Selecting Octopus Power because the power provider on your residence or enterprise means selecting to help a inexperienced power future. The cash out of your payments goes in direction of funding in renewable power era within the UK – making your private home greener, and serving to to remodel the entire power system with our cutting-edge inexperienced tech.
We’ve written at size about all of the work we’re doing to create a cleaner, greener, smarter power system on our inexperienced web page, What makes Octopus so very inexperienced? Right here, we need to get into the specifics of how we purchase inexperienced power for our clients.
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What does it imply to decide on a inexperienced power provider?
It’s essential to keep in mind that while you join with a renewable power provider, we don’t pump inexperienced power by way of a separate ‘inexperienced grid’ straight to your private home. As an alternative, all power sources – whether or not “inexperienced” or “soiled” – get combined collectively once they’re fed by way of the wires that result in your private home.
100% inexperienced suppliers help inexperienced power mills, who pump renewable power into the grid to exchange the power that clients take out (making the ‘power combine’ greener within the course of).
There are a number of methods suppliers can do that: they’ll construct our personal mills to generate their very own energy, buy inexperienced energy from unbiased mills with contracts referred to as “Energy Buy Agreements” (PPAs), or, purchase inexperienced power certificates that go in direction of supporting inexperienced era, alongside energy from the grid.
What will we do?
A bit of every – now we have PPA agreements with over 100 completely different photo voltaic, wind, and hydro crops throughout the UK, together with a variety of neighborhood mills, and Octopus Power Technology (a part of the Octopus Power household) handle over 300 renewable power tasks producing 2 TWh of inexperienced energy and making us Europe’s largest investor in Photo voltaic Power. We additionally want to have the ability to provide our clients with dependable, constant power when the solar isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing, so in addition to the power we supply from Octopus Power Technology’s renewable tasks and our neighborhood mills, we additionally get a portion of power from the open market alongside renewable power ‘REGO’ certificates. On high of Octopus Power Technology’s large contribution, these certificates additionally go on to supporting UK renewable power era.
This manner we guarantee inexperienced power goes into the grid to ‘pay again’ what our clients take out, making the power combine cleaner for all.
We’ve a much bigger mission, much more essential and pressing than giving clients inexperienced energy as we speak.
We’re remodeling the power system in order that the entire nation (the entire world, actually) can run on renewable power alone.
At present, even when we had been in a position to generate huge quantities of wind, photo voltaic and hydro power, likelihood is, we nonetheless wouldn’t be capable to energy the world this fashion – proper now, we wouldn’t be capable to entry that power after we want it most, as a result of we’re working it by way of a system that was constructed to help fossil fuels.
For that very cause we’re creating the constructing blocks for a wiser, decentralised, extra versatile system, able to dealing with 100% renewable energy.
Progress is already being made to make this method a actuality – clients are, proper now, residing a future the place they get cheaper power when the wind blows and the solar shines. However we would like the speed up the shift even quicker, so we’re experimenting, with tentacles in lots of small, various tasks to empower smaller inexperienced power mills and EnTech disruptors, versus these with huge belongings.
We generate our very personal inexperienced power
Octopus Power Technology
In 2021, we acquired Octopus Renewables, Europe’s largest operator of renewable power. Octopus Power Technology now operates greater than 300 renewable power tasks throughout six international locations with a complete capability of two,800 Megawatts, together with rooftop photo voltaic farms in Manchester and Birmingham and as wind farms in South Lanarkshire and Northamptonshire. Final 12 months these renewable power farms generated sufficient power to energy over 1.2 million properties.
A portion of the whole inexperienced power we ship to the grid to make up for the power our clients use comes from Octopus Power Technology. Click on right here to learn extra about Octopus Power Technology.
Octopus Fan Membership
Permit us to introduce our two largest followers:
#1 Fan in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire and #2 Fan in Caerphilly, South Wales. That is proper, Octopus Power now have wind generators of our very personal! That is the UK’s first power tariff to present clients the advantages of native renewable power manufacturing in real-time. Octopus clients in Market Weighton or Caerphilly can be part of the Octopus Fan Membership, and revel in less expensive 100% renewable electrical energy at any time when their native generators are spinning.
Ripple Power
We’ve just lately teamed up with trailblazers Ripple Power to produce clients with power from the UK’s first consumer-owned wind farm.
Within the first giant scale mission of its sort, we’re working with Ripple Power to democratise power, providing individuals the prospect to purchase a share of a turbine. In trade, they’re going to get entry to the electrical energy it produces – and we’ll be supplying that power. That is one massive we love working instantly with mills – there’s room to attempt all types of revolutionary, groundbreaking new methods to generate and provide renewable power.
Meet a few of the implausible unbiased inexperienced power mills we work with
The primary means we help renewable era is by paying renewable mills to pump power into the grid instantly. We presently buy the power generated by 102 photo voltaic, wind, and hydro crops instantly, by way of what are generally known as Energy Buy Agreements (PPAs), and our PPA portfolio is rising on a regular basis.
Octopus Power’s PPAs
Of our 102 PPAs, 26 are ‘customary’ Octopus Power Energy Buy Agreements with Octopus Power Technology’s websites and different renewable mills. We buy the photo voltaic, wind, and hydro power they generate instantly. Throughout peak era intervals, these websites may collectively energy 80,000 UK properties. Listed here are a few the websites we associate with!
Hill Finish Farm, Hampshire
This photo voltaic farm is about on a big plot of farmland within the Hampshire city of Sherwood St John. The native council determined to remodel this common little bit of farmland right into a photo voltaic web site in 2014 (take a look at an image of the farm’s development under). Hill Finish generates three megawatts – sufficient renewable energy to avoid wasting round 1,375,220kg of CO2 emissions per 12 months.
You may actually see it on Google Maps proper now, right here:
Carditch Drove, Somerset
This photo voltaic farm sits simply outdoors of Bristol, and generates a whopping 5 megawatts of photo voltaic power. That is sufficient electrical energy to energy a mean of 1,812 properties yearly. We have been fortunately working collectively since early April 2020.
Co-Op Group Power
Everywhere in the UK, there are native power teams which permit communities to speculate instantly in renewable power era of their neighbourhood and past – whether or not it’s from photo voltaic panels on rooftops, wind generators on farmland, or hydropower from the native river.
In 2019, we joined forces with Midlands Co-operative, combining our tech agility with their wealth of neighborhood era expertise to kind a brand new enterprise: Co-op Group Power.
This has enabled us to speculate deeply in neighborhood power era throughout the UK, forming PPAs with an ever growing variety of tasks to buy the inexperienced power they generate for a good worth. The remainder of our 76 Energy Buy Agreements are with these neighborhood power mills. Not solely will we help small native sustainability leaders – however the income they obtain usually goes in direction of neighborhood initiatives, like nature conservation, or lowering CO2 emissions with insulation for properties in deprived areas. Co-op Power clients may even be part of a particular Group Energy tariff to get their power straight from these tasks.
Listed here are simply a few of the neighborhood power tasks that we help by way of Co-op Group Power:
Osney Lock Hydro
Osney Lock Hydro was the primary community-owned hydro scheme to be constructed on the Thames. It generates greater than 179,000 kWh of unpolluted electrical energy yearly. Our founder Greg went to go to the positioning together with some legendary leaders in neighborhood power to launch our thrilling new mission…
West Mill Wind and Photo voltaic Farm
This enterprise was born when an Oxfordshire neighborhood banded collectively to develop renewable era on native farmland. Their wind and photo voltaic era is sufficient to energy 4,500 properties, and 100% of this renewable power is bought by Co-op Group Power. A big proportion of the income go straight to the Westmill Sustainable Power Belief, who promote power effectivity and supply grants to others who can assist advance renewable tasks.
Oxford Bus Firm photo voltaic
An inspiring native staff put in 540 photo voltaic panels on the roof of Oxford Bus Firm’s HQ, getting the funding for the panels by promoting shares to like-minded members of the neighborhood. The revenue from promoting their surplus inexperienced energy has gone in direction of creating over 40 related renewable power tasks.
Power Native
The best way the power system is about up presently means there’s no benefit for a area people to buy native produced power. Whereas not strictly a PPA, as a part of our mission to make greener power, cheaper power, we have partnered with Power Native on a BEIS-funded analysis mission. We offer the technical experience, enabling neighborhood power golf equipment like Crickhowell and Bethesda to reap the monetary profit of shopping for renewable power regionally. The scheme works by bypassing transmission and distribution prices (which really make up a better portion of our payments than the power era itself). For those who’re considering studying extra, you possibly can take a look at this Power Native weblog.
Why cannot the UK’s power system presently help 100% direct inexperienced generator contracts?
The character of the UK’s power system means we will’t presently supply all our power from direct renewable PPAs. So as a substitute, we’re constructing expertise to alter the system itself.
The UK’s historic power system was constructed round fossil fuels. Soiled power sources, like coal, gasoline and oil, work actually in another way to renewables – they are often pumped and burnt in no matter amount we have to meet demand. Inexperienced sources, however, are clear however intermittent. This implies they’re ample at sure occasions (i.e., when the wind’s blowing), however scarce at others (no solar energy in a single day!). With its present arrange, the UK’s power system can’t deal with giant portions of intermittent PPA-backed renewable power.
With that in thoughts, we’re laying the groundwork for a wiser, greener grid, able to intelligently supporting 100% ‘intermittent’ renewable sources (i.e. power that’s solely generated at sure occasions of the day).
It will presently be unimaginable for us, and different giant suppliers throughout the UK, to change to 100% PPA backed renewable power – we wouldn’t be capable to match up era and demand. There could be tonnes of renewable power out there at factors within the day the place no one wished it, and so mills would often should shut off to keep away from damaging the grid’s infrastructure – losing all that inexperienced power. (This has really already occurred a number of occasions during the last 12 months.)
What’s extra, throughout peak hours when many individuals are utilizing energy on the similar time, we STILL wouldn’t be capable to meet demand, and so we’d STILL should depend on turning on different, dirtier gas sources at these occasions to keep away from energy cuts.
Nonetheless, a world powered by 100% inexperienced power isn’t out of attain – we’re simply going to should discover ways to benefit from it.
For the time being, there’s nonetheless room within the grid for extra renewable era (which is why we’re all the time searching for extra PPAs with renewable mills). However increasing funding in renewable era gained’t be sufficient – earlier than we get to a spot the place we will provide all of our 2 million clients this fashion, we’ve obtained to create a system that permits us to leverage renewable power after we want it.
Do any power suppliers presently provide 100% PPA-backed renewable power?
It’s value noting that a couple of suppliers do provide 100% of their power from renewable PPAs. Between them, these firms solely provide a couple of hundred thousand clients – and there is not a lot room for a lot of extra to produce power like this with out the sort of large system transformation we’re driving.
So, selecting a provider like this can be a nice technique to instantly help renewable mills, nevertheless it does not assist clear up the broader concern at hand: altering the system for the long run, so the various (not simply the few) can profit.
It additionally works towards the concept that renewable power might be low-cost power. As a result of these power suppliers should work so arduous to match up their instantly procured intermittent PPAs with their clients’ demand (particularly at factors of the day when renewable era are scarce) their payments find yourself being a number of hundred kilos a 12 months dearer.
We’ve to bulk-buy power upfront to make sure we will provide reasonably priced charges – hedging how a lot power we predict our clients will want over the course of a 12 months. We are able to do that pretty properly, because of years of historic power utilization knowledge and a few fairly intelligent individuals. Nonetheless, with PPAs, it’s actually difficult making an attempt to foretell how a lot the solar will shine and the wind will blow every day (and subsequently how a lot photo voltaic and wind power shall be generated) – significantly on a given day three months from now. Due to our legacy system, with no means of storing power – below, or overestimating the quantity we want can also be extremely dangerous and tremendous pricey.
How we’re working to remodel the power system to help 100% direct inexperienced energy for all
We’re specializing in system-wide change to drive the transition to a wise, versatile grid that may deal with 100% renewable PPA backed power FOR ALL, quite than focussing on supplying (costly) inexperienced energy for a small quantity. This implies addressing the necessity for flexibility that comes with an intermittent power provide.
First, we’re working arduous to alter consumption patterns, rewarding clients for utilizing power when renewables are most ample, and lowering consumption throughout these pesky every day ‘peaks’ in demand that renewable mills presently discover harder to handle.
A technique we do that is with our Agile Octopus tariff. Agile gives tremendous low-cost (and typically detrimental?!) costs when demand is lowest and power is greenest, rewarding clients massively for shifting their power use outdoors of the 4-7pm every day peak in demand, when costs are larger. (You may see this within the graph to the correct). We’re additionally investing massively in good residence tech, like good thermostats, timers, chargers, and heating, so that you don’t should rise up in the midst of the evening to benefit from this low-cost, inexperienced power. Learn extra about good tech in tech part of our weblog.
Equally, we’ve just lately been working experiments to assist different clients benefit from extra inexperienced power. Throughout our current Large Swap On, it appeared just like the grid was going to should pay inexperienced mills to close off and waste their power, so we paid clients to activate their home equipment and assist dissipate these renewables as a substitute.
We’re additionally taking a look at attention-grabbing methods to retailer low-cost, inexperienced power when it’s ample, to be used afterward. This manner, greener power can be utilized to handle the every day peak as a substitute of counting on fossil fuels to fulfill demand. With this in thoughts, we’ve lengthy championed residence era and storage: in April 2019, we turned the primary provider to allow individuals to receives a commission to generate their very own electrical energy with our outgoingOctopus export tariff. These tariffs permit properties to run on power they generate earlier than drawing on the grid, and even promote extra inexperienced power again to the grid to assist steadiness out every day peaks in demand. And final 12 months, with our Panel Energy tariff, we turned the primary provider to allow companies to do the identical.
We’re additionally working with good residence battery producers like PowerVault and Tesla’s Powerwall. Their residence storage gadgets permit you to replenish on cheaper, greener power (both from residence photo voltaic era, or from the grid when it’s at its least expensive and greenest). You may then retailer this power to be used within the early night when power is dirtier and dearer. When used alongside our Agile Tariff, research recommend {that a} Powervault battery can save the common buyer as much as £270 to 580 per 12 months, even with out residence photo voltaic era!
In the same vein, we’re additionally championing Vehicle2Grid charging. Our Powerloop scheme permits Electrical Car house owners to cost up on cheaper, greener power in a single day, drive round all day, after which discharge the power of their batteries again to the grid after work (in trade for cost). This helps to re-balance the grid with saved inexperienced electrical energy, quite than having to depend on fossil gas mills.
In 2018, we labored with very long time associate Arsenal Soccer Membership to put in a 2 MW battery within the Emirates stadium. Arsenal’s night video games now run on battery energy, easing pressure on the grid by the equal of a number of thousand family’s value of power. If demand is excessive and there’s no sport on, the saved energy is fed again into the grid to assist beat that troublesome, carbon intensive every day peak.
Lastly, because of our current funding from Origin, we have been in a position to transfer forwards with a longtime dream of ours. We’re organising a Future Power Analysis Centre to share knowledge, modelling and pace up the transition to the sort of versatile, simply balanced, all electrical good grid that may help 100% renewable PPA energy.
Renewable Power Assure of Origin (REGO) certificates
Moreover our direct contracts with renewable mills, and our work unlocking 100% PPA-backed renewable energy, within the meantime, we additionally help renewable era in different methods.
It’s tough to trace precisely what number of inexperienced electrons are whizzing by way of the grid at any given second, so for each megawatt of renewable electrical energy generated, the power regulator – Ofgem – additionally offers mills a Renewable Power Assure of Origin (REGO) certificates. That is how the Authorities measures how a lot renewable power has really been generated. Except for the power they generate, renewable mills may promote these REGO certificates as an extra supply of revenue, which may then be reinvested into extra inexperienced era. With that in thoughts, one other means a inexperienced provider can guarantee a 100% renewable power provide is to purchase sufficient of those REGOs to cowl their clients’ power utilization, alongside power from the wholesale market.
Yearly, power suppliers should publish the place they’ve sourced their electrical energy from (their ‘Gasoline Combine’). When it comes time to reveal this Gasoline Combine, suppliers use the REGOs they’ve bought as proof of their renewable credentials. You may see our gas repair right here.
100% inexperienced power suppliers should buy sufficient certificates to cowl their clients’ power utilization, after which purchase power wholesale to indicate that for all of the power a buyer makes use of, one other megawatt of renewable-backed power has been pumped into the grid. We purchase sufficient of those certificates to cowl each single unit of power our clients use. This additionally ensures that we will provide a gradual stream of renewable-backed power 24/7, when the solar isn’t shining, and the wind isn’t blowing.
And that’s all shopping for inexperienced power means, anyway – as a result of all era is combined on the grid, shopping for “inexperienced” simply means you’re paying for a dedication by your provider to place inexperienced electrical energy into the grid to cowl what you utilize, finally “greening” it up so the UK’s nationwide gas combine slowly heads in direction of carbon impartial.
The place would we be with out REGOs?
Given that there is a separate marketplace for shopping for REGO certificates on their very own (versus shopping for them alongside the renewable power they signify), some argue that there’s much less of a transparent, traceable line from supply to provider to shopper, or that suppliers aren’t actually encouraging as a lot new renewable era. These certificates signify renewable fuels which have already been generated quite than shopping for new power to feed into the grid.
To that, we are saying….
REGOs can solely exist if a megawatt of renewable power has been generated. They won’t have such a direct supply, however behind each REGO, clear, inexperienced power has been generated in the identical quantity to energy individuals’s properties, and shopping for these REGOs is one other technique to help mills in order that they’ll produce extra renewable power.
If we take a second to consider the place we’d be with out REGOs: renewable mills would lose an essential supply of revenue; renewable tariffs – based mostly purely on PPAs – could be extremely costly, inaccessible to all however the wealthiest individuals (so it will be a lot more durable to drive widespread inexperienced shopper change). Plus, as soon as once more, our legacy grid would nonetheless solely be capable to deal with a comparatively small variety of clients from PPA-only suppliers.
For the second, REGOs are a dependable means of making certain 100% renewable power. We imagine they seem to be a good first step within the journey to 100% inexperienced power, and get individuals used to the thought that you may go inexperienced with out breaking the financial institution.
So for now…
We fulfil our 100% renewable power promise by providing a gradual provide of inexperienced power at reasonably priced costs. by way of a mix of:
1) Investing in inexperienced era at scale by way of Octopus Power Technology, Europe’s largest operator of renewable power
2) Producing personal inexperienced power, beginning with the Octopus Fan Membership
3) Shopping for power by way of direct contracts (PPAs) with unbiased renewable mills
4) Shopping for Ofgem-issued REGO certificates, every signifying a megawatt of renewable power they’ve generated already and giving further funding to mills to additional their inexperienced power capability.
We all the time have our eyes on methods to make sure a extra traceable, direct, and clear power procurement course of, and on the similar time, we’re trying to the long run, main the UK’s transition to the sort of good, versatile, all electrical grid that might make 100% renewable power a actuality.
