Pooled Energy Receives $25.M ARENA Grant for Smart Pool Technology

Pooled Energy, a New South Wales start-up, has won a $2.5 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to test its Internet of Things (IoT) solution to the country’s increasing number of energy-hungry swimming pools. This solution could benefit the gird as well as the households.
An article published on RenewEconomy’s website mentioned that the company is in the initial phases of establishing its “integrated solution” of pool automation and energy management services which can lessen swimming pool energy consumption from 40 percent to 10 percent.
It is also stated on the website of Pooled Energy that it has been calibrating and improving the technology and “ecosystem” over the past seven years as part of a $20 million R&D program funded by Efficiency Filters, its parent company. It also constructed an electricity retailer in the National Electricity Market in order to develop a virtual private national grid that exclusively sells to swimming pool operators and owners.
The project that got ARENA grant will expand the test stage of Pooled Energy’s technology from 400 to 5,000 backyard swimming pools in New South Wales.
According to Ivor Frischknecht, ARENA CEO, “Household swimming pools take up a very large load on the electricity network and can contribute to high energy bills for families.”
“Pooled Energy’s technology will now be able to test turning that load into a significant contribution in providing low-cost demand response in significant volume, alongside making significant productivity improvements,” he added.
The technology has been tested in New South Wales but Pooled Energy is allowed to operate in the retail markets of the ACT, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania. The company’s website mentioned the offer in presently only available for residential and strata pools in Sydney, but it will be launching into new markets and states in the future.
Read the full report here.