Summary
A Cheltenham business will help households buy electricity when it is cheap, store solar power and export energy when prices are higher The clean technology startup is developing artificial intelligence (AI) to help homeowners make better use of solar panels, home batteries and electric vehicles, as solar becomes standard Cotswold Cleantech Energy is developing SolarMind, a home energy optimisation platform that looks ahead at half-hourly electricity prices, expected solar generation, household demand, battery charge and the energy an electric vehicle will need.
Details
Instead of asking a homeowner to set battery schedules manually, SolarMind is designed to decide when the home should import electricity, use or hold stored energy, charge an EV and export electricity to the grid. The goal is to import when prices are low and export when prices are higher, while respecting household requirements, such as a minimum battery reserve and an EV ready-by time.
It is fitting the technology is being developed in Cheltenham, as local MP Max Wilkinson sponsored the New Homes Solar Generation Bill, commonly known as the Sunshine Bill , which proposed solar photovoltaic equipment on new homes. The government has since published the Future Homes Standard.
It will introduce an on-site renewable electricity requirement for new homes in England, with the majority expected to use solar panels. The standard comes into force on March 24, 2027, followed by a one-year transitional period for most projects.
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Ravi Ghongade, founder and CEO of Cotswold Cleantech Energy , said: “Putting solar panels on more homes is an important step, but generating electricity is only part of the job. A home still needs to decide what to do with that energy throughout the day. “Should it use the solar immediately, store it in the battery, charge the car, buy cheap electricity from the grid or export when the price is more attractive?
That is the decision-making problem we are solving with SolarMind.” SolarMind divides each day into 48 half-hourly periods. For every period, the system can consider electricity import and export prices, the solar forecast, expected household demand, battery state of charge and user preferences, before recommending or taking an action.
The platform has been trained and tested in simulation and is now progressing into trials with UK households. It begins in observation mode, so it can learn how a home uses energy before automated control is enabled. Control starts only after the homeowner gives permission.
SolarMind is being designed to work across different equipment manufacturers, rather than requiring every household device to come from a single brand. This could allow solar panels, batteries, EV chargers and tariffs to operate as one coordinated home energy system.
Report source: Punchline Gloucester
