Keeling Curve

Project Summary / Description:

Metronome Energy is a Demand Side Response (DSR) technology company initially targeting the industrial refrigeration and storage market where our commercial product already controls 1.2 MWp power consumption. Metronome Energy maximizes the value of existing power consuming assets with smart boxes that measure grid frequency and voltage and use these inputs to decide the amount of power to draw. We bid our assets into the National Grid Balancing Market, who pay us to interrupt a process during times of extreme stress to protect the grid. We share this payment with the asset owner, and provide additional services, including monitoring of output process. Metronomes never interrupt supply if it would affect the output - put simply, for the asset owner it will always be business as usual.

We designed our technology with a suitable cost structure and the customization ability to eventually roll out in the domestic market. By showing cost leadership and the potential to scale, we have unlocked previously cost-prohibitive markets like farming that more inclusively distribute value. As a middle step, we wish to test our product to see how much better it can be at monitoring solar production to be able to better predict generation and be to match high levels of solar generation with localized power sources when opportunities. As we already work on farms, we would not need to change our market and would need to iteratively update our product to provide this function, though it would require significant backend dev and product development .

Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Mission Statement:

Our high-level vision is to use Metronome Energy to enable the elimination of any need for future fossil fuel capacity by providing the scalable balancing technology, with by low-cost hardware and high-value software. For our stakeholders, Metronome will operate on a triple bottom line‚Äî(1) it will better distribute wealth by bringing new revenue streams to small business owners; (2) it will aims to strengthen the grid, providing stronger security and resilience in the network; and (3) it enables a pathway to net zero emissions in the most resource effective manner possible, without requiring new infrastructure stock. 

At Metronome, we believe that there are two ways to effect change: normatively by convincing people of a world that doesn‚ t yet exist, and positively by building that world and showing the opportunity of it. We‚ ve known for a while the essential role of DSR in a decarbonised grid, but no-one has built that world, and those that are trying are doing so with a system whereby value stays at the top. We are focused on modular, scalable hardware solutions that do not force long-term behaviour change from the beginning. While it is important for people to think harder about their energy use, this narrative is oftentimes mired in the concept of sacrifice, instead of value. Metronome is thus an example of how climate-smart innovation can be value-generative to the system as a whole, without forcing people to starkly interrupt their lives.

Link: Facebook:

http://www.metronome.energy