Aussie tech accelerating the electrification of UK homes

Australian technology startup Gridcognition has announced a partnership with its first UK-based customer to accelerate the electrification of UK homes.

SNRG will be using the Gridcognition simulation platform to design and optimise microgrids for fully electric residential housing developments, a trend that’s gaining significant momentum in response to ambitious climate targets put in place by the UK government.

SNRG is a UK-based, end-to-end smart energy solutions provider to new electric housing, mixed-use developments and the transport sector.

The partnership will allow SNRG to simulate a range of different physical and commercial options for the design of these microgrids, assessing the impact of distributed energy assets such as solar, battery storage, electric vehicle charging and load flexibility to create housing developments that deliver the best possible outcomes for house builders, residents and the environment.

Recent UK policy announcements see a change in rules for new housing to mandate electric vehicle charging infrastructure and prevent residential gas boilers; and ban internal combustion engine vehicle sales by 2030. With additional complexity, and massive shifts in consumption, generation and infrastructure in the market, a new level of modelling sophistication is required to develop solutions that can meet these policy objectives.

Dan Nicholls, Managing Director of SNRG SmartGrids, said: “Our work is all about reducing cost, complexity and carbon for all, and the more accurately we can plan and design these projects to deliver that, the better.

“Our partnership with Gridcognition allows us to quickly and accurately simulate multiple complex objectives and parameters to identify the optimal technical and operational strategy for our projects.”

With a shared purpose to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels to an all-electric future, both companies are excited about the impact of applying this technology to residential housing developments in England.

“Australia is a great testing ground for the future of energy — operating a wholesale energy market on the east coast and a capacity market on the west — so it is the perfect place to learn what works and then apply those learnings to the UK market,” said Pete Tickler, Co-founder of Gridcognition.

Work to adapt the modelling engine to service the UK’s energy environment and enabling the modelling of physical and environmental constraints of the energy system in the United Kingdom is already underway, and these projects will be ready in 2022.

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