Social Energy

VIRTUAL POWER FOR REAL BENEFITS

UK based Social Energy is bringing its AI-powered energy storage virtual power plant to Australia and spreading the word about optimising solar battery systems for greater household financial return.

Chris Parratt (right) who is well known to many in the industry has joined the team at Social Energy. Cricket fans will recognise the high profile chap on the left who is a Social Energy shareholder SOCIAL ENERGY IS ON A MISSION to flip opinions about ‘costly’ residential storage by offering households with solar panels and battery storage an energy plan that’s effectively managed through their virtual power plant and shortens the payback time. In a nutshell, they are breaking down financial barriers by providing an offer that they say is too good to refuse.

The company which has already clocked up 6,000 system connections in England, Scotland and Wales says conditions down under favour solar and battery storage, and it’s not just about the longer sunnier days.

The market, they say, is “massively under-served” and they are poised to fill the gap.

The mission starts with Social Energy explaining how its Hub – the technology that connects the Energy Bank to the Social Energy Cloud VPP – monitors customer energy usage and makes informed decisions about how and when to store, manage and distribute solar energy to generate revenue and reduce electricity bills.

The system that reacts in sub-seconds, with the onboard metering technology that is designed to work with in-home internet effectively maximises solar usage and delivers “market-leading” solar export tariffs. “Our AI technology is fuelled by high resolution in-home data - 600 million data points per home each year, stemming from 12 data sources, ranging from weather and climate data through to individual household activity,” said Mark Sinclair Williams.

“As a result, we’re able to create probabilistic forecasts with 90 per cent confidence, enabling us to make financially advantageous decisions to benefit our customers.”

A spin-off is the balancing of electricity grids across the country.

In future, he said, the AI will optimise air conditioning, electric vehicles, hot water tanks, pool pumps and more. One big incentive for customers is the prospect of a 40¢/kWh feed-in tariff that is capped at a ‘fair usage’ policy of 300kWh per quarter. After that a second-tier tariff is paid at a typical market rate for any remaining export, the result being an electricity bill that, for the average NSW-based customer using 6,000kWh and generating 8,000kWh of solar per year, could be close to zero, if not negative.

“Our 40¢ feed-in tariff is the big stand out, and we’re able to deliver competitive import tariffs by being a vertically integrated business, combining battery storage, grid trading hardware, AI-powered VPP software and energy retail in one place, meaning there aren’t multiple businesses wanting a slice of the pie,” Mark said.

Balancing the budget

Australian subsidies are favourable, for example, the Empowering Homes Programme in NSW offers solar and battery customers an interest-free loan for installations that will entice many more to invest in solar and battery storage, he said.

“Finance packages, government grants and loans mean some homeowners could receive a lower total bill for their system and new electricity bill than they’re paying right now for their electricity alone.

“A finance package that’s paid over eight years, combined with a significant electricity saving of around $2000 per year, means some customers will be cash positive from day one and all through their eight year finance term – after which they will enjoy a low, zero or in some cases negative electricity bill.”

Social Energy has teamed with Duracell Energy Bank 2 with a capacity up to 15kWh that is suitable for outdoor installations.

Gaining ground

To help spread the news, Social Energy is importing some of the “battle-hardened marketing techniques” used in UK including a network of retailers and installers, paid leads and direct response marketing, and plans to engage in PR activity and brand marketing. Look out too for the large scale ATL [above the line, grandiose scale] advertising.

Talking of grand plans, Mark said although the residential market promises the greatest potential for growth, the team is keeping an eye on the commercial market which is a neat fit with the longer-term business strategy. And by the end of 2020 SE will be trading as an energy retailer

“Global expansion is also on the cards. At present, we are looking at a roadmap to launch our business in Japan, Germany and US.”

Sounds like the team has its work cut out.

A wealth of information including indicative pricing fact sheets with supply charges and state tariffs can be found at www.social.energy