A year ago, Octopus Energy launched Agile Octopus. The half-hourly tariff has demonstrated significant impact, with consumers shifting their consumption away from peak times - reducing the strain on the grid, lowering carbon emissions and saving customers money.
In the same year, Octopus Energy for Business was established out of the desire to bring a tech focused green energy proposition to businesses, as well as tailored and flexible offerings.
Vertical farming is a huge emerging market and one that can reap the most out of an Agile tariff. By growing crops indoors and controlling the environments, farms can realise productivity of up to 100 times that of traditional farms. However, one of the biggest overheads for vertical farms is the cost of energy that can contribute up to 40% of the total costs of the business. Octopus Energy for Business identified that an Agile Business tariff could help indoor farms reduce their energy costs by up to 12%.
Octopus Energy for Business and LettUs Grow identified similarities to their approach for indoor farmers in the UK. LettUs Grow’s software platform, Ostara, is a farm management toolbox, providing automation, optimisation and business planning insights to farmers. It can provide agile, closed-loop control for indoor and vertical farms remotely and be used to optimise plant growth. By integrating an Agile Business tariff into Ostara, indoor farmers can adjust their plant’s growth cycles to align with lower energy costs, saving them money, reducing their impact on the planet and making the most of an automated system that links to the wholesale energy market.
Ostara’s ability to optimise farm lighting, heating, cooling and irrigation cycles in response to cheaper energy provision can realise huge savings for farmers. LettUs Grow’s plant scientists are working with researchers and key technical partners to optimise these conditions.
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Octopus Energy