Renewable energy retailer Flow Power has announced a new experimental partnership with Greenhouse, Australia’s largest dedicated climate tech co-working space, to road test the path to “true zero” by demonstrating 24/7 time-matching of energy consumption to renewable energy generation.
Under the new front-of-meter solar energy supply agreement with Flow Power, Greenhouse will purchase an amount of GreenPower-certified renewable energy that is put into the grid. That amount will closely match the energy consumed by Greenhouse’s Sydney Office, located in Salesforce Tower. Under the agreement, Greenhouse will be powered by 100% GreenPower certified renewable energy from an accredited generator.
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It will also feature a trial period in which Greenhouse and Flow Power will explore how they can make advances towards “true zero” electricity. Unlike the more commonly known “net zero”, which relies on mechanisms such as carbon credits or offsets, true zero aims to use renewable energy in real time, all the time. Time-matching consumption to generation is one of the key drivers for this new approach.
A load following battery charge/discharge control strategy will be used to demonstrate, as a first step, that Greenhouse’s electricity usage can be matched in real time with 24/7 renewables electricity generation or storage. Utilising their proprietary kWatch technology, Flow Power will closely monitor Greenhouse’s consumption patterns in real time and aim to ensure that their energy demands are matched with generation and potentially storage from Flow Power’s portfolio of renewable generation projects.
Working together on an initial contract until December 2025, this experiment in innovation will demonstrate the building blocks of time-matching renewable energy and aim to demonstrate its benefits as a pioneering model for other businesses, including an energy shape management plan for Greenhouse that will aim to better match demand to renewable energy supply in real time.
Flow Power chief revenue officer Jacob Mahoney said, “While carbon credits and offsets have been key to stimulating renewable energy investment, we believe time matching is the next step in decarbonisation and this new, time-matched PPA structure bridges the gaps left by our current system.
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“Through this partnership with Greenhouse, we are so excited to take true zero from an in-house experiment to a real-world demonstration and hopefully set an exciting new benchmark for how organisations can decarbonise effectively. By giving customers real-time access to their energy consumption data, we can ensure that the energy they are using is met by renewables generation at the exact moment it happens.
“At Flow Power, we know that smart energy usage and innovation are the key to fully transitioning Australia to renewables. We encourage everyone to explore whether time-matching renewables is an opportunity for their operations.”
