About ACCU

Our challenge

Today, we are struggling with:

• Unaffordable energy prices due to spikes in gas and oil price
• Mis-match between: locations of energy generation and consumption resulting in more infrastructure investment and higher prices; times in the day of local generation and consumption resulting in energy being ‘lost’ to the grid with little or no benefit; ownership of local generation assets and heating networks, where resistance is growing against commercial control.

• Limited capacity of electrical networks are slowing the energy transition.

We need to:

• Maximise local renewable energy generation with local ownership.
• Maximise local consumption via flexible energy assets, smart systems and behaviour change.
• Collectively manage local energy to ensure stakeholder buy-in for the energy transition, stability of the electrical network and steady, affordable energy prices.

Our solution

Local energy communities (LECs) can be a solution! They bring together citizens, businesses and local authorities who collectively own and operate distributed energy resources and services. Although the uptake of LECs is hindered by:

• Technical challenges incl. storage, grid congestion and disbalance,
• Complex energy sector planning regulations,
• Social-organisational challenges on starting and organizing LECs,
• Financial challenges such as a robust business case,

there are also multiple opportunities! LECs can locally balance electricity demand in real-time and store locally generated solar energy surpluses. When energy prices are volatile, LECs deliver heat and electricity for fair and reliable prices.