Artificial Intelligence gives Social Energy the edge as it looks to raise £50m

The Huddersfield-based green technology start-up uses artificial intelligence (AI) to store, manage and distribute the energy generated by residential solar panels.

Social Energy said it generates savings of up to 70 per cent a year on behalf its customers.

The firm said there is a necessity for a change in the national attitude towards the energy industry and climate issues more broadly.

Climate change protesters at Extinction Rebellion recently held 10 days of marches and widespread disruption in London. Not long after the protests, the Government committed the UK net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Social Energy said the energy industry clearly has a strong incentive to step up and make a change, but the reality is that the more traditional approaches won’t be enough.

The firm said it is down to technology businesses to take the lead and empower people to take control of their environmental footprint. SocialEnergy said it has already seen strong interest from investors.

The company's AI can learn about a home's energy consumption and store the energy needed in batteries. The AI automatically trades excesspower on the grid in times of peak demand.

Social Energy holds the exclusive brand licence for Duracell, the largest global battery brand, in home energy storage across key markets.

The firm also has exclusive agreements with suppliers that account for 70 per cent of global battery manufacturing. It is the only company with a licence from National Grid to trade energy in this way.

Ryan Gill, chief executive of Social Energy, said: “The attraction of our model has not escaped the attention of global energy behemoths whichare beginning to assess their position in a post-carbon world. Shell for example recently bought Sonnen and Limejump to attempt this in the future.

“But it isn’t purely an issue of investment, the nature of AI is it needs time to learn and that can’t be accelerated. Our AI has been developed by a team of data scientists over a six-year R&D period, this isn’t easy to replicate."

He said that recent events suggest that our environmental footprint, as individuals and a nation, will be the topic of discussion for much of the near future.

“Having an environmentally friendly home is moving up on people’s agendas," he said.

"Look at solar panels for example. A million homes in the UK already have them installed. By joining the Social Energy Network, homes and businesses are empowered to take back control of their energy supply."

The green technology start-up is looking to close its latest funding round in August and will use the proceeds to explore entering new geographies including Australia.