Home batteries and grid-connected electric vehicles will form Virtual Power Plants with peer to peer trading using blockchain technology
Solo Energy today announced the appointment of ex-Tesla VP of EMEA, Ben Hill, as its Commercial and Technical Advisor. Ben will assist Solo Energy in achieving its vision of a 100% renewable energy future by making solar and wind power more viable through the creation of Virtual Power Plants.
Renewable power generation from solar photo voltaic (PV) and wind energy is highly variable, and coping with this variability traditionally requires using non-renewable power plants as a backup. Solo Energy’s solution is to install small-scale batteries and V2G (electric Vehicle to Grid) technology in homes and offices, and to combine them into Virtual Power Plants which can to be intelligently switched on to supply electricity when demand exceeds generating capacity.
Solo’s advanced FlexiGrid cloud platform, which has been in development since 2016, operates these assets in partnership with energy suppliers. As battery storage locations will be distributed across thousands of residential and commercial premises, it has a further benefit of reducing the burden on the national electricity distribution grid because energy is generated, stored and consumed locally.
Ben Hill’s appointment brings his significant experience in solar, battery storage and electric vehicle technology to Solo Energy. In his role as Tesla VP of EMEA, he founded and ran Tesla Energy across the EMEA region. Ben’s background also includes further leadership roles in solar and energy businesses around the world, including heading up Trina Solar’s global commercial operations and running BP’s European Solar business.
Mark Hamilton, CEO and Co-Founder of Solo Energy, said: “We are delighted that Ben has agreed to be a part of Solo Energy’s journey. Our company goal is to lay the building blocks for a 100% renewable world, and Ben’s experience encompassing both energy and battery technology will be invaluable in achieving this goal.”
Ben Hill said: “I’m incredibly excited to be working with Solo Energy. The team have a strong vision for the future, and its peer to peer trading concept using the latest blockchain technology is cutting edge.
“In helping Solo Energy bring its business model to reality, I’m fulfilling my own ambitions to push forward the sustainable and renewable energy revolution. By making reliable low carbon, low cost, sustainable energy accessible to homes across the UK and Europe, we believe we will change the face of energy generation forever.”
Solo Energy has established its first energy supplier partner, Our Power and has successful pilot projects. It will fund the roll-out of battery storage units that will make up the first Virtual Power Plants through an asset-backed Security Token Offering at the end of September.
About Solo
Solo Energy believes in a 100%-renewable energy future powered by a distributed battery-based energy storage network.
To achieve this, Solo Energy is deploying its FlexiGrid technology, a cloud-based aggregation platform that turns intermittent renewable generation into a smart, stable energy system. It does this by controlling flexible energy storage assets such as batteries and electric vehicles to store excess renewable energy for later use when it’s needed. By physically balancing local supply and demand while simultaneously executing blockchain-based P2P trades, FlexiGrid minimises use of the public grid system and wholesale electricity market, thereby driving down middle-man costs and leading to significantly reduced consumer bills.
Solo Energy will turn homes and businesses into a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) capable of providing demand-side response to grid signals. Its Energy-Storage-as-a-Service (ESaaS) model will deliver home batteries to homeowners at no up-front fee. As well as allowing them to store onsite power generation, it will also charge their batteries and Electric Vehicles via the grid when demand, and prices, are low, and renewables are peaking. This will reduce bills and deliver greener energy.
Solo is partnering with energy suppliers to deliver its ESaaS service to thousands of homes over the next two years. Solo’s first energy supplier partner is Our Power, a Scottish not-for-profit supplier with a strong focus on serving social housing and fuel-poor consumers.
In late-September 2018, Solo will launch its Security Token Offering (STO). This asset-backed token sale will fund a mass roll-out of home batteries and V2G chargers.
