British energy supplier E.ON Next has launched a new Smart Energy Pilot schedule for households with PV and battery installations.
The pilot program, Next Solar Max, is open to a maximum of 1,000 households for both solar PV and storage installations on the battery and will last a year. The schedule, which E.ON states, is a “first of its kind”, will use AI technology of the Australian solar energy platform Amber to learn from the habits of each household, while generating solar generation is also predicted and real-time energy prices must follow. This will then be used to make personalized energy plans that are exactly tailored to each individual household.
Next Solar Max enables customers to use half an hour of wholesale energy price data to charge their home battery systems of the schedule when energy prices are low and sell it back to the schedule when prices are high, all of which can be managed automatically by the system. Energy plans, live prices and use can all be followed and managed via the E.ON Next app.
Chris Norbury, CEO of E.ON UK, stated: “To build a sustainable energy surcharge, flexibility must form the core of how we generate, manage and use power. In collaboration with Amber we give customers intelligent tools that respond to their energy needs in real time – making it easier than ever to get the most out of their noise feeds.” He added that this pilot is “a powerful step in the direction of a smarter, responsive energy system that works for everyone.”
E.on Next has launched other pilots in recent months to support innovation in the British domestic sun sector. Last month, the energy supplier Unveiled a new pilot schedule in London Designed to share the benefits of local solar energy within communities. A new solar installation, consisting of 270 solar PV panels and able to generate around 100 MWh every year, will be installed at a school in East London, which will benefit from the solar energy generated on location. Unique is surplus solar energy generated on the site, assigned to nearby houses at a discount percentage. Instead of installing a physical power connection, half-hour measurement data will match consumption and production, so that a credit is applied to customer accounts for the solar energy that they use.
