The British technology start-up also announced a £1 million investment round to accelerate the roll-out of its new products via the crowdfunding site, Crowdcube. Powervault’s second generation of home energy storage products will allow householders to benefit from the introduction of smart tariffs, which will make it much cheaper to buy electricity at times of low demand. They will automatically charge up with when power is cheap and store it for use at peak times. Customers with solar PV and economy 7 tariffs can already benefit.
Working alongside partners such as Nissan, Tempus Energy and Open Energi, Powervault plans to help pioneer a cheaper, greener electricity system which will enable consumers benefit directly from the smart power revolution. These partnerships are exploring how domestic consumers can gain access to cheaper off-peak electricity rates that many businesses already enjoy. In addition, they are also bringing down the upfront costs of energy storage and give control and cost savings to consumers.
Powervault Managing Director Joe Warren said: “Our new products will allow customers to seize the opportunities of the smart power revolution. Smart tariffs plus storage will allow them to slash their power bills by buying electricity off-peak, and there will also be opportunities to benefit from helping the national grid to store and use more of the solar or wind energy that it generates.
“We expect energy storage systems will soon be of interest to every home in the country and we aim to sell 50,000 units by 2020 and become a household name. Ultimately we believe that a Powervault in the home will be as common as a dishwasher.”
The National Infrastructure Commission has identified energy storage and the demand flexibility that storage can generate, as two of the three key innovations in a “smart power revolution.” It found that the UK has the potential to lead the world in these technologies and they could save consumers £8 billion a year by 2030 by making the electricity system more flexible.
The new products, available in a range of sizes and battery technologies, will also offer an emergency power socket to keep essential equipment operating in a blackout. In 2014 more than a million people in the UK were affected by power cuts lasting an average of more than an hour.