[Herald Interview] NineWatt reveals the straightforward path to smarter city vitality use

How can cities contribute to reaching carbon neutrality? In line with Kim Younger-rok, CEO of NineWatt, it’s less complicated than you would possibly assume.

“When individuals take into consideration vitality effectivity, they typically consider costly, high-tech options,” Kim mentioned. “However earlier than you leap into cutting-edge applied sciences, the secret is to optimize what’s already there — the buildings you go to daily. The actual query is: how will we do this effectively?”

Based in 2019, NineWatt is a Korean startup that has emerged as a key participant in city vitality financial savings. Its flagship platform, Watti, makes use of geographic info system information and simulation instruments to diagnose the vitality effectivity of buildings and factories throughout cities. By analyzing publicly accessible info like a constructing’s dimension, utilization, construction and vitality consumption, NineWatt helps property homeowners and managers pinpoint the place vitality is being wasted and the way a lot might be saved.

Hidden inefficiencies in buildings

“There’s lots of untapped potential for enhancing vitality use in buildings,” Kim defined. “Consider it like your telephone plan. You select a plan based mostly on how a lot information and discuss time you truly use. However in buildings, vitality plans typically keep the identical because the earlier proprietor’s — even when their vitality wants have been fully completely different. That results in pointless prices. We assist property managers change that.”

Quite than suggesting costly {hardware} upgrades from the get-go, NineWatt begins by reviewing present vitality contracts, payments and energy settings. The objective is to first determine financial savings alternatives inside the present framework, reminiscent of optimizing the vitality fee or peak energy contracts. Solely after this preliminary audit does the corporate suggest additional energy-saving investments, like retrofitting or upgrading gear — at all times inside the consumer’s price range.

NineWatt has already made a big influence within the public and industrial sectors. For example, Kim highlighted their work with S-Oil’s headquarters in Seoul, the place they helped save 55 million received (about $41,500) yearly — with out changing any gear. Equally, NineWatt offered vitality consultations to 30 factories within the Naju Innovation Industrial Complicated, reaching annual financial savings starting from 6.5 million to 30 million received per manufacturing unit.

“The great thing about our service is that it doesn’t require a heavy upfront funding. It’s all about utilizing good information evaluation to drive price financial savings,” Kim mentioned.

From factories to on a regular basis buildings

Initially, NineWatt centered on authorities buildings and enormous industrial shoppers. However as the corporate scales up, its imaginative and prescient has expanded. “We’re now seeking to goal industrial buildings, significantly small and medium-sized ones, each in Korea and abroad,” mentioned Kim.

This shift is especially related in Europe, the place vitality prices might be as much as 4 occasions larger than in Korea. “The demand for our options is large in Europe, the place reducing vitality payments has a a lot greater monetary influence.”

To assist this world enlargement, NineWatt has entered the proptech, or property expertise, house, mixing its energy-saving expertise with actual property experience. The corporate lately employed its first gross sales personnel — specialists in actual property for each the Korean and French markets. This marks a shift from its earlier R&D-heavy focus to a extra market-driven method.

“We’ve been an organization of knowledge scientists and engineers to this point. However now we’re wanting so as to add actual property consultants — individuals who perceive the native market, have the proper networks, and know learn how to supply the proper information. We wish to turn into each an energy-saving software program firm and a participant within the proptech house,” Kim mentioned.

Poised for development in Europe

NineWatt’s worldwide ambitions obtained a lift with a profitable Collection A funding spherical in 2023, which helps the corporate scale operations and broaden into the European market. As a part of this effort, NineWatt accomplished a proof-of-concept challenge in collaboration with a French actual property platform. This challenge demonstrated the sensible advantages of NineWatt’s software program — eliminating the necessity for on-site visits by utilizing data-driven simulations to evaluate vitality renovation alternatives based mostly on every constructing’s traits, reminiscent of its age and flooring utilization.

“France has been a key goal for us. We’ve now accomplished a localized model of Watti for the French market and are executing gross sales contracts with actual property and building firms there. That is just the start of our European enlargement,” he mentioned.