The boss of a leading energy company on Tuesday railed against global governments over the “stodgy” pace of innovation in the power sector.
“You essentially have a grid and a government that control the energy system — and the result is a phenomenal failure to innovate,” Octopus Energy founder Greg Jackson told attendees at a London Tech Week event.
Octopus Energy has fostered a trailblazing reputation thanks to its proprietary Kraken technology, a globally scalable platform designed to drive smart grid use, increase efficiency and improve customer service.
The proof of its success lies in a fast-growing customer base for Octopus: the company now has operations in 13 countries and is contracted to serve 25 million energy accounts globally.
And while many sectorial start-ups have crashed and burned in recent months in the face of the global energy crisis, Octopus has thrived.
Several competitors have even adopted an “if you can't beat 'em join 'em” approach, using Kraken for their own offerings.
Grid locked
Yet, however powerful and pioneering a force Octopus has been, it is still beholden to state-controlled national grids — much to Mr Jackson's regret.
“The UK grid is 40 per cent empty — it's so inefficiently run," he said.
“You've got a control room where you have blokes with mouses and phones turning power stations on or off.
“They literally do it manually. Can you imagine that with the internet?!”
Mr Jackson urged governments to eschew this “depressing” approach and adopt a “dynamic” tech and software-led one instead — as exemplified by Airbnb and Uber, which he said had extracted greater utility from buildings and cars.
“[Governments] must open up the grids in the way that they opened up the internet,” he said.
His expressed frustration at what he sees as an excessively bureaucratic, top-down approach to grid management.
“Imagine in the internet if you had to persuade a central authority of the benefit of connecting a new server farm or whether or not your house is going to get a different kind of Wi-Fi.
“Because that's the way energy works. If we want to build a wind farm, we have to persuade the national grid to connect us.”
Resistant to change
Effecting a systemic revolution won't come easy either.
“These organisations struggle to cope with change,” he said.
“The UK national grid was built for 130 coal power stations — its physical shape is [designed] to shift electricity from places we dig coal out of the ground to the places where people live.”
Mr Jackson believes retrofitting this shape on to the electrified ecosystem needed to boost efficiency and fight climate change, is the equivalent of fitting square pegs into round holes.
“We are going to have solar panels on roofs, batteries in houses, offshore and onshore windfarms — [the grid] just isn't designed to handle that.”
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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Funchal via Lisbon, with a connecting flight with Air Portugal. Economy class returns cost from Dh3,845 return including taxes.
The trip
The WalkMe app can be downloaded from the usual sources. If you don’t fancy doing the trip yourself, then Explore offers an eight-day levada trails tour from Dh3,050, not including flights.
The hotel
There isn’t another hotel anywhere in Madeira that matches the history and luxury of the Belmond Reid's Palace in Funchal. Doubles from Dh1,400 per night including taxes.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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England win by 54 runs (win series 4-0)
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Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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