So simply how inexperienced is Octopus Power?
Effectively, for starters, the Renewable Power Affiliation have given us their award for ‘the corporate that is executed probably the most to advance UK renewables’ for the final two years operating.
Provided that we’ve been main the cost, it’s nice to see that renewable tariffs are actually changing into extra reasonably priced, and extra giant suppliers are beginning to provide inexperienced electrical energy as customary. These modifications sign an actual development for UK power, as we work to battle the local weather disaster. However together with the businesses and folks which are attempting to do good by the planet, there’s additionally some who ‘greenwash’ – sowing of seeds of confusion to make themselves appear greener than they are surely.
We will proudly say that Octopus Power has no half in that. We’re supplying 100% inexperienced electrical energy to prospects now, and investing in new renewable era. It is vital to grasp that whenever you be part of a renewable provider, there is not a particular ‘inexperienced grid’ that sends renewable-only generated power to your private home. We be certain that we’re 100% inexperienced by ensuring that for each electron we provide from the grid, we put money into the era of one other ‘inexperienced’ electron to take its place. On high of this, we’re additionally utilizing radical applied sciences to drive system-wide change and finish the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels as soon as and for all!
Let’s discover a few of the many, significant ways in which Octopus Power is supporting a inexperienced future, in the present day.
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We’re investing in photo voltaic power on an enormous scale
We’re one of many largest buyers in renewable power in Europe. In 2021, we acquired our sister firm Octopus Renewables, who handle over 300 renewable power tasks, producing 2 TWh (terawatt hours) of unpolluted, inexperienced energy yearly and saving 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 a yr. This large portfolio is now operated by Octopus Power Era, bringing inexperienced provide, power tech and era all underneath one roof.
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We assist direct renewable era and are actively encouraging extra unbiased mills to market
Our assist for a lot of totally different tasks, together with Co-operative Group Power, Power Native, and Ripple Power, has seen us workforce up with over 93 small-scale photo voltaic, wind, and hydro power mills immediately, from throughout the UK.
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We’re empowering homeowners and companies to generate their very own photo voltaic power by paying them for what they export to the grid
As of April 2019, we have been the UK’s solely power provider to supply a sensible means for individuals to receives a commission for the excess photo voltaic power they generate at house – what’s referred to as a sensible export tariff, outgoingOctopus. This yr, having launched Panel Energy, we’ve additionally turn out to be the primary UK power firm to supply an export tariff for companies!.
Skip to learn extra about our market-leading sensible export tariff. -
We’re closely investing in cutting-edge applied sciences to kind the constructing blocks of a low-carbon sensible grid.
We’re main the business in the case of encouraging the usage of cheaper, greener power throughout off-peak occasions when the solar is shining and the wind is blowing, and lowering the necessity for soiled, carbon intensive power when the grid is most in demand.
This entails experiments like our Massive Change On, sensible tariffs like Agile Octopus, and sensible, fully-automated home equipment that energy up on low cost, inexperienced power. These developments are all aimed toward enabling individuals to profit from the most cost effective, greenest power.
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We’re driving renewable analysis with the institution of the Future Power Analysis Centre
Due to our latest funding from Origin) we have been capable of cost forward with a longtime dream of ours. We’re organising a Future Power Analysis Centre to share information, modelling and different analysis that may pace up the transfer in the direction of a 100% renewable, all electrical sensible grid.
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We’re serving to to counteract worldwide carbon emissions
We’re three years right into a mission to plant tons of of hundreds of timber to counteract carbon emissions and native air air pollution. Plus, we’re partnered up with Renewable World, whose inexperienced power tasks present secure, dependable renewable energy in fuel-poor communities across the globe.
Octopus Power Era and large-scale funding in inexperienced power.
In 2021, we acquired our sister firm Octopus Renewables, making us considered one of Europe’s largest buyers and operators of renewable power.
Octopus Power Era now manages a portfolio of virtually 2 terawatt hours of power annually, principally from solar energy, but additionally wind, and a little bit of biomass.
Supplying, working, and innovating with inexperienced energy underneath one roof.
What precisely does it imply that we function renewable power? And what’s the distinction between our large funding in inexperienced power, and the way in which different inexperienced (typically referred to as ‘deep inexperienced’) suppliers generate power?
It’s vital to grasp that at present, it doesn’t matter what provider you employ, your private home received’t truly run on 100% inexperienced electrons. All power sorts journey by way of the identical wires by way of the UK’s grid, and there’s no solution to ship photo voltaic, wind and hydro electrons down a renewable-only freeway to your private home.
Once you use a ‘deep inexperienced’ provider, they purchase the quantity of inexperienced power you require from a renewable generator and pump it into the grid. The electrical energy despatched by way of the grid to your home truly nonetheless comes from the identical pool of unpolluted and soiled power as all people else’s. This implies you’re investing in inexperienced power era, growing the quantity of renewables in that general ‘pool’ of power.
In our case, Octopus Power Era sends nearly 2TWh of inexperienced power annually to the market. Virtually talking, Octopus Power additionally wants to have the ability to provide our prospects with dependable, constant power when the solar isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing, so we get a portion of our power by way of Octopus Power Era (and different group mills), and we additionally get power from the open market alongside renewable power ‘REGO’ certificates. On high of Octopus Power Era, these certificates additionally go on to supporting UK renewable power era – an injection of tens of millions yearly into renewable era, over and above the price of customary ‘mixed-bag’ electrons from the open market.
In brief, Octopus is producing and sharing inexperienced power with the grid (on a small and enormous scale), supplying renewable power to our prospects, and likewise investing in inexperienced mills by way of REGOs.
If you happen to’re , you possibly can learn extra about the place our power comes from in our devoted mills weblog.
Supporting direct renewable era and inspiring new unbiased mills to market
We’re massive supporters of direct power era and are within the technique of massively ramping up our ‘group power’ portfolio. This entails buying power from small-scale renewable mills and inspiring new ones to market. To date, we’ve teamed up with greater than 93 renewable mills across the nation to offer over 110 gigawatt hours of solar, wind and hydro energy to our prospects.
As a part of our mission to nurture native, small-scale renewable power era, we’re working with Power Native, Ripple Power, and have arrange our personal firm devoted to supporting and increasing house grown group based mostly renewables – Co-operative Group Power. We’re without end forging hyperlinks with an growing variety of mills. If you wish to learn extra about our group power mission, you possibly can learn extra about it on this weblog.
This is one of many small hydropower operations we have partnered with since August 1st this yr – Llangattock Inexperienced Valleys
These form of agreements (referred to as Energy Buy Agreements) provide the form of clear provide chain we’re eager to work in the direction of. Our energy-buying cash goes on to the mills themselves, serving to to develop the business that may (quickly, hopefully) energy the entire UK with inexperienced power.
Shopping for native is so vital – we all know that. It makes for a extra environment friendly system, in the end saving shoppers cash and strengthening small inexperienced companies to spice up native economies. It additionally permits for all types of progressive and experimental setups. Our latest partnership with Ripple Power is a good instance. We’re working with them to provide prospects with power from their very own community-owned wind farm! The extra assist we can provide to small mills, the extra new ones will pop up out there, and the UK’s power grid will turn out to be much less and fewer reliant on fossil fuels.
In order that’s how we’re investing in renewable era from a massive-scale all the way down to a group scale. We additionally need to empower particular person individuals to generate their very own power – saving cash and carbon, and making the grid greener.
We have been the UK’s first power firm to supply a sensible solution to pay individuals for photo voltaic micro-generation, and we’re at present the one provider that permits companies to do the identical
Renewable era massive AND small is so vital to making a inexperienced, decentralised power grid. We need to empower prospects to generate their very own renewable power by way of house photo voltaic PV, and we predict it’s solely honest for them to reap the rewards too.
Enter the world of the ‘export tariff’, an power tariff that pays you for the renewable power you generate at house and export to the grid. These tariffs encourage shoppers to generate their very own photo voltaic power – by truly immediately giving them the income. Low-cost power for the individuals, and a greener grid for the UK at giant.
Up till March thirty first 2019, the federal government supplied what’s referred to as a ‘Feed-in tariff’ to just do this. Over 800,000 UK houses have been producing their very own solar energy and getting paid for what they exported to the grid, however the programme ended, leaving no incentive for individuals to put in photo voltaic panels and begin sharing their energy with the grid.
Due to our customized tech, we have been capable of launch an alternative choice to the Feed-in tariff – outgoingOctopus, months forward of the remainder of the business, ensuring that prospects producing the greenest power may receives a commission for it. Since then, we have been paying prospects on our export tariff for his or her surplus inexperienced power, serving to the UK transfer, little by little, in the direction of a cleaner grid. And outgoing goes additional, providing a dynamic value for the power that modifications half-hourly based mostly available on the market worth of power at the moment – that means you receives a commission extra for sharing inexperienced power with the grid at occasions when it’s most in demand.
What’s extra, as of February 2020, we’re additionally the primary power firm to allow companies to receives a commission for the inexperienced power they generate. Panel Energy, a mixed import and export tariff, incentivises companies to generate their very own renewables, and is not like every other enterprise power tariff that at present exists.
This type of dynamic pricing has MASSIVE implications for a way we’ll use power sooner or later.
We make investments closely in cutting-edge applied sciences to kind the constructing blocks of a low-carbon sensible grid
Put merely: When working in the direction of a net-zero economic system, funding in renewable power era alone received’t reduce it. We have to guarantee we are able to ‘easy’ the gaps in intermittent inexperienced power era (when the wind isn’t blowing, and the solar isn’t shining), and profit from the inexperienced era we have already got. This entails ‘balancing’ {the electrical} grid, counteracting every day peaks in power demand, between 4-7pm, when the grid will get overloaded and we’re compelled to depend on soiled fossil fuels.
Right here, Octopus shines. We’re main the business in the case of creating a greater balanced, totally automated, environmentally pleasant, sensible grid – the one means we are able to transfer to a web zero economic system any time quickly. Our tech-led strategy has allowed us to develop tariffs and tech merchandise that encourage a shift in client behaviour, spreading consumption all through the day, and smoothing out these carbon intensive ‘peaks’.
We’re pioneering improvements like Vehicle2Grid charging, which inspires Electrical Automobile homeowners to cost up on cheaper, greener power in a single day, drive round all day, after which discharge their batteries after work (in change for cost), to assist steadiness the grid.
Within the meantime, we’re additionally operating experiments to assist us steadiness the grid and profit from renewable power in future, like our ‘Massive Change On’, the place we trialed paying prospects to make use of up power on a day the place there was on account of be extra renewable power within the grid!
We’re behind the UK’s first dynamically-priced sensible electrical energy tariff – agileOctopus.
Dynamic power pricing is laying the groundwork for a vastly totally different power system. As Reuters put it:
Sooner or later, the climate may drive your home schedule. Your dishwasher springs to life on the windiest time of day. The washer begins spinning when the solar beats down.
Catchup: How agileOctopus works
Agile kinds the baseline for a completely totally different means of utilizing power – a world the place our power utilization follows renewable era patterns. On this situation, we use extra power when the grid is chock filled with predominantly inexperienced electrical energy, and keep away from utilizing energy in the course of the every day power ‘rush hour’ so no further fossil fuels should be referred to as upon to satisfy the excessive demand. agileOctopus costs fluctuate each half an hour all through the day, relying on power’s wholesale worth. Wholesale costs are based mostly on client demand (so, it’s costlier at time for supper, however actually low cost at 3am).
Generally, when there’s an enormous quantity of renewable energy being generated, however not sufficient individuals to make use of it, the wholesale value of power may even go destructive. That is when agile’s Plunge Pricing is available in – prospects on the tariff truly receives a commission for the power they use at the moment, saving it from going to waste.
With agile, and different sensible tariffs prefer it, we’re experimenting to see if client habits might be modified when there are monetary incentives to profit from completely good inexperienced power, when it would in any other case go to waste.
There’s actually nothing else like agile out there in the present day. The tariff was even named Digital Undertaking of the 12 months ultimately years’ BusinessGreen Leaders Awards –
The judges have been received over by Octopus’ pioneering use of actual time power information and sensible meters to ship its Agile service, offering the world’s first renewables powered time-of-use power tariff and serving to prospects to curb power use, reduce payments, and maximise emissions financial savings.
A collective shift to utilizing power in off-peak hours would imply a cleaner, greener power system. Clearly nobody needs to rise up at 3am to show the dryer on when electrical energy is tremendous low cost. So we’re additionally engaged on progressive automations and integrations so prospects get the advantages of dynamic pricing with out having to carry a finger, pairing up with all the pieces from Amazon’s Alexa to IFTTT.
Whether or not it’s sensible plugs , or sensible chargers, or sensible house apps – your home equipment might be triggered to activate based mostly on how a lot inexperienced power is on the grid, and the way low cost it’s for you, when you sleep.
We’re encouraging prospects and different sensible house/IoT innovators to automate with Agile by way of our public API, that means the every day pricing information is freely obtainable for anybody to mess around with and hook as much as neat new product integrations. We also have a full time ‘Future Applied sciences Evangelist’, Phil Steele, who works day and night time on methods to construct an power environment friendly, Internet Zero sensible house. Take a look at what Phil’s been as much as on our weblog.
We’re driving renewable analysis with the institution of the Future Power Analysis Centre
We’re notably excited to announce the establishing of our Future Power Analysis Centre, funded by our funding from Origin Power. On the analysis centre, we’ll convey collectively local weather consultants, information scientists, economists and coverage specialists to plan plans and fashions to make web zero sooner and extra reasonably priced. Octopus Power will freely contribute our information and know-how experience to provide these consultants distinctive perception into how prospects, networks and grids can come collectively for a sooner, extra reasonably priced transition to 100% renewable power.
We plant tons of of hundreds of timber, and fund Renewable World’s inexperienced power tasks in fuel-poor communities across the globe.
There are some emissions we’re not capable of keep away from fully, whether or not it’s from non-green transportation or our prospects’ gasoline utilization for issues like heating and cooking. For now, for a number of ££ further in your invoice per thirty days, we’ll offset any carbon emissions from the gasoline used in your house. We do that in a number of methods, which you’ll be able to examine in depth right here.
We’re funding tasks to convey cheaper, greener power to fuel-poor communities all over the world with the assistance of our accomplice Renewable World.
Renewable World convey low-carbon applied sciences to areas with restricted entry to secure, dependable power. It’d imply putting in photo voltaic lighting in a Kenyan fishing group that beforehand relied on harmful, extremely polluting kerosene lamps to do enterprise. Or changing a small city’s unreliable diesel mills with a photo voltaic micro-grid, empowering the group with entry to power that doesn’t price the earth.
The options Renewable World supplies aren’t a one-size-fits-all. They’re customised to have probably the most affect within the explicit group, and so they’re arrange with the group’s assist. In addition to massively lowering carbon footprints by offering an alternative choice to fossil gas energy, RW’s tasks empower native individuals to really profit from the brand new tech, enabling the creation of recent companies to spice up the native economic system.
We plant timber throughout the UK
In 2017, we launched a UK-wide group tree planting programme, working with faculties and group areas nominated by our prospects to lift consciousness for air air pollution, enhance biodiversity, and absorb carbon dioxide.
The primary yr, we planted 1,000 timber. In 2018, we planted 10,000. This yr, we’re going larger nonetheless – far larger – in an effort to offset a few of the carbon emissions we’re producing as a enterprise in addition to our prospects’ emissions. Watch this house.