Our new series of blog posts introduces this year’s participants of Japan Energy Challenge. We spoke with Samuel Enggist, Senior Business Development Manager for tiko, to discuss the role his company can play in the future of Japan’s energy market.
Considering the scale of the energy system’s transition to renewables, and its impact on network stability and continuity of supply, there is a significant amount of interest surrounding so-called energy management technologies that can help mitigate these effects. tiko’s solution focuses on managing the demand of retail customers. While previous technologies have focused on large energy consumers in industry and commercial applications, tiko offer a unique software platform that brings households and SMEs the power of a virtual power plant and complement this through a smart home energy management system designed to connect and control residential and SME assets. In this article we’ll be showcasing what makes them stand out.
Can you tell us a bit about the company and its founders?
The energy world is becoming more digital and distributed. And the awareness that everyone of us can have an impact for a sustainable and renewable energy future is increasing. People want to contribute. People want to be part of a community that is enabling a future with renewable energy resources. That is also the main driver of our founders. They want to have an impact and they want to set up instruments that are scaling the impact of everyone of us. That was the idea that gave birth to tiko. Tiko enables every household electric device to be part of a huge network – helping to stabilize the grid and enabling the integration of new renewable energy resources.
Our founders are experienced consultants, corporate managers and entrepreneurs. They are driven by the vision that technology can be used to do good.
How does your solution fit within the wider trends of Digitalisation and Decarbonisation in the energy sector?
As mentioned above. Our life is becoming more electric, more digital and more decentralized. You can see that in many aspects. One major aspect of this concerns households in particular. The energy supply of houses, apartments, buildings in general is becoming more and more electric. Keywords are: electric heating and cooling systems, PV-plants and storage systems, e-Cars. Our solution is connecting, combining and aggregating all these capacities and managing it as one big virtual power plant. Power Plants that can contribute with a huge amount of flexibility is crucial for our decarbonized world. Because our decarbonized world becomes more decentralized and stochastic in terms of energy production. And that’s where we fit in. With our Virtual Power Plants, with the aggregation and the management of the single capacities of the connected households we can contribute to the stability of our grid. And that means that we can help to integrate the new renewable resources.
Are there milestones you are particularly proud to have achieved as a company?
Every connected household and every partner we win is a milestone for us. But we are extremely proud that we are certified as flexibility provider by the Transmission Grid Operators of Switzerland, France and Germany. We are very proud to have implemented the first pool of batteries, contributing on the auxiliary market in Germany. And we are proud that we have connected so far nearly 10,000 single households.
Let’s look at Japan Energy Challenge’s scope: what specifically attracted you about the prospect of expanding to the Japanese market?
The Japanese market is a huge opportunity for us. Japanese companies are one of the main drivers of all of our technology developments worldwide. Therefore it’s an honour to be selected by Japanese companies!
Second, the Japanese market is huge and technology driven. It has a big potential for us. Digitalisation is further along in Japan than in Europe and that means that it’s a big opportunity for us.
Third Japan wants to open the market for aggregators of flexibilities. To be present in this opening phase means to be able to have an actual impact, to be among the first ones, to be a pioneer. That is what makes Japan so interesting for us and why it would be an honour and a privilege for us to enter the Japanese market.
And finally, how will your solution promote the expansion and modernisation of the Japanese energy sector?
Based on our solution the energy companies can provide to their customers more and innovative services and solutions. They can open new revenue streams, gain more customers based on added services and secure the merging of existing customers. With us they will have a point of differentiation to their competitors!
Tiko will be taking part in Japan Energy Challenge in London this year, you can read about the other companies taking part in this year’s edition here. You can also find out more about the program, ventures and sponsors by clicking the links.
