We’re taking you behind the scenes to share the story of Loop Optimise, Loop’s AI-powered automated Home Energy Management System (HEMS), and the vision that inspired its creation. It’s a story rooted in balancing green energy on a massive scale—both on the grid and in individual homes—to support a cleaner, more resilient future of energy for generations to come.

The Spark of an Idea: A Smarter Way to Use Green Energy

With the rapid growth of renewable energy sources like solar and wind, the energy grid is now often flooded with green power during sunny or windy days. But there’s a problem: we can’t always use all this energy when it’s generated, and without a way to store it, the excess often goes to waste. On a large scale, battery banks are increasingly being used to capture this surplus, storing it until it’s needed. But what if we could bring that same balance into our homes?

This question sparked the idea for Loop Optimise. It got our data science team thinking: what if, instead of relying solely on large-scale battery banks, we could make homes part of the solution? With solar panels and home batteries, more people are moving towards self-sustainability. Yet, few homes are entirely independent from the grid. While households can store energy to use when needed, they still need to tap into the grid at times or send surplus power back to it.

Gaming the System: How Homeowners Can Unlock More Value

As we dug deeper into optimising home batteries, we discovered something interesting: many homeowners are unknowingly leaving money on the table. While home batteries let users store energy, there’s an opportunity to "game the system" — that is, strategically exporting excess energy to the grid when prices are high.

By manually adjusting when to store energy and when to export it, savvy users could earn significantly more. It’s a classic "buy low, sell high" strategy that could make a real financial difference, but many households miss this opportunity. Instead, they often store energy for personal use and don’t realise the earnings they could generate by exporting it at the right times.

At first glance, it may seem counterintuitive to send home-grown solar energy back to the grid instead of using it for yourself. But once energy is generated, its green credentials are locked in — it doesn’t matter if you benefit directly from that energy or if another household does. By exporting it at peak times, you’re still contributing to the creation of low-carbon energy for the entire system. And, with the right tools like Loop Optimise, you can be paid better for it.

So, by “playing the game” more effectively, homeowners can not only increase their own earnings but also send more clean energy into the grid, reducing the need for fossil fuels and helping drive decarbonisation efforts.

Enter Loop Optimise: A Solution for Today and Tomorrow

The answer to this challenge is Loop Optimise. This innovative tool was created to maximise the value of personal renewable assets like solar panels and home batteries while supporting the broader grid. Using AI, it intelligently manages home energy use and storage to balance the short-term needs of users with long-term grid stability.

Immediate Impact: Maximising Earnings for Homeowners

In the short term, Loop Optimise helps homeowners get the most out of their home batteries. The system manages when to store energy and when to release it to the grid, ensuring users make the most of fluctuating energy prices and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. It’s designed to optimise the savings and earnings for each user without them needing to manually track or adjust their energy usage.

Long-Term Vision: Homes as Virtual Power Plants

Looking ahead, the real potential of Loop Optimise comes from the collective power of thousands of homes equipped with solar panels and batteries. Imagine the impact: these homes could function as a virtual power plant, able to store and release green energy to the grid when needed. This would significantly reduce reliance on coal plants and help decarbonise the UK’s energy supply.

Even though each home’s battery is small in comparison to industrial-scale storage, the cumulative effect of many homes sharing energy can be incredibly powerful. When combined, they can form a massive, decentralised energy network that supports a cleaner, more resilient grid.

A Collective Solution for a Cleaner Grid

With Loop Optimise, homes aren’t just passive energy consumers. They become active participants in creating a stable, green energy system. The AI technology at the heart of Loop Optimise ensures that each home’s energy use is intelligently managed, balancing their needs with the wider grid to contribute more clean energy where and when it’s needed most.

The result is a smarter, more resilient grid where users aren’t just saving money — they’re helping to power a low-carbon world. And with AI doing the heavy lifting, homeowners don’t need to worry about the complexities of energy management. Loop Optimise makes sure they’re doing their part for the planet, effortlessly.

Looking Forward: Empowering Users and Decarbonising the Future

Loop Optimise isn’t just about cutting costs or reducing reliance on the grid; it’s about enabling homeowners to actively contribute to the UK’s decarbonisation efforts. By intelligently managing thousands of small batteries, Loop Optimise is helping pioneer a future where we don’t just rely on central power plants, but on smart, distributed energy networks made up of individual homes.

So, as Loop continues to improve Loop Optimise, we’re building more than just a tool for individual savings. We’re creating a network that empowers users to contribute to a sustainable energy future, one battery at a time.

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