Smart grid promises to bring eBay for energy

Cambridge company says its smart grid technology could change the energy market

A Cambridge company has secured £13.7 million to commercialise its smart grid technology alongside a contract with National Grid, which it says paves the way for a “peer-to-peer” eBay-style energy market. 

Origami Energy’s technology monitors and controls large distributed energy grids, including energy generators, usage and storage assets. The system uses realtime data to provide forecasts about costs, weather scenarios and expected usage of electricity and identify constraints within the system.

Origami’s first contract is to provide frequency response services for the National Grid. 

Oliver Burstall, chief technology officer at Origami Energy, said: “Our solution can plan how to use assets to make the most money, improving affordability for everybody, and be as secure and resilient as possible.”

Origami says its technology will change the “one-to-one” energy market to a more peer-to-peer, or “many-to-many,” marketplace – a kind of eBay for energy.

Burstall said: “If you own a solar farm why do you have to sell your energy to a supply company to then sell that on to an end customer? Why can’t the customer contact you for the electricity, or command systems communicate to allow that trading to occur?”