Upside Energy: balancing peak supply and demand for electricity (ISCF - Clean Growth)

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Innovate UK-supported Upside Energy has created smart-grid technology that eases peak-time pressure on National Grid by connecting a range of common devices that store energy, from backup batteries to electric hot water tanks, through the Internet of Things.

The ambitious start-up based in the UK is at the forefront of the new energy system whose aim is to transform the electricity industry. Their aim is to reduce greenhouse gases by enabling people to make smart choices about when to use energy.

At peak times, the electricity grid runs dangerously short of capacity. In order to meet demand, it turns on all its oldest, most expensive power stations. Upside is looking at a greener way, by paying people to not use electricity at peak times.

Upside has developed a cloud service that aggregates the energy stored in systems people and businesses already own – uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), solar PV systems (solar panels), electric vehicles (EV), domestic heating systems, etc.

This creates a Virtual Energy Store™ that they can sell to the grid to help it balance supply and demand. We share the revenue we generate from these services with device owners and manufacturers.

The end goal is to create an open platform that people can use to coordinate distributed energy storage and use it to reduce the environmental impact of the grid. Analysis by National Grid shows that 600 tonnes of CO2e can be eliminated for every MW of demand-side capacity made available.