Renewable energy marketplace Open Utility has raised $800k as it gets set for a 2016 launch.
The London-based startup initially launched as a comparison service for energy generators, helping them find the best exporter.
Now, Open Utility is developing a peer-to-peer marketplace that puts energy generators directly in contact with consumers.
The investment has been led by the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Energy Entrepreneurs Fund scheme and also involved the Nominet Trust.
Full transparency
In practical terms, the service will allow any building with its own generator of clean energy to sell off its space capacity.
The marketplace, which will pilot in 2015, will provide full transparency over where clean energy comes from.
It also claims it will provide greater choice and the ability “to source the best deal, obtaining low carbon ‘green’ electricity at the lowest possible price”.
The growth of clean energy
James Johnston, Open Utility cofounder and CEO, says the only way to promote clean energy is “to throw open the marketplace so there is total transparency of where renewable energy comes from and how much it costs”.
With our new peer-to-peer service, community buildings like schools and offices will be able to double as power plants – powering themselves during the day and sharing excess power with neighbours in the evenings and weekends.
Johnston has spent 3 years researching disruptive technologies in the energy sector.
Open Utility was founded in 2013 and is one of 18 companies to have gone through the Open Data Institute’s startup programme.
Founded by Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt and Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the ODI is an independent non-profit organisation that promotes the evolution of open data.