Cities and local communities could soon be sourcing their own energy online following SmartKlub’s successful feasibility study for a “Local Energy Marketplace”.

The study, funded by InnovateUK, shows that it is technically feasible to bring willing buyers and sellers together into an online community. The concept was the winner of the organisation’s Integrated Supply Chains for Energy Systems Competition.

Says Charles Bradshaw Smith, CEO of SmartKlub: “Our biggest challenge will be stimulating membership to create a critical mass of participants, but we are encouraged by the survey results which show that 91 percent of potential customer and supplier respondents agreed it was a good or very good idea.

“Even better 95 percent of customers and 67 percent of suppliers said that they would use it.”

The next stage of the project is to set up a collaborative R&D project, which will also be sponsored by InnovateUK. This is due to start in October.

Continues Bradshaw Smith: “We have formed a number of key relationships with suppliers, data source owners and a key local authority that should form the basis of the collaborative R&D that we now need to complete. “

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SmartKlub Study Brings Online Local Energy Marketplaces Closer

The online Local Energy Marketplace is one of SmartKlub’s key offers for working with cities and local communities to achieve its vision of “Empowering Cities Together”.

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About SmartKlub

SmartKlub is a startup business formed with the aim of “Empowering Cities Together”.

It is creating new distributed energy project facilitation models to transform how cities and communities power themselves in the future. The first step is to actively work with city stakeholders to bring together the various participants in the energy supply chain, to co create the projects and social capital needed for city scale distributed energy schemes.

The challenge is to solve such a complex multi-layered problem by sharing best practice and creating economies of scale to make community energy a mainstream solution.

SmartKlub’s solution is to create a digital platform that implements a Local Energy Marketplace. This allows supply chains to use a city asset register to collaborate and develop energy solutions for communities, businesses and civic authorities. It brings together what were once disparate energy projects into an integrated system.

The platform will use an open data and mapping architecture as a tool for suppliers to understand and propose solutions for current and future projects.

For further editorial information please contact:

David Spencer, Edson Evers. Telephone 0-1785 255146. Email: david.spencer@edsonevers.com