practice these usually connect to the Loxone system via the Modbus protocol: a single Modbus Extension can link up to 32 devices on one bus, so the main supply, the solar panels, the battery and even the EV charger can each be seen separately, in real time, in terms of what they consume or generate.
In larger homes with several distribution boards, it also means the meters can be organised by board and group, with their own symbols — so you can see at a glance exactly how much each circuit, appliance or floor is using, instead of a single figure that lumps everything together.
When the sun is shining — what gets the power first?
Loxone's ‘Energy Manager’ function monitors current generation and consumption — optionally taking the weather service's forecasts into account as well — and decides what to do with the surplus. The logic starts with the device that uses the least: the system tries to switch on as many lower-power devices as possible before moving on to the bigger ones, so the available surplus is used as fully as possible. The range of devices it can control is practically open-ended — a battery, an EV charger, a heat pump, a washing machine, a freezer or even an immersion heater can all be run on surplus power.
You can change the overall order of priority — whether the surplus goes first to your own consumption, to charging the battery or to charging the car — at any time in the Loxone App.
Heat pump and heating working with the sun
A heat pump is one of the best ‘energy stores’ a house already has: when the sun is out and there's a surplus, the system can encourage the heating or the hot water system to use more power right now — so the heat is effectively ‘stored’ for free in the walls or the buffer tank, instead of having to be produced from grid power in the evening. Loxone can be connected to most common heat pumps; exactly how deep the control goes (simple on/off switching or finer control via a temperature offset) depends on the heat pump model chosen and how it's integrated — we always clarify this for each individual project.
A day with solar panels
To make it clearer what this means in practice, let's look at what the system does on a nice sunny day:
- Morning — as the panels' output rises, the system first covers the house's own consumption and sends the rest to the battery.
- Late morning, as soon as generation exceeds current consumption — starting with the smallest loads, the surplus switches on further devices: first an immersion heater, then bigger consumers such as the heat pump or the EV charger.
- Early afternoon, if a cloud suddenly covers the sun — generation drops, so the system stops any non-urgent, solar-driven charging and waits until there's enough surplus available again.
- Evening, when the panels are no longer generating — the household uses the energy stored in the battery and, if needed, power from the grid.
All of this happens automatically, without anyone lifting a finger — you simply see in the app what happened and why.
Battery — storing energy intelligently
A battery isn't a miracle cure, just a large rechargeable store: when the sun shines, the surplus charges it, and in the evening or at night it gives that same energy back to the lighting, household appliances or anything else. With Loxone, the battery doesn't work in isolation but as part of the overall energy balance: the system decides whether, at any given moment, your own consumption, charging the battery or exporting to the grid takes priority — and this can be changed at any time.
According to Loxone's own example, a combination of solar panels and a battery can allow up to 70% of the electricity generated to be used in the household — this varies from home to home, and a concrete figure can only be given after an on-site visit.
Charging an electric car — Wallbox
The Loxone Wallbox isn't a simple ‘plug in and charge’ socket: it adjusts the charging power dynamically from 1.38 kW up to 22 kW, matching it to the current solar surplus and the rest of the home's consumption. If no car is plugged in, or the battery is already full, the surplus can automatically be diverted to another, lower-priority load (e.g. an immersion heater).
With several chargers, the system shares the available power between them on its own, and with NFC-based identification it can even keep track of who charged how much — particularly useful in multi-generational households or homes with more than one car.
Load management — when there isn't enough power for everything
The more smart devices a household runs — a heat pump, an EV charger, an induction hob, a sauna — the more likely it is that they'll try to draw a lot of power at the same time and exceed the connection capacity. The Loxone Load Manager keeps an eye on exactly this: if consumption exceeds the set maximum (for longer than 30 seconds), the system switches off the lowest-priority device first, following the order of priority, and then further devices if necessary — up to 12 devices. As soon as consumption drops back, the devices that were switched off come back on in reverse order, with a safe margin.
In the so-called peak load mode, the system doesn't respond to momentary spikes but to average consumption over a quarter of an hour.
To take a simple example: if someone switches on the EV charger, the sauna and the induction hob all at once in the evening, the system helps avoid an overload and exceeding the connection capacity — it does not replace the protective devices (circuit breaker, main fuse). Instead — following the order of priority you've set — it temporarily turns down or pauses a lower-priority load (e.g. the car's charging power) until the other devices have finished, then automatically restores the power. Most of the time you won't notice a thing — at most, the car might take a few minutes longer to charge.
When should you plan it in at the build stage, and what can be added later?
Energy meters, the power supply for the Wallbox and the wiring needed for load management are easiest to plan in for a new build or a full renovation — the Loxone Tree bus and the mains cabling can then go in at the same time. That doesn't mean an existing home can't benefit from energy management: Loxone's Modbus-based metering and control can be added later to a solar system that's already running — with most common inverters (e.g. Fronius, SMA, Kostal, Huawei, SolarEdge) — and a Wallbox or a Load Manager can also be installed in an existing electrical installation. If you'd like to know how a smart home system can be fitted into a finished house without major upheaval, we explain it in detail in our article ‘Smart Home in an Existing House — Without Wall Cutting?’ and on our smart home retrofit service page.
A real example — a newly built family home in Sopron
In a newly built family home in Sopron that we designed and installed, the energy management system is made up of the following: Modbus-based consumption metering connected to the Miniserver, an EV charger (Wallbox) in the garage, bus-based control and regulation of the heat pump, and an uninterruptible power supply for the critical control units — all integrated into one shared control interface together with fault signal collection from the heating, ventilation and other subsystems. The result: the family can see from a single app how much electricity the house generates, uses and stores, instead of checking an inverter app, an EV charger app and a heating controller separately.
This kind of coordination is usually decided at the design stage: when we plan the construction of a new family home, we produce the electrical and building automation designs at the same time, so that the cabling for metering, the EV charger and the heating controls is part of one shared system from day one — not patched together afterwards.
Who do we recommend it for?
Loxone energy management is a particularly good choice if:
- You have (or are planning) a solar PV system and want to use as much of the energy it generates as possible yourself, rather than exporting it to the grid for little in return.
- You drive an electric or hybrid car and would like charging to follow the solar surplus automatically.
- You have heat pump heating and would like the heating and the solar panels to work together rather than independently.
- You have several high-consumption devices (EV charger, sauna, induction hob) and want to be sure you won't exceed your connection capacity.
- You'd like to see and control all of this from a single app, on one clear interface.
If you're not sure exactly which combination suits your home and your solar system, the best answer is a free on-site visit — where we'll talk through your property and your real needs together.
Frequently asked questions
Does energy management make sense without solar panels?
Yes. Consumption metering and load management work — and are useful — without solar panels too, although the greatest savings potential comes when they're combined with solar panels (and a battery).
How much does solar self-consumption increase with Loxone?
According to Loxone's own experience, intelligent control can raise self-consumption from the usual 20–35% to as much as 90%, while a solar-plus-battery combination alone can achieve up to 70% self-consumption. This always depends on the household — we can estimate the likely figure during the on-site visit.
Does the Wallbox only work with a Loxone-compatible solar system?
Loxone can work with the most widely used inverters (e.g. Fronius, SMA, Kostal, Huawei, SolarEdge) via an open, Modbus-based connection. Exact compatibility should always be checked against the specific existing system.
Can Loxone energy management be added to an existing solar system later?
Yes, Loxone's Modbus-based metering and control can be connected retrospectively to most common inverters and meters, without breaking into walls.
Interested in how Loxone energy management could fit into your home and solar system in or around Sopron?
As a Loxone Silver Partner, we know exactly which combination suits your property. The first step is free: an on-site visit where we look at your property together.
📞 +36 30 522 7954 ✉️ info@simplesmartelektro.hu Smart home installation in Sopron →📚 Loxone Article Series — continued
Next in the series: Smart home retrofit — without cutting into walls.
In the final part of the series, we show how everything covered in the previous six parts — lighting, heating and climate, shading, security, energy management — can also be fitted into a finished, even decades-old home, without breaking into walls or causing major upheaval, using Loxone Air technology.