Otovo (www.otovo.co.uk), a leading European residential solar and battery marketplace, today announces a partnership with British Virtual Power Plant Levelise (www.levelise.com) to transform how households can monetise and optimise their solar and battery systems.
The Levelise Hub, combined with a solar PV system from Otovo, unleashes the full power of battery storage systems, opens up revenue streams for customers, and lowers their bills. The AI-powered Hub allows households to participate actively in energy markets – that they cannot normally access – by trading their power 24/7 and aggregating storage across multiple homes as part of the Levelise Virtual Power Plant (VPP).
The partnership, the first of its kind in the UK, will see customers offered the Levelise Hub, which connects to the top battery brands on Otovo’s platform for £599 when purchasing a solar and battery installation. This enables, on average, extra annual savings amounting to £320* in year 1 in addition to the typical savings from a PV system with a battery.
By optimising battery performance and integration through AI-led algorithms that ensure batteries charge during low-cost periods and discharge when prices peak, homeowners utilising the Levelise Hub can become more energy-efficient and generate new savings by taking advantage of better tariffs when the grid needs more or less electricity. This ensures the stored electricity is utilised most efficiently without the usual waste associated with general household use.
Otovo UK General Manager Jina Kwon, “It’s crucial that we move away from a fragmented marketplace and towards providing consumers with a comprehensive smart home offering instead. Following our recent partnership with Volkswagen for electric vehicle chargers, this agreement with Levelise further signifies that Otovo is determined to empower consumers to optimise savings and earnings from the clean energy they produce at home. By providing consumers with access to trading markets as well as the ability to use their battery to take advantage of peak electricity prices to sell and cheap electricity prices to charge through Levelise, we can provide them with more savings and earnings as they simultaneously contribute to the decarbonisation and stabilisation of our grid.”
Levelise Product Director Steve Day, “This strategic partnership between Levelise and Otovo marks a significant milestone in making sustainable and financially beneficial energy solutions accessible to homeowners across the UK and Europe. By integrating advanced energy management technology with high-quality solar installations, the partnership aims to set new standards in residential energy solutions, promoting environmental sustainability and economic benefits for homeowners.”
The comprehensive offering from Otovo and Levelise comes at a crucial time for the UK energy markets. The decline of baseload power stations in place of intermittent renewable assets, like solar and wind, has led to the average annual system inertia across the UK falling by around 40%, posing challenges to grid stability. As such, consumers have a critical role to play through VPPs such as Levelise, who provide the grid with flexible power to balance out fluctuations in supply and demand.
Based on real-time availability and market demand, Levelise can directly trade across twelve revenue streams, including National Grid ESO’s Balancing Mechanism (its primary tool for balancing supply and demand), alongside its Demand Flexibility Service and Frequency Response markets.
Benefits to customers include making money for themselves, securing a better return on their investment, and playing a part in creating a future-proof energy system – by balancing the grid (the process by which electricity supply meets demand second by second). Customers become a part of a virtual power plant revolution, helping in security of supply, and aiding the UK in meeting its Net Zero targets.
From 2025, Otovo customers will also be able to sell their power through Levelise on wholesale markets – a much deeper pool representing 48 half-hour daily trading periods, providing increased price variance in a day. By 2026, all household electricity use in the UK will also be settled on a half-hourly basis, meaning those with smart technologies stand to make significant financial gains while stabilising the grid.
* According to the Levelise website (01-August-2024) for a household with a consumption of 3000kWh, generation of 4000kWh, and a 5kWh battery.
