According to
the UK government’s 2023 data, there are 3.17 million households in the country
facing energy poverty. The high cost of energy and the costs of living are
important factors. According to national statistics:
“Between 2022 and 2023 gas & electricity prices rose
by 19 per cent in real terms. The Energy Price Guarantee capped gas &
electricity prices for a standard dual fuel consumer to £2,500 between October
2022 and June 2023. While prices fell later in 2023, they remained higher than
at the start of 2022. The Energy Bill Support Scheme gave all households a
rebate of £400 in winter 2022/23. After considering energy rebates, energy
efficiency and household changes the overall required energy costs increased by
27 per cent between 2022 and 2023 in real terms. The change in energy prices
after government support is estimated to have increased fuel poverty by around
238,000 households over this period if no other factors had changed.”
The price spikes were largely
a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but before that, they had already
spiked up to record levels.
A new collaborative program
by non-profit Energy Cloud, community interest company Yes Solutions, and
Amazon is seeking to help address energy poverty by providing free hot water.
They plan to do this by heating the water heaters of those in need with
curtailed renewable energy when demand is low due to overgeneration. The
program combines cloud computing, renewable energy, and technology to provide
the service.
According to Energy Cloud, in
2024, 5.7 terawatt-hours of surplus wind energy generated in England, Scotland,
and Wales were wasted. That wasted power was worth over $1.3 billion.
Meanwhile, about 13% of British residents have trouble meeting home energy
costs. Energy Cloud noted that a previous similar water heating program in
Ireland in collaboration with Amazon, resulted in participants getting free hot
water for about one-third of the year.
Curtailed renewables are
being utilized for many processes around the world, including for mining
cryptocurrencies, for generating heat for industrial applications, for powering
electrolyzers to make green hydrogen, and for charging batteries and other
kinds of energy storage.
"This is an exciting and forward-thinking project
that brings real-world benefits to the households who need it most," said
the CEO of YES Energy Solutions, Duncan McCombie. "By working with
EnergyCloud and Amazon, we're not only tackling energy inefficiency and fuel
poverty, but also helping to maximise the environmental potential of the UK's
renewable energy infrastructure. It's a triple win – for families, for the
environment, and for our shared energy future."
Energy Cloud specializes in
projects to tap curtailed renewables to address energy poverty. The pilot
project in England will begin this year. Participating homes are to be equipped
with an EnergyCloud-enabled smart device managed by YES Solutions and Amazon.
The goal for Energy Cloud is to connect those in need with surplus energy,
while lowering carbon emissions, pollution, and furthering cloud-based IOT
smart device technology. The process can be considered to be another case of capturing waste streams, in this case, as waste renewable energy recovery, much like the waste industrial heat recovery that is also being pursued.
David Nicholl, Chairperson of
EnergyCloud England, noted that the process of redirecting curtailed renewables
to heat water heaters is minimally invasive. It involves mainly the
installation of the smart devices. All energy flows can be switched on and off
with software and sensors according to time, power availability, or programmed
to respond to demand changes. He also noted the advantage that impacts on power
bills are immediate. However, with the free water only available for one-third
of the year, the positive impacts are limited. Such a solution could
potentially work better where there is both curtailed wind and curtailed solar
with different peak generation times.
Smart meter rollouts have
enabled the IOT revolution for home and business energy management. This
enables the generation of large amounts of data that can be analyzed and acted
upon to improve operational efficiencies. Real-time interactive dashboards can
allow homeowners and business owners to make decisions as well.
Below is an IOT-based power management architecture diagram by Amazon Web Services (AWS):
· Scalable
and secure high-velocity data ingestion
· Scalable
and real-time situational awareness serverless dashboard
· Hydration
and curation of IoT data lake
· BI
reporting
· Alarm
management
References:
Amazon
confirms partnership to tackle energy poverty in England. Emily Whitehouse.
Newstart Magazine. June 23, 2025. Amazon
confirms partnership to tackle energy poverty in England – NewStartMag
Amazon
joins innovative partnership to launch first-of-its-kind energy project: 'It's
a triple win'. Simon Sage. The Cool Down. July 27, 2025. Amazon
joins innovative partnership to launch first-of-its-kind energy project: 'It's
a triple win'
Annual
Fuel Poverty Statistics in England, 2024 (2023 data). 15 February 2024. National
Statistics. Annual
fuel poverty statistics in England, 2024 (2023 data)
EnergyCloud
Collaborates with Amazon to Launch New Renewable Energy Initiative in England.
Energy Cloud England. Contact |
EnergyCloud England
Submission
to Fuel Poverty Strategy England: Using Surplus Renewable Energy to Tackle Fuel
Poverty. “How we can use surplus renewable energy to tackle fuel poverty in
England”. Energy Cloud England. Contact
| EnergyCloud England
Real-time
operational monitoring of renewable energy assets with AWS IoT. Avneet Singh
and Joseph. Amazon Web Services. October 1, 2020. Real-time
operational monitoring of renewable energy assets with AWS IoT | AWS for
Industries
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