How we’re investing massively in a inexperienced future

Folks typically ask me about what we’re doing with the funding and funds we obtain from Octopus Group, Origin Power, and from different sources (eg. revenue – as we begin to make it, and income from software program licensing to firms like Good Power, Eon, and Npower within the UK, and Nectr in Australia).

So right here, I’m making a “residing record” of Octopus’s investments in driving a renewable power system.

Octopus not too long ago introduced £300m further funding on account of our partnership with Origin Power. While Origin’s heritage and present actions contain fossil fuels (I blogged about this on the time), the cash they’re offering to Octopus Power is 100% about enabling us to take our inexperienced power mission additional and sooner – with no restrictions.

First, no different firm is investing in shifting to a customer-driven inexperienced power system like Octopus. We’re devoted to rewriting the narrative of “inexperienced taxes” and as a substitute, bringing folks the very actual advantages – monetary and environmental – of renewable power.

That’s why we’re investing tens of millions of kilos within the expertise, operations, and buyer and authorities relations – to make it possible for inexperienced power will be low-cost power:

• Our sensible power tariffs like Agile Octopus are serving to to construct a inexperienced power system – appearing as a blueprint for a way sensible houses + versatile consumption may type the spine of an reasonably priced, renewable power system sooner or later. Agile additionally gives fascinating cases the place we pay prospects to assist deplete extra inexperienced energy to assist steadiness the power grid.
• The tech behind Agile is being utilized to various specialised merchandise to assist companies of the long run go inexperienced in probably the most reasonably priced means, and help a renewable power grid, from a tariff for Vertical Farming companies, to Electrical Universe, which powers electrical car cost factors and electrical enterprise fleets with the UK’s greenest power.
• Our latest Massive Change On trial takes “Agile-like” pricing to extra folks – a UK-first large-scale trial into how shoppers might be empowered to assist grid steadiness in a future renewable system. Within the trial, 100,000 sensible meter prospects have been paid to devour extra power to assist deplete extra renewable energy within the grid. The trial was reported by the New York Occasions, The Sunday Occasions and The Mirror.
• We’re the primary power provider within the UK to supply a wise export tariff, OutgoingOctopus – giving UK houses with micro-generation like photo voltaic PV a solution to generate profits from exporting their inexperienced energy to the grid following the top of the federal government’s Feed-in Tariff scheme.
• OctopusGO is an power tariff particularly for electrical car drivers, designed to make the transfer to electrical automobiles smoother and extra reasonably priced. The tariff, with a super-low in a single day value, encourages power customers to cost their automobiles in a single day when the grid’s power is greenest and low in demand, to maximise the UK’s renewable energy and drive the transition to electrical transport sooner.

We’re additionally investing in direct inexperienced power era tasks to empower small-scale inexperienced era in many alternative methods and thru many disparate tasks throughout the UK.

• We’ve created a three way partnership with Co-Op – Co-op Neighborhood Power – serving to fund and help over 100 inexperienced group power schemes – all 100% renewable and designed with and for native communities (and rising on a regular basis).Examine a few of the websites and tasks which might be a part of it, together with Westmill Wind and Photo voltaic Farm, Osney Lock Hydro, in our group power weblog.
• Our three way partnership affords prospects of Co-op Power the possibility to purchase energy that’s straight sourced from these websites by means of a tariff referred to as Neighborhood Energy.
• We’re additionally not too long ago partnered up with Ripple Power, the place folks can chip in to help the construct of a brand new wind turbine, and steadily see a return on their inexperienced funding as we purchase up the power it generates!
• We’re additionally working with Power Native, offering the expertise to assist communities close to small inexperienced mills profit probably the most from getting powered straight by their native websites – a very revolutionary, people-first means of localising power.

We’re main in inexperienced power analysis, as nicely – not solely by means of our personal experimental merchandise, however by funding analysis and information to help the federal government and world power business change faster.

We’re pondering laborious about points like greenwashing, and are deeply dedicated to actual, substantial inexperienced change (you may learn all about what makes us so very inexperienced right here). So our military of knowledge scientists are driving important analysis to drive society’s understanding of how we will undertake low-cost, inexperienced power:

And we’re taking that analysis even additional – establishing the Future Power Analysis Centre, as a solution to give governments and corporations in every single place – not simply within the UK – entry to bleeding edge analysis, information, and modelling that will probably be wanted to drive a transition to 100% renewable power (together with decarbonisation of heating and transport).

We’re additionally investing closely in driving the transition to electrical transport, bringing expertise, cash, and experience to assist drivers escape fossil fuels and go electrical.

• Octopus Electrical Autos (OEV) are an entire firm inside the Octopus Power Group household devoted to creating the selection to go electrical simpler and cheaper, spreading consciousness by means of roadshows, sharing information about authorities subsidy schemes for companies and people, and bundling revolutionary merchandise (together with our low-cost charging OctopusGO tariff and a model new roaming bundle, the Electrical Universe).
• They’re additionally pioneering work in Car to Grid charging, which helps EV drivers save much more cash, and turns electrical automobiles into a useful a part of the sensible, nicely balanced, inexperienced electrical grid of the long run. Examine our Powerloop V2G trial, funded partially by Innovate UK.

We’re additionally backed by Octopus Group – certainly, we’re a subsidiary of them – which signifies that we’re an vital a part of their mission in renewables, and may equally be extremely pleased with their work because the Europe’s greatest investor in solar energy.

• If you wish to know extra about Octopus Renewables, and the large four-plus terawatt hours of inexperienced power they pump into the electrical grid yearly, learn our weblog about Octopus Renewables’ era portfolio.

And now Octopus is in Australia too, and have stepped as much as spend money on Australia’s largest photo voltaic farm, Darlington Level, which can generate 685,000MWh of solar energy every year.

Lastly, it is value speaking about one thing I am not completely happy about.

Octopus Power does have large involvement in fossil fuels. Virtually all power suppliers within the UK, together with ‘inexperienced’ ones, do: provided that we offer gasoline to our prospects’ houses, we’re a few of the UK’s greatest retailers of pure gasoline.

I want we weren’t, and a part of my job is to do the whole lot we will to maneuver to a system the place the gasoline is greener, the place we offset what we use, and in the end, the place we cease utilizing it altogether. All the work above is geared toward phasing out the necessity for gasoline and as a substitute, constructing a wise, renewable power pushed, all-electric future.

I hope that Octopus will ultimately be capable to stand proud, having moved away from it, and created the means through which others can do the identical.

There aren’t many firms who’ll say that a couple of product which accounts for 40% of their income.