Homes with solar panels could take a huge step towards energy independence, according to the innovative entrepreneur behind a new domestic battery.
Lee Sutton, co-founder and chief executive of the high growth microgeneration specialist Myenergi, has seen his latest addition to a blockbuster range of products unveiled in the past week. The Grimsby company, charging on with expansion of both footprint and employees, launched Libbi at a national trade show, with further details now emerging as the team returns home from Solar & Storage Live.
A huge manufacturing space is currently being added to the state-of-the-art headquarters on the Pioneer Business Park at Stallingborough, as it gears up to meet demand with turnover passing £50 million for the six year old firm this past year.
Read more: Grimsby's Myenergi named as top 10 growth business in the UK
The 5.1kWh modular addition is described as completing the home energy ecosystem offered by the firm. It comes as the company seeks to fill 25 additional roles.
Mr Sutton said: “We are committed to innovation and are excited to deliver technologies that help our customers gain more autonomy over their energy. Our Libbi home battery will help our customers complete their own energy ecosystem, enabling them to become less reliant on electricity supplied from the grid and become more energy independent, in order to both reduce energy costs and reduce their own carbon footprint.”
Having brought forward electric vehicle charging and electricity management systems, all manufactured from the temporary base on Alexandra Retail Park, the battery is the latest product in the Myenergi stable for which there are high hopes. Described as intelligently connected, it can decide or be instructed as to when to charge or drain based on home usage, tariffs and generation factors, and can be charged from the grid off-peak when power is cheaper, to then use in the day. It also offers blackout backup.
It is a major step for the Binbrook start-up that has attracted backing and board involvement from former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy and investment house head William Currie.
Mr Sutton had linked up with former colleague Jordan Brompton from a previous green-tech enterprise, to launch Myenergi, with the chief marketing officer putting the brand to the development. Expansion has been accelerated with the timing on-point with the Net Zero, energy price and energy security agendas.
On the new product, Mrs Brompton said: “We are incredibly excited to bring a smart home battery to the UK market. Around one million homes in the UK now have solar panels, and as electric vehicles sales continue to rise and the transition to electric heating accelerates, we know that there will be huge growth in domestic renewable generation and demand for battery storage to maximise it.”
An Oxford University study has found that average self-consumption – the amount of solar generation that a household actually ends up using – is around 45 per cent in the UK. Modelling by Myenergi shows this rising to closer to 100 per cent for a home energy ecosystem encompassing its Eddi solar diverter, Zappi EV charger and Libbi home battery.
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