tado° announced on 4 September 2024 that it has added photovoltaic (PV) forecasting to two of its home energy services, so that a heat pump or an electric vehicle charges when the home's solar panels are expected to generate1. The Munich-based home energy management company said the feature covers its Balance for Heat Pumps subscription and its Smart Charging App1.
Both services predict how much electricity a home's panels will produce the following day and then schedule the heat pump or the EV charging into those hours1. Setup requires the owner to enter the PV system's peak generation capacity, address, direction and roof tilt; the forecast then runs daily using weather data localised to the property1. tado° estimates its forecasts are up to 80 per cent accurate and says development work continues1. If there is no sunshine, the heat pump or charger reverts to the owner's existing schedule1.
The forecasting sits alongside scheduling the company already offered, in which the household's electricity tariff, and outside temperature in the case of Balance, is analysed and operation is moved to the cheapest times of day1. tado° said the result includes savings on grid fees as well as electricity costs in countries such as Germany1. Heat pump scheduling runs through the tado° Heat Pump Optimizer X and the Balance for Heat Pumps subscription1.
"Our PV forecasting takes the free energy from your roof at the time it comes from your roof to operate your heat pump or charge your EV because these are amongst the most energy-hungry devices in a home."
tado° cited the overlap between heat pump ownership and solar ownership as the reason for the launch: about 50 per cent of heat pump owners in Germany and 45 per cent in the UK also have PV systems1. The company was founded in Munich in 2011, employs more than 200 people from 45 countries, and acquired aWATTar, a dynamic energy tariff specialist, in 20221.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Announced | 4 September 2024, Berlin1 |
| Services covered | Balance for Heat Pumps; Smart Charging App1 |
| Setup data required | Peak generation capacity, address, direction, roof tilt1 |
| Stated forecast accuracy | Up to 80 per cent1 |
| No-sun behaviour | Reverts to the owner's existing schedule1 |
| Heat pump owners with PV | About 50 per cent in Germany; 45 per cent in the UK1 |
Why it matters for households
A heat pump and an EV charger are two of the largest electrical loads in a home, and both can be shifted in time without much loss of comfort. Running them on self-generated electricity rather than imported power changes how much of a household's demand is met from its own roof, which is the practical core of energy independence for a home that has already invested in panels. The forecasting approach also matters where export payments are lower than import prices: consuming a kilowatt-hour at home is worth more than selling it and buying it back later. For homes on a time-of-use or dynamic tariff, the two scheduling signals, solar generation and cheap hours, can point in different directions, and tado° has not said in these announcements how conflicts between them are resolved. The company has also not reported which specific markets or tariff products the PV forecasting will be available in beyond the services named.
What happens next
No dates for further rollout were given. tado° said development work on forecast accuracy is continuing1, and that the same day brought separate announcements on a Panasonic heat pump partnership bundle, electricity tariff news for customers in Germany and Austria, and the Wireless Smart Thermostat X with the wider X range coming to the UK1.