Tag: EnergyCloud

Ørsted and EnergyCloud turn excess green energy into free hot water for Kerry residents

Leading renewable energy company Ørsted today announced a partnership with the charity EnergyCloud to provide up to 100 homes in Kerry with free hot water through surplus renewable energy from its wind farms in Kilgarvan.

Through Ørsted’s community benefit fund, EnergyCloud, working in partnership with Kerry County Council, will provide free hot water to the homes that are geographically nearest to Ørsted’s wind farms, dependent on tenant sign-up.  EnergyCloud will heat the home’s water tank during times of energy curtailment through smart immersion technology, with homes under Kerry County Council’s stock eligible for the scheme. Ørsted will provide approximately €500 per home to the initiative.

TJ Hunter, Vice President Onshore, Ireland and the UK said: “Our community benefit is all about supporting local communities for the long term. Partnering with EnergyCloud is a great example of how we can make that happen. By using surplus renewable energy, we’re helping households in need. It’s proof that renewable energy can do more than just power homes, it supports communities.”

Alan Wyley, CEO of EnergyCloud Ireland said: “We’re delighted to partner with Ørsted Onshore Ireland and Kerry County Council on this trial that will make a real difference to people’s lives. This is a simple but effective way to provide an essential service like hot water, while making better use of Ireland’s renewable resources. We hope this initiative will drive others to do similar projects”.

The initiative supplies homes with smart immersion controllers, enabling free overnight hot water heating during periods of surplus renewable energy. This will be EnergyCloud’s first project in county Kerry and builds on its existing collaborations with local authorities and approved housing bodies in counties including Offaly, Cork, Galway, and Limerick.

Ørsted has three operational wind farms in the Kilgarvan area – Kilgarvan, Sillahertane, and Inchincoosh – which have a combined generating capacity of 86 MW of green electricity across 38 turbines, enough to power more than 53,000 homes annually.

Having already operated in the area since 2007, Ørsted has also started the Kilgarvan Repower project, which will replace 28 turbines, totalling 77.5 MW, with up to 11 more modern machines. These existing wind farms, located northeast of Kilgarvan village, have been operational since 2007 and 2009.

This year, €86,000 has been made available for Kerry communities in through Ørsted’s Community Benefit Fund. Community groups and initiatives such as, Kilgarvan Central School and Kilgarvan GAA Club have previously received funding from this initiative.

Pinergy partners with EnergyCloud to deploy smart tech that minimises energy waste and tackles energy poverty

Pinergy, the energy transition company, has today announced a new partnership with EnergyCloud Ireland, aimed at deploying smart tech to minimise energy waste, and tackle energy poverty to power a fairer energy transition in Ireland. Through this collaboration, surplus renewable energy generated will be distributed to fuel poor households via EnergyCloud, by providing a free tank of hot water.

EnergyCloud Ireland is a social enterprise company that works with utilities and wind energy producers to divert unused renewable energy to Irish homes experiencing fuel poverty. Fuel poverty impacts over 550,000 households every day in Ireland, yet since 2018 according to EirGrid, well over 5,000 GWh of zero carbon energy from wind generation went unused and ultimately wasted.

EnergyCloud’s mission is to create solutions to divert surplus renewable energy, which would otherwise be wasted, to Irish homes, with a primary focus on those in fuel poverty. This partnership aligns Pinergy’s desire to help customers understand their consumption to reduce energy waste today for a better energy future for all.

Commenting on the partnership, Enda Gunnell, CEO of Pinergy said; “At Pinergy we are on a mission to power energy transition in Ireland and support the move towards cheaper renewable energy. However, we are committed to ensuring that the inevitable energy transition is fair for all in society and that any waste of precious renewable energy is minimised. Our partnership with EnergyCloud can help us achieve these goals and enable us to play a small part in addressing energy poverty.”

Participating households are equipped with EnergyCloud enabled smart technology which allows surplus and otherwise wasted renewable energy to be used to heat immersion tanks, at no cost to the household occupants.

John Mullins, Chair of EnergyCloud said: “This partnership between EnergyCloud Ireland and Pinergy commenced a number of months ago and already families are benefiting from the scheme. EnergyCloud works with partners to fulfil our mission of using surplus renewable energy to help tackle fuel poverty. For the families involved this is really great news and illustrates how we can collectively use smart technology to lessen the impact of fuel poverty. EnergyCloud is proud to partner with Pinergy as part of their commitment to power the energy transition and support greater use of renewable energy in Ireland.”