REstore announces what it says is the large-scale deployment of smart household appliances with embedded connectivity in an integrated Smart City platform, together with telecom operator Orange, and imec, an institute in microchip and digital technology

The appliances will use NarrowBand IOT, an Internet-of-Things communication technology. The smart power control is implemented through embedded connectivity of the devices and uses REstore's cloud analytics.

REstore says that Smart City technology can facilitate growth of renewable energy by adjusting power consumption of city residents in real-time to the availability of renewable energy. As more household appliances know when renewable energy is available, they can aim to consume most on those moments. In this way there is less need for carbon-intensive power plants.

"FlexPond is the ideal Demand Side Management platform for Smart Cities of the future, as it ensures end-user comfort and safety," says REstore co-CEO Pieter-Jan Mermans. "Household appliances such as electric boilers, heat pumps and air conditioning units are surprisingly insensitive to power shifts of minutes or even hours. FlexPond uses the available 'flexible power' of these devices to optimize their usage of renewable energy in real-time."

"Through artificial intelligence techniques, including deep learning, FlexPond predicts behavior of household appliances as well as availability of renewable energy. The resulting smart power control allows for cheaper and cleaner energy for city residents while facilitating the growth of renewable energy. It is an innovative, green solution that creates better cities", says REstore co-CEO Jan-Willem Rombouts.

The NarrowBand IOT solution offered by telecom company Orange requires one chip embedded in the appliances to allow direct cloud connectivity. The integration in smart city infrastructure, as part of a broad set of IoT city services, has been coordinated by imec.