Making on-site energy pay
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An operating system makes it easier to manage on-site renewable energy production
Spotted: According to one ESG survey published earlier this year, 58 per cent of real estate professionals would pay a premium for a property if on-site renewable energy generation is present. But while on-site renewables are attractive to property owners, hurdles remain to unlocking their full potential.
For large multi-tenant property owners, a significant barrier is the difficulty of passing the benefits of locally generated power on to tenants. Even though, in many places in the world, on-site energy is cheaper than electricity bought from the grid, power generated on-site is typically sold back to the grid rather than directly to local consumers, meaning these cost savings are not realised. This is because commercial real estate owners typically lack the tools to manage, measure, and bill for the electricity they generate.
To tackle this, Solarize has developed a software-as-a-service solution that makes it easy for property owners to track the electricity they create and sell it directly to consumers. ‘Meter-to-cash’ is the process by which electricity producers measure the energy consumed by each user, generate bills, collect payments, and book revenues from electricity sales. This can be complicated for organisations new to power generation, and this is where Solarize can help.
Using the platform, property owners distribute the power they generate to any number of tenants through power purchase agreements (PPAs). The software then lets them easily monitor consumption patterns and automatically bill customers in a secure and audit-proof way.
The platform is intuitive and easy-to-use, and the software can be easily integrated into existing systems. Billing is flexible and can be configured to meet local regulatory requirements.
Other on-site renewable energy innovations spotted by Springwise include used EV batteries for on-site energy storage, storing energy using only salt and water, and bladeless wind turbines for commercial buildings.
Written By: Matthew Hempstead