We paid prospects to make use of much less energy at peak occasions. Right here's what occurred.

The BBC talked about demand shift right here, and the way prospects might doubtlessly earn as much as £6 per kwh for ‘turning down’ in Versatile Demand trials.

If you would like to be the primary to listen to once we’re operating trials like this sooner or later, put your electronic mail down right here.

Please be aware, these form of sensible vitality tasks usually require a wise meter that is sending us half-hourly readings. In case you’ve not obtained one but, be part of the sensible meter listing right here.

Why does it matter?

Our vitality community is so much just like the human nervous system; extremely advanced, and extremely delicate.

For it to perform correctly, it should at all times be nicely balanced. Which means that provide (technology coming into the grid) and demand (energy being taken out) have to match very carefully. In the event that they don’t, issues go unsuitable fairly fast. When two turbines went offline in the course of the ninth August black out in 2019 over 1 million houses misplaced energy.

To keep away from this, the grid wants a little bit of flexibility; sufficient wiggle room which you can flip vitality technology up and down consistent with demand. For years this has meant turning soiled fossil gas producing stations on when the nation is utilizing extra vitality.

Maintaining the grid balanced isn’t free both. In 2021 the price of balancing reached £2.7bn, and is about to exceed that determine in 2022. These prices are one of many contributing components to the standing costs all of us pay, and in 2021 contributed roughly £30 to every family’s invoice.

The primary problem with renewable vitality is that it requires us to flip flexibility on its head. We will’t make the solar shine or the wind blow each time we would like however we want to ensure we do not waste that beautiful low cost inexperienced energy. As a substitute of a system the place a handful of huge fossil gas turbines provide energy, we’re constructing a community with tens of 1000’s of renewable turbines.

Octopus has a easy message: pay folks, not polluters.

What wants to vary?

For a stark instance of how an rigid grid doesn’t work for renewable vitality, simply take a look at wind technology. Clearly the solar doesn’t shine at night time, however it will probably nonetheless be a lot blowy. The issue is, fewer persons are utilizing that vitality on the time that it’s generated, and we don’t but have sufficient battery storage connected to the grid.

In 2021 sufficient renewable vitality to energy 750,000 houses for a 12 months was wasted.

82% of that vitality was situated in Scotland, an space with exceptionally excessive wind technology however low demand.

If we’re going to hit – and exceed – our web zero ambitions, all whereas the demand for warmth pumps and electrical automobiles continues to soar, we’ll want to search out intelligent methods to make use of flexibility to our benefit.

We predict the answer is already in entrance of us. If we’re capable of encourage customers to regulate their vitality utilization in a method that traces up with the provision of renewable vitality, we’ll unlock enormous quantities of shopper flexibility.

Our trials have been a giant step in proving this.

What did we check?

We checked out either side of flexibility.

The Huge Soiled Turndown – in partnership with Nationwide Grid ESO – requested prospects to scale back their utilization

The Windy Day Fund – in partnership with Scottish Energy Power Networks – was all about utilizing as a lot extra wind vitality as attainable.

Prospects who wished to participate have been despatched a day-ahead notification (a easy electronic mail), letting them know the 2 hour window they wanted to show up, or flip down, their utilization. Utilizing sensible meter information, we have been capable of create a bespoke goal for every buyer, based mostly on their historic utilization throughout that very same time interval.

Those that opted in and efficiently turned as much as flip up – or down – have been rewarded with free electrical energy for the 2 hour interval.

Whereas on a person foundation the “reward” may need appeared very small, our trials have been in regards to the energy of collective motion. Plus, we have already seen how tiny incentives can result in altering behaviours; the plastic bag scheme.

The Outcomes

Tens of 1000’s of consumers took half in our flip down trials. With Nationwide Grid ESO alone, in the course of the night peak window, members decreased their consumption on common by 18%, with two-thirds of households reducing their consumption by no less than 30% in a number of occasions. In complete, prospects shifted 197MWh out of occasions of peak demand.

The Division for Enterprise, Power and Industrial Technique has estimated the advantage of this sort of versatile vitality programs to be £10 billion a 12 months. Our common family saved 23p per two-hour interval, though some saved as a lot as £4.35.

However what’s extra, the trials display prospects are prepared to begin collaborating in a greener future, immediately. And our outcomes present that prospects can count on not solely to see direct monetary advantages to collaborating (doubtlessly being paid as much as £6 per kWh they ‘do not use’) but additionally standing costs to all households would cut back, (so these collaborating additionally profit those that do not).

Our findings estimate the UK might have as much as 1.9GW of home flexibility accessible between 4.30 – 6.30pm. For comparability the UK’s largest offshore wind farm – Hornsea – presently generates round 1.2GW.

By 2030, assuming the expansion of shiftable demand from merchandise reminiscent of warmth pumps and EVs continues, the excessive finish of our assumptions estimates there may very well be as much as 7.8GW of home flexibility. For comparability, that’s nearly double the present capability of the UK’s largest non-renewable generator – Drax Energy Station – which clocks in at 3.9GW.

And there’s just a few methods to extend that quantity even additional:

What’s subsequent?

Historically, the vitality business as an entire has been poor at participating prospects within the vitality transition, significantly with technically dry topics like sensible metering and demand shift.

However these are topics that are completely key to enabling a sooner and cheaper transition to a renewable grid.

Along with Nationwide Grid and Scottish Energy Power Networks, we now have efficiently demonstrated that even when the person rewards are small, that with the proper messaging prospects are prepared – and even excited! – to behave collectively collectively; serving to steadiness the grid and forestall renewable vitality being wasted.

All it took was one easy query.

“Do you need to assist?”

Need to know extra?

Learn our full report right here.

Or, click on beneath to see a abstract of our findings for every trial.