UTILITY WEEK | NOVEMBER 2022 |
35
delays or better principled
automation that spreads
the load will prevent system
stress, but should not act at
cross-purposes with other
tools such as time-of-use
tari s. The UK govern-
ment is currently con-
sulting on this issue.
Building a
decentralisation
framework
In 2019, Elon Musk
described a bold
plan to turn Tesla
vehicles into
"robotaxis",
enabling vehi-
cle owners to
use their car's
onboard auton-
omous driving
functionality to
rent out their car
when they are not
using it themselves.
He suggested that a
single robotaxi could
make as much as
$30,000 per year.
It may be years
before this idea
becomes reality as part
of the transportation sys-
tem – but in the energy
system, a car's battery
could be put to use much
sooner, along with other
household-level low-car-
bon technologies. When
householders are away
from their homes and
not using their electric
vehicle or home battery,
they enter a virtual pool of
resources that help balance
the grid, and are remunerated
for providing this service.
This isn't as far o or futuristic as
Musk's world. There are no technological or
algorithmic barriers to overcome. The inno-
vation already exists,
"It's important to test diff erent price points
with customers and adjusting prices
accordingly."
Lucy Yu, CEO, Centre for Net Zero
"It's important to test diff erent price points
with customers and adjusting prices
accordingly."
, CEO, Centre for Net Zero
Householders could be rewarded for making the EV battery available to cover peaks in usage
but we haven't yet ˆ gured out how to distrib-
ute its value creation and to underpin this
accordingly with governance, regulation and
data sharing.
Policymakers must get ahead and build a
framework for decentralisation that consum-
ers can trust, thereby unlocking the potential
of an intelligent, Š exible energy system.
Lucy Yu, chief executive of Octopus
Energy's Centre for Net Zero
