Korea-based leading solar cell manufacturer Hanwha Group has announced its plans of launching a 100 percent renewable “next generation” renewable energy retailer in Australia, targeted to start by October.
Together with Octopus Energy, a UK tech outfit, Hanwha will push a retail energy platform which, according to the company, will focus on markets that are shifting away from fossil fuels, decentralising energy supply, and cutting consumer costs with dynamic costing, electric vehicles, and battery storage, Renew Economy reported.
In a statement, the companies explained how they could achieve”next generation” renewable energy saying, “(Octopus Energy’s) ‘Kraken’ technology is designed to accelerate the move to green energy and smarter grids – a transition Australia is making.”
“It handles colossal amounts of data from smart meters (30 billion rows of data in the United Kingdom already) whilst also allowing outstanding customer experience.”
The report also indicated that Octopus Energy is supported by Octopus Capital, a major solar farm investor in the UK. The company also has interests in the large-scale PV market in the country via Octopus Investments. Some of the notable projects it is involved with includes the 333-megawatts Darlington Point Solar Farm located in New South Wales.
Hanwha’s solar cell and module manufacturing arm, Hanwha Q Cells is presently tangled in numerous legal battles claiming that some of its biggest industry rivals have used its patented passivation technology that can increase solar cell efficiency without proper authorisation.
Putting its legal battles aside, Hanwha is determined to add energy retailing to its ever-growing number of commercial ventures and considers Australia as a good point to start.
The statement adds, “With volatile prices and increased demand through decarbonisation, energy companies will need deep technology at the core, and Kraken is designed to deliver this.”
Andrew Butler, the Managing Director for Hanwha energy Retail Australia stated, “The Octopus Kraken platform was the natural choice to deliver our ambition of digital transformation and bring a new level of customer experience to the Australian retail energy market.”
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