Energy Innovation Meets A.I. at London Climate Action Week

Having welcomed more than 45,000 people to over 700 events held both online and in the capital last week, London Climate Action Week has now drawn to a close. 

Founded in 2019 by independent climate change think tank E3G in collaboration with the Mayor of London, the programme is designed to harness London’s unrivalled ecosystem of climate and non-climate organisations to support climate action and make the city a global leader in the field. 

Clean power is of course a huge component of tackling the energy crisis in the UK, but it can’t solve the problem alone if the overall system remains inefficient, unfair, and unfit for purpose. 

The problems we need to solve are large and complex, but with an unprecedented amount of data becoming available, and AI technologies to help unlock it, we may now have the means to build the clean, intelligent, and inclusive energy future that our customers, and the planet, deserve. 

That’s why, as part of the week’s events, E.ON UK’s Director of Strategy and Innovation José Davila sat down with moderator and Corporate Innovation Director Emily Barrett to discuss the role new technologies can play in making energy work for everyone. 

José began by speaking about E.ON’s role in the energy transition more generally: Customers want their energy to be affordable, easy to understand, and clean; they want to live in warm homes and be able to afford their bills, but they also want to play a part in the vital transition to clean energy. 

As a leading energy supplier, José explained, E.ON’s role is to help them do that by building a new energy system from the ground up, one that offers customers flexibility, gives them control over their bills through opportunities to generate and store power locally, and provides energy security. 

For the transition to work it needs to work for everyone, and as we move towards more renewable energy, we need more flexible demand to accommodate it. This brings both challenges and opportunities but, done right, a more flexible system can cut costs for all kinds of customers, including the most vulnerable. 

As José made clear, E.ON is approaching this largely through innovation. For example: 

• Our Coventry affordability pilot is bringing together direct financial support and free energy efficiency measures by offering customers no upfront cost battery storage and a time-of-use tariff that could potentially save them £300 a year by helping them use energy more flexibly. 
• Our recently announced partnership with Northern Powergrid is looking to do similar, lowering customers’ energy bills up to 15% by putting batteries in homes at no cost to the consumer. 
• Our new partnership and strategic investment in Allume, whose Solshare technology unlocks the benefits of solar energy and flexibility for people living in flats with shared roofs, stands to bring renewable energy and greater flexibility to potentially millions of people. 

So, what about AI? 

One exciting example José gave at London Climate Action Week was of E.ON’s recent investment in AI startup JUA, who essentially provide AI-powered weather forecasting to help renewable power plants trade with greater precision. This revolutionary use of technology could help to make the entire energy system more efficient, direct resources more effectively, and ultimately deliver lower bills and greater energy security to consumers. 

AI has the potential to unlock a revolution in the way we buy, store, and use electricity, empowering consumers in ways that seemed like science fiction just decades ago. By working with innovative new businesses like Allume and JUA, E.ON can both nurture and harness these exciting new technologies in the name of the energy transition, and in support of our customers. 

With a growing wealth of data, agile innovation, and a focus on partnership and collaboration with start-ups, cities, and stakeholders of all kinds, we’re pushing the boundaries, challenging old ways of thinking, and using AI to make our systems smarter, faster, and fairer. 

For the energy transition to succeed, it has to be flexible, that flexibility has to work for consumers, and those consumers – all of them – need to be included. That’s why we'll keep investing, innovating, and collaborating to make new energy work. 

Find out more about our £4 million investment in Allume Energy to bring cleaner, more affordable energy to UK flats here.