Feb 14, 2023

equiwatt Awarded Government Funding to Expand Virtual Power Plant

The past few months have been a busy and exciting time here at equiwatt, with some of our most exciting news to date being announced at the beginning of February - alongside 36 other SMEs and startups, equiwatt has been awarded more than £630,000 in funding from the Department For Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) through the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund (EEF9) and the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP)!

Johnson with smart meter & app

As the founder and CEO of equiwatt, it is always such a privilege to be able to share exciting news like this with you all! This government funding is a significant milestone for all of us at equiwatt, and we're looking forward to using it to help us grow our community of users and develop new tools to help households across the UK.

Of course, growing our community will not only enable us to increase the size of our virtual power plant as our collective capacity to shift and manage electricity grows, but it will also enable us to save even more energy and reduce even larger amounts of carbon emissions too, something good for the grid and our planet! 

What is the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund (EEF)?

The EEF is a competitive government funding scheme that supports innovation in the areas of energy efficiency, power generation, and heat and electricity storage. The grant funding we have been awarded is for single and collaborative projects for UK businesses, with emphasis on small and medium enterprises and is aimed at accelerating the development and commercialisation of technologies, products, and processes that decarbonise the UK energy sector.

What is a Virtual Power Plant and why does it matter?

For those of you that have not yet downloaded our free app (what are you waiting for?!?!), it might be helpful to explain a bit about who we are and what we do. Via our free app, our community of users connect their smart meters, appliances and electric vehicles to our energy management system to enable them to act as a collective or virtual power plant. 

App Screenshot for blog

This virtual power plant or VPP is a revolutionary technology that enables households and energy companies to work together to reduce energy usage during peak times of demand. By harnessing the power of smart meters, we can identify when energy is in high demand and use our community of users to reduce their energy usage as a collective by all switching off high-usage appliances and devices at the same time, thus avoiding the need to draw on fossil fuels to meet the increase in demand that often occurs at these peak hours.

wind farm sunset

Until recently, the concept of a residential virtual power plant had been hindered by a lack of consumer engagement and high operational costs, so we are thrilled that what we are doing with the equiwatt app has proven to be a scalable and effective solution thanks to our use of smart technology. Something that has been really clear to see through our participation as a provider of the National Grid’s DFS trial this winter.

Our goal is to help households and businesses reduce their energy bills and contribute to the UK's net-zero target by 2050. We believe that this technology has the potential to make a real difference in the fight against climate change, and we're excited to have the EEF on board to help us achieve our goals.

How are we going to use the funding?

With the funding that we've received, we're going to be expanding our virtual power plant and developing new tools to help households save even more energy. One of the key areas we're going to be focusing on is further integrating our technology with smart meters, which will make it even easier for households to monitor their energy usage and reduce their bills.

smart meter in home display - chameleon

Smart meters are the next step in the evolution of energy management in the UK. They provide real-time information about energy usage and enable households to identify when they're using the most energy and what they can do to reduce their consumption. By further integrating our virtual power plant with smart meters, we'll be able to provide even more tailored recommendations to households about when to reduce their energy usage.

But that's not all we're going to be doing with the funding we've received. We're also going to be working on other smart integrations such as smart heating and expanding our virtual power plant to include more households and work with even more energy companies. We believe that this technology has the potential to make a real impact on the energy market in the UK and beyond, and we're excited to be at the forefront of this revolution.

Smart Thermostat

One of the things that sets us apart from other energy companies is our focus on collaboration. We believe that by working together, we can achieve our goals more quickly and more effectively. Our virtual power plant is built on this principle, and we're looking forward to working with even more households and energy companies in the coming months.

Thank you!

Of course, we couldn't have got this far without the support of our investors and our community of users. We're incredibly grateful for the belief that they've shown in us and our technology. It's thanks to them that we've been able to develop this innovative technology, and we're looking forward to continuing this journey with them.

We're also grateful to the EFF for their support. This funding will enable us to accelerate our plans and bring our virtual power plant to even more households across the UK. It's a huge step forward for us as a company, and we're excited to see where it takes us.

We know that there are millions of households in the UK that could benefit from being part of our virtual power plant. By working together, we can make a real impact on the energy market and help households save money on their energy bills. We're looking forward to continuing to develop our technology and to see where it takes us in the future.

Want to join us? Download our free app today!

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