LONDON, Feb. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Centrica is to expand its smart home activity in a move that will unlock the power of millions of customers’ homes, driving down electricity bills through the development of new propositions that will also support the flexibility of the grid.
The company is working to integrate solar, battery and heat pump technology into its customer offer and has estimated that the co-location of domestic battery storage alongside today’s solar installations alone could enable over 4.5GW of flexible power capacity, one and a half times more than a new nuclear plant.
Centrica Innovations has also made investments into two leading start-ups as part of an effort to drive forward new technologies and solutions for homes around the world.
The first investment is into one of Europe’s leading home energy management solutions providers, GreenCom Networks. Established in 2011, GreenCom Networks has developed an energy Internet of Things (IoT) platform that allows customers to save money by reducing their energy consumption, or even make money by making any surplus power in the home available to the grid at periods of high demand.
The second investment is a spin-out company from the University of Oxford’s Energy and Power Group, Mixergy, which has received funding to support the growth of its smart hot water tank technology. Mixergy’s intelligent hot water system combines sensory and IoT technology to keep track of hot water levels, learning the usage habits of the household so it only heats just enough to meet their needs.
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