Dutch smart home specialist Athom is giving solar panel owners a better idea of when to use their own energy and what happens when they send the excess back to the grid.

The LG-owned smart home platform has added two new features to Homey Energy - a solar forecast that predicts how much power a setup is expected to generate, and export pricing that calculates what surplus electricity is worth.

The solar forecast looks ahead to today and tomorrow, displaying expected production as a dashed line alongside actual output in Homey's solar chart.

The prediction is based on local weather conditions, details of the solar installation, and previous production data, with Homey saying it should become more accurate as it gathers more information.

Users can also give the platform a better understanding of their setup by entering details such as panel orientation, tilt, and total peak power.

For homes with panels installed across different roofs or facing different directions, separate panel groups can be created.

Where the new feature could become particularly useful is inside Homey's Flows automation system.

Forecast data can be used to trigger automations based on expected production, including the amount of energy predicted in kWh, peak output in watts, and the hours when solar generation is expected to be at its highest.

That means it should be possible to schedule energy-hungry devices around the weather, automatically running the dishwasher, charging an e-bike, or switching on the air conditioning when there is plenty of solar power expected.

Homey is also adding export pricing to its energy calculations, allowing users to track what they earn, or potentially pay, when feeding electricity back into the grid.

People on a fixed export tariff can simply enter the rate from their energy contract, while users with different peak and off-peak rates are advised to enter an average price.

Dynamic pricing is supported too, with Homey automatically updating the export value as market prices change.

The new features are available now on Homey Pro models from 2023 onwards, Homey Pro Mini, and the Homey Self-Hosted Server, which went live earlier this year .

Homey has been on a big energy push the past couple of years. Its Energy Dongle, which went on sale last year, plugs into a smart meter’s P1 port to stream live electricity and gas usage data to your Homey app and, at CES in January, Homey announced it will integrate with EcoFlow’s Smart Home Energy Management System to provide whole-home energy metering and will feed live data into EcoFlow’s app.