README.md

Home battery simulator [work in progress]

Introduction

Calculate the return-on-investment of a home battery system, given historical grid consumption and injection values from a digital meter.

Please note this application currently only works with log files from Fluvius, an electricity network operator in parts of Belgium. Use logs files with 15-minute data for the best results. TODO: add detailed instructions on how to download such logs.

If you have other types of logs files, have a look at How to extend for other log file formats.

How to use

Install

First of all, you need to run the application on your PC. There are several options:

• Download one of the installers for Windows, Mac OS or Linux (deb or rpm) from the release page.
• Or download the source code and run the application from source. See How to run in development below.

Run

• Once started, you will see the application config screen
• Click Select csv... and find your historical usage log file.
• If you don't have such a log file, you can download a sample here.
• Adjust the config params to your situation: battery size, battery price, electricity prices, ...
• Push the Calculate button
• This will process the log file, simulate the use of a home battery and show the results in the Results tab. The Details tab contains a daily graph of the simulated battery usage.
• You can go back to the Config tab, adjust the parameters and calculate again.

How to run in development

Prerequisites

• Java 17
• Apache Maven
• Optionally an IDE. The following instruction will use command-line instructions, so you don't need an IDE to run.

If you're new to Java or JavaFX, please have a look at openjfx.io for more information.

Steps to run

• Download or clone this git repository
• Open a terminal window and change dir to the source code

cd batterysim

• Use Maven to run the application

mvn javafx:run

• Continue with the steps described in How to use - Run

How to extend for other log file formats

TODO