CE Pro April 2021 - 4

FROM THE EDITOR
BY ARLEN SCHWEIGER

Texas-Sized Testimonial for
Energy Storage & Automation
T'S NOT OFTEN when the smart home
solutions installed by integrators collide with major news-making events, but
that's exactly the scenario during the recently deadly
storms in Texas. Indeed, in seemingly a moment's
notice energy storage and automation systems
shifted from being home conveniences to vital and
potentially life-saving applications.
Somewhat presciently, a recent CE Pro Podcast
episode discussed this real-world scenario and how
professionally installed smart home systems prove
their worth when it matters most.
CE Pro has been tracking the " energy automation " category for a bit now, as it's potential appears
very promising for custom integrators. Troy Morgan, president and CEO of PanTech Design in
Dallas, has realized this firsthand, beginning with
outfitting his own home for energy automation and
bringing that experience and expertise to fellow integrator partners and customers via PanTech's Adapt
Energy platform.
In a late January 2021 episode of the CE Pro
Podcast, Morgan outlined how he first got involved
in the category, how Adapt Energy works and what
it can do, resources for integrators to educate customers, and much more.
PanTech Design launched in 2005 with a primary
focus on large-scale automation systems for residences,
yachts and other applications using Crestron systems
as a B2B solution for an integrator, Morgan explains.
That evolved over a decade into PanTech's creating a software product called Adapt, which he says
cut 80% of programming and configuration time.
More recently, PanTech developed Adapt Energy, a
hardware and software energy automation solution
that it not only sells to integrators but also to solar
contractors and electrical contractors.
In 2012, Morgan started monitoring his own
home using Adapt Energy via a Crestron Fusion
system. It wasn't until a few years ago that he says
he saw an opportunity for the energy industry and
the home automation industry to collide.
" Bringing those two together just made a lot of
sense, " he remarks.
Monitoring energy is one thing, but it's a completely different thing to control it, Morgan says of
the impetus. Savvy integrators can talk to customers
about why they would want to control their energy.

No, not
everyone can
afford a home
energy system
of this level -
but those who
can surely
will see the
day they'll
thank their
integrator for
selling it.

CE Pro APRIL 2021

C2104 pp04 Ed Note.indd 4

" You have to look at the reasons ... why would
you want to shut off things? Why would you want to
shape, shift and shed the load in a home, " he remarks.
" And that's the automation end of things. "
He explains that for solar inverters and large
batteries, etc., they have certain limits, and people
don't realize that in scenarios where they tap into
such things - living off-grid, or when the grid goes
down, for instance - those reserves can be sucked
dry pretty quickly.
PanTech works with Sonnen ecolinx batteries
in conjunction with its hardware solution to control Schneider Electric relay control breakers, using
all the wealth of system data provided by Sonnen's
intelligent units.
The solution also integrates with a monitoring
system called Curve that Morgan says delivers information it needs with the battery or solar systems
in a home, for PanTech to then shut things on/off,
automate, schedule events and more. He notes that
with some wild weather in Texas, his Adapt Energy
system ties into weather information and will trigger
battery and smart technologies to do certain activities for storm preparation.
" It's all to prepare for the potential of a power
outage, " he says.
Well, fast-forward a month after this podcast episode airs and Texas is experiencing weather that was
not just wild, but deadly, with power outages commonplace as the region coped with snow, ice and
freeze. I checked in with the Dallas-area integrator
after winter wreaked its havoc in the state. With his
system doing what it's built to do, Morgan reported
his home was unaffected by the grid situation.
" We're all good, but if more people had what I
have we wouldn't necessarily be in this position ...
We weren't prepared as a state or as individuals, "
he says. " There will be a lot of people investing in
means to become resilient to things like this. "
No, not everyone can afford a home energy system of this level - but those who can surely will see
the day they'll thank their integrator for selling it.
Arlen Schweiger,
executive editor
arlen.schweiger@emeraldx.com;
@ArlenSchweiger

www.cepro.com

3/10/21 2:31 PM

http://www.cepro.com

CE Pro April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro April 2021