Category: Media

A SolShare solar system on a multifamily building in Orlando, FL, provided by the installer for this project, ESA Solar.

 

Allume is prioritizing this funding to ensure low income communities living in multi-unit buildings can benefit from shared solar in the Southeast

 

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA, August 30, 2023 — Allume Energy today announced a $1.5 million bridge investment from Elemental Excelerator and the Schmidt Family Foundation to bring Allume’s SolShare technology to more multi-unit residences and expand clean, affordable energy access where it has the greatest potential to benefit the lives of low-income residents. Allume will use the convertible note funding to bring rooftop solar to more than 4,000 residents across the Southeastern U.S., starting with shared solar projects in Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.

On average, beneficiaries of the SolShare technology can save up to 40% off their electricity bills. The first U.S. pilot project in Orlando has indicated an average annual savings of $1166 per apartment in the first year of operation, including net metering credit savings. Allume expects its new projects across the Sun Belt over the next year will prevent over 10,000 tons of CO2 emissions (equivalent to taking over 2,000 cars off the road for a year) that would have otherwise been created from conventional energy consumption. Allume will soon begin installation of its second project in Orlando, bringing the number of U.S. installations to three (the other site is in Jackson, MI).

The partnership of Allume, Elemental Excelerator and the Schmidt Family Foundation will not only benefit the environment and tenants’ bottom lines, but it also will expand the market for clean energy in communities that are often overlooked, setting the stage for still more climate and economic benefits.

“Until recently, solar technology has primarily been saving money for people who already have it,” says Allume CEO and co-founder Cameron Knox. “We need to ensure we include everyone in the energy transition. This partnership will ensure low-income communities can benefit from clean, affordable energy from the sun.”

Allume Energy remedies one of the oldest and most vexing issues in green energy: installing solar panels on multi-family homes. SolShare is a behind-the-meter technology that takes solar energy generated by rooftop panels and allocates it to each grid meter as desired. This technology also monitors energy demand in a given building and it intelligently delivers solar energy to maximize solar consumption and therefore bill savings. This also ensures all tenants receive an allocated amount of solar over the course of a month.

Headquartered in Australia, Allume is already providing around 2,000 apartments with clean affordable energy globally, with around half of those in social or affordable housing. By bringing SolShare to the U.S. market, Allume is helping reduce the income gap that has plagued the American solar energy market. Solar installations can be 30 to 40 times more prevalent among single-family homes than apartments, echoing a profound lack of solar energy availability among lower-income families. Allume’s ability to close this gap, as it has already demonstrated in Jackson, Mississippi, and Orlando, Florida, drew investment interest from Elemental Excelerator and the Schmidt Family Foundation.

“We originally invested in Allume Energy because they are leaders in bringing affordable solar to affordable housing. We could all use an extra $1,000 a year in our pocketbooks rather than spent on electricity bills,” Elemental Excelerator Founder & CEO Dawn Lippert said. “We are now thrilled to collaborate with others in funding Allume’s expansion in the sunny Southeast. Solar electricity is cheaper and cleaner than fossil fuels, and it is time that we all have access to it.”

“Allume’s SolShare is exactly the kind of groundbreaking technology we’re thrilled to support; its innovative use of machine learning, combined with Allume’s focus on benefiting low-income areas and affordable housing, pushes the boundaries of what’s possible for solar economics and underlines the company’s commitment to inclusive, sustainable energy access for all,” said Roman Torres, impact investing associate at the Schmidt Family Foundation.

The proof of Allume’s technology and execution lies in reports from tenants living in buildings with SolShare installed, who report the huge impact it’s had on their bills; “the highest it’s ever been in my life is $300 but when I moved to Belhaven, it’s been about $75 on average per month,” reported Curtis David, a SolShare user living in Jackson’s Belhaven Residential.

About Allume Energy

More than 15 million people in the U.S. live in low and medium rise apartment buildings, with roof space for solar but no way of accessing it. Allume has developed a world-first technology, SolShare, which enables fair sharing of solar energy from a single rooftop solar PV system amongst multiple dwellings within the same building. This breaks down the technical and ownership barriers that have historically prevented apartment residents from accessing cheaper and cleaner energy from the sun. With an established market in Australia, Allume is now growing rapidly in the UK and the U.S. For more information, visit www.allumeenergy.com.

About Elemental Excelerator

Elemental is a nonprofit investor in climate technologies with deep community impact. It brings more than a decade of experience across the climate sector, with an active and maturing portfolio of 150+ companies. Elemental fills two gaps fundamental to addressing climate change: funding projects for climate technologies in communities, and embedding equity and access into climate solutions. The nonprofit invests in transformative technologies to create a systems change for a more resilient, equitable future.

About the Schmidt Family Foundation

Established in 2006 by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, the Schmidt Family Foundation works to restore a balanced relationship between people and planet. Through grantmaking and investments, the foundation partners with communities around the world in working for renewable energy, resilient food systems, healthy oceans and the protection of human rights. The foundation makes grants and impact investments through two programs: The 11th Hour Project and Schmidt Marine Technology Partners.

Photo courtesy of ESA Solar, our installer partner for this project pictured in Orlando, FL.

 

As an apartment dweller who wants to embrace solar energy, the gap in renewable energy access is ever-present.

The cost of living, including electricity prices, is at its highest in decades. Self-generated solar energy has long been one of the easiest solutions for house owners to reduce their energy bills, access renewable energy, and increase resilience to blackouts. The proportion of households who have installed a solar system in the US has doubled since 2016, to 8%, according to a poll conducted by social-issue thinktank Pew Research Center in January last year.

But what do you do if you live in an apartment, like me? Even if you can get permission to install a solar system on an allocated area of your building’s roofspace, the cost is likely prohibitive. And if you are mainly out of the house during daylight hours, you would be lucky to offset more than 30% of your energy bills, according to Indian-owned solar manufacturer Renewable Energy Corporation. That makes the payback period much longer.

Opportunity

US body the National Association of Home Builders estimates 31.4% of Americans are in the same position as me and this represents a huge opportunity; local solar installers can broaden market outreach through multi-family projects, with portfolio rollouts offering replicable and scalable deal flow across states. What’s more, addressing solar access for apartments will ensure that those most impacted by increasing energy costs are included in the clean energy transition; apartment residents earn, on average, 33% less than the median US household, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.

There is an even bigger hurdle for apartment residents who are renting, as I do: landlords have little incentive to install solar on rented apartments since they typically bear the cost with the benefits passed on to tenants in the form of bill savings. That is why the adoption of residential solar has historically depended on home ownership.

Residential industry projections anticipate fourfold growth in home solar in the next decade and analyst Wood Mackenzie reports we have already seen a record-breaking 40% increase in solar adoption since 2021. The industry must address demand from the 43.9 million US residences in multifamily buildings, however, to maximize solar adoption.

Potential solution

Imagine solar energy from a single rooftop system could be shared between multiple apartments. The solar array collects energy and pipes it down the building to an inverter, which feeds into grid meters. These meters feed into each apartment and common area. Owners could then jointly invest in the system and multi-family landlords could provide solar energy to their tenants.

Technology born in Australia and imported to the United States last year does just this. Allume Energy’s “SolShare” product physically splits the energy from a single solar system, via a hardware device, and shares it between multiple meters. If the electricity is fed evenly into all meters at all times, as described above, significant amounts of energy will be fed back into the grid when apartments are not using electricity.

That’s where SolShare’s “dynamic sharing algorithm” steps in. It feeds electricity to apartments that are using energy, thereby maximizing the energy consumed by the system and reducing the amount of energy fed back to the grid, making it an optimal system in states where there is no net metering. As a result, apartments can expect a 55% to 75% reduction in grid electricity consumption – more if they have a residential battery.

Over a month, SolShare works out when and where to feed energy, in order to optimize energy consumption and ensure each apartment gets a fair share. Typically, the electricity will be evenly split but it can also be configured to provide more energy to common areas or larger apartments. Not all apartments need to participate and dwellings can be disconnected remotely at any stage.

Allume Energy already provides around 2,000 apartments with clean, affordable energy, with around half of those in social or affordable housing. Having launched recently in the US, Allume is currently operating in Florida and Mississippi and is pursuing projects in California, Georgia, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Texas. The company aims to have SolShare available nationwide within the next 12 months.

 

Allume Energy works with multi-family apartment-owning landlords directly and via its growing network of certified SolShare solar installers.

Owner-occupiers can engage directly with a certified SolShare installer, who will arrange a site visit and provide a quote for the building as they would for a solar system on a house. The system can then be installed within two months to four months, with little disruption to residents and no change to their current utility setup – except lower bills. Apartment residents can also inquire through the Allume website, enabling the company to connect them with an installer partner.

Multi-family apartment block landlords can purchase a solar system, priced per unit, directly from Allume. The company works with installer partners to deliver a turnkey solution and landlords can allocate more energy to common areas or larger apartments to suit their needs. There is a small, ongoing connection fee per unit for monitoring a building’s solar usage.

Landlords can use solar as a revenue stream by pocketing some or all of the savings from the solar system. Alternatively, they can pass the savings on to tenants, improving rentability and occupancy rates. Inquiring about solar access with an asset management firm would be one place to start.

What’s the bill?

Available incentives include a 30% investment tax credit, a low-to-moderate income adder worth up to a further 20% tax credit, and a further 10% energy communities adder. Allume also works with clean finance providers to offer affordable options with no upfront costs. The Allume team can guide customers through incentive and finance options in their area and tailored to their circumstances.

By expanding solar access, we can improve the quality of life for vulnerable parts of the community, promote environmental sustainability, and create economic opportunity. Low to moderate income solar energy access for apartment owners and renters is crucial to achieving energy equity and addressing the burden of rising utility bills.

Many apartment owners and renters across the US can now access solar energy directly from their rooftops and those who can’t will be able to in the next year, as more utilities come on board. Government incentives, combined with green finance options, are helping improve affordability so that the people who would most benefit from energy bill savings can access it.

Nevertheless, policymakers, utilities, and community organizations must continue to collaborate to implement supportive policy and programs.

 

This article was originally published in PV Magazine.

Allume Energy’s rooftop solar array on multifamily building.

Press release – Los Angeles, CA, April 18th, 2023

 

Allume Energy today announced the successful deployment of its initial U.S. shared solar energy technology and plans to bring its SolShare solution to all apartments, in particular within low-to-moderate income (LMI) communities across the U.S. By allowing multi-family buildings, including renters, to access the benefits of solar energy, Allume’s innovative technology could unlock widespread rooftop solar and provide a solution to energy equity. Given rising energy costs, growing concerns about climate change, and growing disparities in energy burdens, Allume’s SolShare could be the key to proliferating solar power adoption. 

The number of U.S. homeowners who have installed solar panels has doubled since 2016, and 86% of Americans say they would welcome rooftop solar in their community. This is no surprise given that self-generated solar energy is one of the easiest solutions for standalone homeowners to reduce their energy bills, access renewable energy, and increase resilience to blackouts. Yet apartment owners and renters, who are more likely to be LMI earners, have historically been unable to access solar energy due to financial and technical considerations.  

According to NREL, LMI households represent 42% of the U.S. population, and the U.S. Department of Energy notes that “low-income households face an energy burden three times higher than other households.” Additionally, NREL states that solar generation can technically meet most electrical consumption in the U.S. if we include renter-occupied and multi-family housing, given solar penetration and available roof space. This means that deploying solar on apartments could aid substantially in resolving energy equity.

Finally, this empty space in the solar market can transform. At a time when LMI households, especially those of minorities, bear an outsized energy burden, the arrival of SolShare technology from Allume offers a first-ever chance for tenants to enjoy the financial benefits of solar from their own rooftops while landlords simultaneously receive help on their bottom lines. Other rooftop solar options exist for multi-tenant facilities, but they are cost prohibitive and excessively complex to install. Only SolShare delivers simplicity, efficiency, equity, and clear financial benefit for all parties.

 Why Today’s Multi-Tenant Solar Struggles

Imagine a solar panel array on an apartment building roof. The array collects energy and pipes it down the building to an inverter, which then feeds into — what exactly? This is the beginning of the problem. Energy must go into a grid meter, which then provides electricity to an area within the building. The building owner can deliver that energy to a common area (lobby, gym, etc.) and thereby offset the building’s energy consumption. This benefits the landlord but does not directly benefit tenants.

Alternatively, the solar energy could be sent to one or more apartment meters, but this introduces other challenges. How should the energy be divided? What if a tenant goes on prolonged vacation or moves out, leaving the space vacant? The results are inefficient at best. Inefficiency (and cost) compounds if the building has multiple solar arrays servicing multiple inverters, each tied to its own meter.

Allume Energy’s SolShare technology can match a shared solar system’s output to the energy use of individual apartments.

Multi-tenant building solar installations typically fall pretty to the “split-incentive problem,” wherein a building owner may pay to install a solar energy system, but tenants would derive the monthly economic benefits of using that solar power. The landlord can charge a fee to tenants and seek to recover the solar costs, but this is often a lengthy, contentious process.

Alternatively, families or landlords can turn to “social” or “community” solar options, in which participants can collectively invest in a shared, off-site solar energy system. Participants typically receive credits on their energy bills for the electricity generated by their portion of the solar array. Social solar projects can benefit the environment and the local community, as they promote clean energy and can create economic opportunities, but they come with key drawbacks.

The value of energy produced by a social solar farm depends on several variables, but the paramount concern revolves around how much the local power utility will pay for that energy. (This also applies to “net metering,” in which a building could sell some or all of its generated solar energy back to the grid.) Specific numbers can vary widely, but assume that it costs 20 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to consume electricity from the grid. The utility may only pay 7 cents per kWh from private entities for solar power. Regulations and policies may only mandate a “fair rate” for power fed back to the grid. “Fair” is open to interpretation, and broad pricing disparities are common. Thus, the credit offered to social solar participants by the utility may significantly undervalue the actual power generated. For this and other reasons, the rule is that the closer the electricity consumer can be to the point of generation, the better.

SolShare: Eclipsing the Alternatives

Again, recall that rooftop solar array, and let’s use the analogy of water, a hose, and buckets. If the energy flowing from that rooftop array is water, and the wiring from the building’s inverter to its meters is the hose, and each meter is a bucket, then you can imagine that hose trying to distribute water. The simplest approach would be to spray every bucket at once. As noted above, though, this approach presents many issues and inefficiencies, including an inability to adapt the spray to changing conditions.

Allume’s SolShare is installed on the building between the inverter and the grid boxes. You could think of it as a smart sprinkler. The SolShare sends water to each bucket in turn, moving between the buckets several times per second. In cases when the SolShare is configured with limits for each tenant, if one bucket reaches its limit, then the incoming water/energy is allocated to the remaining buckets. Any “overflow” from all buckets being full could be sold back to the utility grid.

SolShare’s flexible software lets tenants monitor their clean energy use while landlords can set rules for how solar energy should be used in the building. For example, a landlord could allocate 50% of the solar power for common areas (thus reducing the building’s energy bill), then share the remaining 50% among tenants (reducing their energy bills). If a tenant moves out, their allocation could be divided among the remaining tenants.

“As an apartment renter, I see the SolShare as a game-changer for equitable solar energy access and decarbonization of the built environment,” says Allume executive account manager Mel Bergsneider.

Several elements of the SolShare are patent-protected. The solution marks an industry first that opens up solar adoption previously infeasible if not impossible to develop. Unlike social solar, SolShare provides solar energy at the point of generation rather than principally exporting power back to the grid. Additionally, SolShare solves the split-incentive problem, because tenants and landlords can divide the energy benefits, allowing owners to recoup their investment more quickly without resorting to onerous tenant fees. Alternatively, landlords can charge a modest monthly access fee to use the SolShare system and turn it into an additional revenue stream.

Note that there have been efforts at the federal level to promote the use of solar energy in the U.S., such as the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), which provide funding for research and development of solar energy technologies. Incentives from these efforts can further enhance the affordability and ROI of solar energy systems, including those with SolShare integration.

SolShare allows building owners to use solar as a cost-saving incentive for tenants, not just a social incentive, while also using SolShare’s software to provide energy use data that can help with ESG reporting. This reporting may be particularly helpful in markets like Los Angeles and New York, where there is increasing demand for buildings with lower carbon footprints. Landlords that install the SolShare can also receive solar investment tax credits. According to Allume, “buildings with lower utility bills have 3% to 7% higher occupancy rates,” thereby helping increase the building’s asset value.

SolShare Dawning Across the U.S.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 25% of all American families suffer from high energy burdens. Affordable clean energy has been out of reach for renters for a long time, which makes Allume’s SolShare solution a desperately needed game-changer.

Aliya Bagewadi, director of US Strategic Partnerships at Allume Energy, says, “Our product is trying to maximize solar consumption within the building. We’re not trying to send solar back to the grid in exchange for credits. We’re trying to get tenants to consume rooftop solar directly, and that has historically been extremely rare.”

Allume was founded in 2015 in Melbourne, Australia, and is now expanding into the U.S. and U.K. The company’s first deployments in the U.S. were last year in Orlando, Florida, and, most recently, in Jackson, Mississippi. In its Orlando deployment, SolShare eliminated the equivalent of 1800 pounds of CO2 emissions and saved each building tenant $242 in electricity per year. SolShare now runs on over 1500 apartments, with demand booming around the world.

In short, Allume’s SolShare:

Allume plans to expand its reach into the U.S. market, progressing from the South to the Midwest, then the Northwest and Northeast. As the Orlando and Jackson deployments show, Allume is already aiding U.S. expansion into a brighter, cleaner, more sustainable future.

About Allume Energy

More than 15 million people in the U.S. live in low and medium rise apartment buildings, with roof space for solar but no way of accessing it. Allume has developed a world-first technology, SolShare, which enables fair sharing of solar energy from a single rooftop solar PV system amongst multiple dwellings within the same building. This breaks down the technical and ownership barriers that have historically prevented apartment residents from accessing cheaper and cleaner energy from the sun. With an established market in Australia, Allume is now growing rapidly in the UK and the U.S.  For more information, visit www.allumeenergy.com.

 

MEDIA RELEASE – 28th March 2023

A partnership of renewable energy companies, including Allume Energy, AXITEC Energy, Clenergy and Fronius Australia, has formed to make solar energy for multi-tenant social housing buildings more affordable.

As the cost of living in Australia continues to soar, particularly the cost of energy, many Australians are struggling to make ends meet. In response, an industry initiative has stepped in to provide a more affordable solution.

With energy prices at their highest in decades, many social housing providers are increasingly concerned with finding sustainable solutions for tenants across their portfolios, but everything comes at a cost. And, until recently, it hasn’t been feasible to install solar energy on apartments, which make up a significant proportion of social housing in Australia.

Four major clean energy companies have come together to provide a solution; a reduced-cost, solar equipment package that can connect residents of multi-tenanted buildings to lower cost renewable energy.

Dubbed the ‘Solar Social Housing Package’, the initiative offers a discount on the solar panels, roof mounting equipment, smart meters and solar sharing technology required to provide apartment residents with self-generated solar energy. The total discount amounts to around $3,750, although the partnership is now negotiating to potentially offer an even better reduction.

“Allume is thrilled to work together with our associates to solve problems that matter,” commented Cameron Knox, CEO of Allume Energy. “It is crucial that apartment residents can access clean, affordable energy, particularly social housing tenants, who are often disproportionately affected by the rising cost of energy. Communities shouldn’t have to decide between putting food on the table and heating their homes.”

Andreas Boeck, Managing Director Australia at AXITEC said, “AXITEC Energy wants to give back to the social housing community, together with our other partners in this project, by providing high quality solar modules at a discounted price for people on a low income which will assist them in lowering their electricity bill.”

Samir Jacob, Global Marketing Manager commented, “the Solar Industry is powering the future with innovation and sustainability, and we at Clenergy are glad to collaborate to bring about a brighter tomorrow for our communities. Thank you Allume for having us part of your journey.”

“We could not be more excited to contribute to the Solar Social Housing Package initiative,” Mariella Doppelbauer, Managing Director at Fronius Australia explains. “At Fronius, sustainability greatly influences every decision we make. To have the opportunity to assist these tenants become more financially sustainable with clean renewable energy is a proud moment for us.”

Combined with the various grants that are available across Australian states, installing solar energy on new or existing multi-tenanted properties may become a ‘no-brainer’ for social housing providers.

From left: Cameron Knox, Allume Energy | Samir Jacob, Clenergy | Mariella Doppelbauer, Fronius Australia | Andreas Boeck, AXITEC

From left: Cameron Knox, Allume Energy | Samir Jacob, Clenergy | Mariella Doppelbauer, Fronius Australia | Andreas Boeck, AXITEC Energy

Press release – 15th March 2023

Allume Energy today announced the successful commissioning of its SolShare clean energy technology at 805 Madison Street, a multifamily building owned and operated by Belhaven Residential in Jackson, Mississippi. This latest U.S. SolShare deployment will help advance solar and behind-the-meter technologies in a market underserved by renewable energy projects.

Solar Alternatives, a Louisiana-based solar contractor, installed the 22kW array at 805 Madison. Key members of the Mississippi Public Service Commission supported the project, including Central District Commissioner Brent Bailey and former Solar Innovation Fellow Alicia Brown. Entergy Mississippi, an integrated energy company that delivers electricity to 461,000 utility customers in 45 Mississippi counties, assisted with project funding. Entergy Mississippi and Belhaven Residential entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in which Entergy will provide a $6,500 grant in exchange for access to clean energy data gathered by the project.

solshare-belhaven

SolShare Installation in Jackson, Mississippi

“Belhaven Residential focuses on offering quality housing at affordable rates, and we have a holistic and long-range vision for how to serve our tenants’ needs,” said Jennifer Welch, Founder of Belhaven Residential. “Implementing solar with the goal to provide cleaner energy at affordable prices is a win for our tenants and a win for our environment.”

The installation of SolShare and rooftop solar will increase on-site clean energy consumption and lower the energy burden for Belhaven Residential complex tenants, all of whom qualify for Mississippi’s low- to moderate-income benefits under the state’s distributed generation program.

“Residential consumers and building managers continue to pursue and embrace the benefits of a more sustainable energy portfolio, and I’m excited to see the results of our new rules and the partnerships that are developing in the community,” Commissioner Brent Bailey said. “The Distributed Generation Rules provide customer-focused programs that reduce risks, reduce energy consumption, and put money back into customers’ pockets.”

SolShare is the world’s only technology for sharing rooftop solar with multiple apartments in the same building. SolShare provides a solution for multi-tenanted residents wanting to access the environmental and economic benefits of rooftop solar, and it requires no change to the existing electricity supply and metering infrastructure. Existing SolShare installations have demonstrated electricity bill savings of up to 40 percent.

“Our team is thrilled to work with the Mississippi Public Service Commission and the Belhaven Residential team to lead the transition to clean, affordable energy in Mississippi,” said Aliya Bagewadi, Director of U.S. Strategic Partnerships at Allume Energy. “By bringing more proof of SolShare technology to Jackson residents, we’re demonstrating a scalable model for more equitable access to the environmental and financial benefits of solar for multifamily housing.”

Allume Energy is an Australian-born company which launched in the U.S. with support from Elemental Excelerator. Gabriel Scheer, Director of Innovation at Elemental Excelerator, Mobility & Energy, stated, “I am so excited to see this partnership between Allume, Belhaven Residential, and Entergy Mississippi; it epitomizes Elemental’s approach working to ensure that the transition to renewable energy is a just and equitable transition by enabling low- to moderate-income residents of Belhaven Residential to participate in the energy transition while saving money.”

Energy prices continue to impact families across the country. Technologies and programs that expand access to technologies like SolShare can reduce utility bills and decarbonize multifamily housing. This is particularly critical for low-income tenants. According to the Department of Energy, Mississippi’s low income residents currently experience the nation’s highest energy burden (12% of total income). Most households in the South have electric heating and cooling systems in their homes. Those factors, along with the region’s high temperatures, drive up energy use, which contributes to a higher energy burden despite Entergy Mississippi having some of the country’s lowest electricity rates.

With Mississippi currently ranking 35th in the nation for solar adoption, Allume and its partners believe installations like the one at 805 Madison Street will serve as a scalable model for democratizing access to clean technologies and cost-saving benefits for more low-income residents across the Southeast.

 

Press release – 14th February 2023

Allume Energy, Wales & West Housing and the Welsh Government have today announced the first installation of Allume’s SolShare technology for the UK’s housing sector, to provide clean, affordable electricity to residential flats in Cardiff.

The project has connected 24 flats to lower cost solar energy at Odet Court, with the potential to meet 55%-75% of each flat’s electricity demand. Based on the average usage of 1800kWH – 2,400 kWh for a 1-bed flat this could equate to an electricity bill saving of around 50% (between £390 to £530) a year, per household, based on current average electricity costs in the UK of 34p/kWh. The project has been funded by the Welsh Government in association with Wales & West Housing as part of the Optimised Retrofit Programme.

SolShare is the world’s only technology for connecting multiple residential units within a single building to a single rooftop solar PV system. Until now, previous options involved installing individual solar systems into each unit – a largely unworkable solution for developers due to cost, footprint and inefficient energy utilisation. In the case of Odet Court, this would have meant installing 24 sets of panels, 24 inverters and 24 batteries.

Not only has SolShare significantly reduced the amount of hardware and footprint required, it has also saved 25% on solar equipment costs as compared to a typical solar system. Its ‘dynamic sharing’ capacity also delivers an improved solar utilisation of over 25%. Importantly, SolShare is suitable for retrofit projects as well as new builds, as it does not require any changes to the existing supply and metering infrastructure.

“Wales is leading the way with the installation of this new technology,” commented Jack Taylor, General Manager Europe, Allume Energy. “We hope it will serve as  a template for governments and social housing providers in the UK to provide cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades to multi-unit residences.

“Simple and affordable solutions are available, so it’s great to see governments and housing associations embracing innovative technologies which help tackle fuel poverty and climate change.”

Climate Change Minister Julie James said: “This is an exciting first of its kind project for Wales and exactly the type of thinking we need to see within the housing sector.

“The decarbonisation of homes plays a big part in our journey towards a Net Zero Wales by 2050 and I look forward to following this innovative project as works progress.

“At a time when costs are rising, improving the energy efficiency of homes will not only help us to deal with the climate emergency but also help families through the cost of living crisis.

“It’s another important step in our journey towards a stronger, greener, fairer Wales.”

Joanna Davoile, Executive Director (Assets) at Wales & West Housing said: “At a time when many people are facing difficult choices of whether to heat their homes or feed themselves and their families, it is only right that we explore ways to make our homes more energy efficient for our residents where possible.”

“In recent years we have been trialling different methods of retrofitting older homes with energy-saving technologies but one of the main challenges has been how to fit PV panels and battery systems to our apartment homes so that everyone living in the schemes could equally benefit.

“The SolShare system seems to be a much fairer solution as the energy generated by the building can be shared equally to help our residents to keep their electricity costs down rather than going back to the grid.”

“We are excited to see how the technology used in the SolShare system will work for our residents.”

SolShare was developed by Allume Energy, headquartered in Australia. The technology has recently undergone rigorous review by Ofgem and has been accepted as an ‘innovation measure of substantial uplift’ for the ECO4 funding initiative. SolShare has also been specified in the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund’s Wave 1 and Wave 2.1 applications by a number of local authorities and housing associations in the UK.

This innovative solar plus battery system was installed by local solar contractor Green Park Power and will annually produce 50,248 kWh of green solar energy for the direct benefit of residents. Each flat will equally share the energy produced, resulting in 2,094 kWh per unit.

About Allume Energy

Allume’s vision is a world where everyone can access clean and affordable energy from the sun. More than 2M Australians, 15M Americans, and 300M Europeans live in low and medium rise apartment buildings, with the roof space for solar but, until recently, no way of accessing energy generated from it. We didn’t think this was fair, and so we developed a world-first technology, the SolShare, which enables the sharing of solar energy from a single rooftop solar system amongst multiple dwellings within the same building.

This breaks down the technical and ownership barriers that have historically prevented apartment residents from accessing cheaper and cleaner energy from the sun.

Our customers span a range of industries including social housing providers, multi-family landlords, property developers and apartment owners.

With an established market in Australia, Allume is now rapidly growing in the UK and the US.

About Wales & West Housing

Wales & West Housing’s vision is to achieve strong, sustainable growth to make a difference to people’s lives, homes and communities.

We manage more than 12,500 high quality, affordable homes in 14 local authority areas across North, South and West Wales.

These include more than 3,000 dedicated properties for older people as well as innovative supported housing solutions for people with a range of particular needs.

The majority of our homes are for rent, allocated by local authority social housing waiting lists.

In recent years WWH has been working with a number of organisations and Welsh Government to trial different methods of retrofitting older homes with energy-saving technologies including increased internal and external insulation, air and ground source heat pumps and solar PV and battery systems.

We are a major developer building hundreds of new high-quality, affordable homes each year for rent in areas people want to live. All our new homes are built to be energy efficient.

Solar for apartments, Kristy Battista

It was fantastic to be involved in the Energy Transition Summit in Sydney, Australia last week, which focused on the critical need to transition to sustainable energy systems, the very real challenges ahead and the collaboration across sectors that will be required on a scale that has never been seen before.

It was both a sobering day, being reminded that we have less than nine years to achieve net zero, and a day full of opportunity, highlighted by inspiring talks and reminders about this country’s potential, including for example that Australia receives approximately 10,000 times its energy consumption needs in solar radiation each year.

 

How Allume is supporting the transition to clean energy

I spoke from the perspective of a growing business using technological innovation to solve a very real market need. For those of you that do not know Allume’s history, we were born out of a Melbourne based start-up accelerator in 2015, and today we are a rapidly growing international business with product installed in Australia, the US and the UK.

Allume’s vision is a world where everyone can access clean and affordable energy from the sun. Specifically, we are making rooftop solar accessible to multi-dwelling buildings through a world first technology called the SolShare.

In the session, evolving with the market, our panel spoke about the evolution of environmental, social and governance issues, aka ESG, being propelled to the top of the corporate agenda.

 

 

The SolShare makes solar power accessible where it’s needed most

The SolShare, Multi residential solar power

Allume was founded on very strong ESG principles. In particular the E, the reduction of carbon emissions, and the S, energy equity for all in particular social or community housing which is a key market for Allume in Australia, the US and the UK.

The real estate sector is a big carbon emitter and therefore presents a great opportunity for impact. As a business working at the coal face of providing solutions, we have born witness to the increased ESG focus from the real estate sector over the last five years. In particular, there has been a palpable acceleration in focus on ESG metrics over the past two years.

 

Why this much needed shift?

1.  An evolution of community expectations and social drivers, which is feeding into investors’ expectations shifting from pure profit maximization to sustainable value creation. Many pension and superannuation funds are demanding ESG benchmarks for investment which is translating to a focus on ESG in the real estate space.

2.  A generational shift as millennials start to take positions of power in industry.

3.  Companies linking executive remuneration directly to ESG performance. According to industry reports released last year ~20% of S&P 500 companies in the US, ~45% FTSE 100 companies in London, and 81% of ASX 100 companies in Australia link remuneration of executives to ESG outcomes.

 

Allume can help organisations around the world meet ESG targets

For Allume historically the return on investment drove the sale of the SolShare. But now the drivers that lead to a sale are increasingly around ESG and sustainability metrics.

For example, In Australia the SolShare helps commercial and apartment buildings meet the new National Building Energy Rating Scheme standards for on-site renewable energy generation.

California has a ‘solar mandate’ requiring all new multifamily buildings up to three-stories in height have solar.

And in the UK, the SolShare, improves an apartment building’s performance against the Energy Performance Certificate for brownfield sites and the Sustainability Assessment Procedure for greenfield apartments.

 

Solshare from Allume Energy, Solar Panels for Apartments

 

Using technology to make buildings more efficient and environmentally friendly

People are starting to think about real estate differently. Historically a building was a stagnant piece of infrastructure but now there is an opportunity for technology to provide insights into a building, whether that be energy efficiency, waste, or patterns of use by those that live and/or work in that building.

What you do not measure you do not know about and therefore you cannot change. Recently I heard of a large commercial building in a major city centre that had a significant water leak for years that went undetected until technology starting measuring and reporting on consumption metrics.

It’s almost like the buildings will start to come alive and be contributors to the community around them.

In addition to the commitment of industry and cleantech companies such as Allume, we need clear guidance and support of government at the state and federal level. Because what was abundantly clear from the energy transition summit is that we are going to need all hands-on deck to face the massive challenge of a sustainable future for Australia and the world.

Led by Taronga Ventures and The Schmidt Family Foundation, $6 million in new funding positions the company for international expansion into North American and European markets

(MELBOURNE, Aus.) –  Allume Energy, the developer of a world-first solar sharing system, has announced the close of an AUD $6 million Series A round that will accelerate an expansion into international markets and grow its Australian operations.

Co-led by Taronga Ventures’ RealTech Ventures Fund and The Schmidt Family Foundation, the investment represents a commitment to tackling the carbon footprint of the real estate industry that will help to unlock solar energy for historically hard-to-reach multi-tenanted buildings, such as apartments and business offices.

Allume’s SolShare system is the world’s first solar distribution system that can scale the benefits of rooftop solar for the tens of millions of apartment buildings across the U.S. and Europe. The SolShare system removes the barriers to entry for multi-dwelling residents and allows solar providers to offer shared solar.

To date, more than 50 systems have been installed across Australia and the product has been certified for installation in the U.K. and the U.S. Allume’s installations are estimated to have saved in excess of 24,000 tonnes of CO2, with the company looking to achieve lifetime savings of over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 by early 2022.

“As demand increases for renewable energy sources such as rooftop solar, a huge proportion of the population risks being left behind in the energy transition,” said Cameron Knox, Allume co-founder and CEO. “At Allume, we are committed to breaking down barriers to rooftop solar to provide cheaper, cleaner energy to underserved communities across the globe.”

The financing will accelerate the company’s growth and expansion, which will drive the creation of thousands of clean energy jobs globally. In the U.S, Allume is delivering solar with no upfront cost to affordable housing with support from non-profit Elemental Excelerator, as well as expanding to the large multi-family market on the West Coast. In the U.K, Allume is working with Centrica-backed SNRG to provide rooftop solar to public housing in Greater London and newly built apartments across the region.

According to Jonathan Hannam, Managing Partner at Taronga Ventures: “Global real estate investors and institutional capital are now focused on driving sustainability through their underlying real estate portfolios. Thus, we are constantly looking for world leading emerging technology companies – like Allume – to help deliver our sustainability goals.”

“From a technical perspective, Allume Energy delivers a unique technology that allows the owners of multi-tenanted buildings to share solar power across tenants,” said Dr. Sven Sylvester, Investment Director at Taronga Ventures. “We are looking forward to working with our real estate partners to achieve their net-zero goals through the installation of Allume Energy’s technology.”

“Cities are where the vast majority of the global population resides, and many of these people live in multi-family buildings,” said Jamie Dean, director of impact investing for The Schmidt Family Foundation. “This venture helps democratize renewable energy access by ensuring that clean, distributed solar energy is accessible to renters and owners alike. The distributed power production facilitated by Allume’s technology also makes power grids more resilient, which is of huge importance.”

The investment round is also supported by Trawalla Group, the family office of Alan and Carol Schwartz.

More information about Allume Energy and the SolShare system is available at allumeenergy.com.

 

About Allume Energy

Melbourne-based Allume Energy has developed a system that can deliver solar energy to apartments and businesses in a simple and affordable way. Their Australian Made technology, called the SolShare, enables the power generated from a single rooftop solar system to be shared between multiple apartments or businesses within the same building. Allume Energy won the Clean Energy Council’s Innovation Award in 2020, is a portfolio company of Elemental Excelerator and an alum of Free Electrons and the Melbourne Accelerator Program.

About The Schmidt Family Foundation

Established in 2006 by Wendy and Eric Schmidt, The Schmidt Family Foundation (TSFF) works to advance the wiser use of energy and natural resources and to support efforts worldwide that empower communities to build resilient systems for food, water, and human resources. Through community-, market- and technology-based approaches, TSFF promotes an intelligent relationship between human activity and the planet’s natural resources.

About Taronga Ventures, the RealTech Ventures Fund and RealTechX

Taronga Ventures, through its RealTech Ventures Fund, is a technology and innovation investor focused on innovation for the built environment. The Fund is an institutional venture fund that invests into globally scalable entities that will enhance or challenge the way real estate is designed, procured, financed, developed and managed across all sectors. The Fund is focused on developing a diverse portfolio covering sustainability, design, materials and software and provides capital, mentorship and global networks for those companies in which it invests, as well as first mover advantage for the corporates that participate in the Fund. Taronga Ventures has extensive experience across global markets and asset classes and is supported by strategic and institutional partners across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. RealTechX is Asia’s first government supported, industry-focused independent scale-up program for companies impacting real estate and the wider built world.

For media enquiries relating to Allume Energy:

Alex Marks
COO, Allume
M: +61 413 766 792
E: alex@allumeenergy.com

For media enquiries relating to The Schmidt Family Foundation:

Toni Johnson
Director of Communications, The 11th Hour Project/The Schmidt Family Foundation
M: +1 718 569 2629
E: toni@11thhourproject.org

For media enquiries relating to Taronga Ventures:

Avi Naidu
Managing Partner, Taronga Ventures
M: +61 402 444 170
E: avi.naidu@tarongagroup.com

 

Allume Energy was founded in 2015 out of one realisation and one idea. The realisation was that the price of rooftop solar was dropping year-on-year, and would inevitably be attractive to all electricity consumers. The idea was that it would be possible to setup an “electricity retailer on your roof”, i.e. rooftop solar for no-upfront cost, to compete with the grid.

The company has evolved a lot since those initial concepts. We narrowed our focus to apartment residents and multitenant buildings. And we developed a world-first technology, the SolShare, that can address this market, because we realised there was no existing way of serving these customers.

Now we have come full circle. Allume has been featured in an article by Duncan Murray in The Fifth Estate on our new partnership with Sunshine Coast-based energy retailer LPE where we are providing rooftop solar at no upfront cost to apartment residents. This innovative model means that apartment residents can opt-in to LPE’s retail electricity service and have solar power included on the same bill. This drives down electricity costs for apartment residents, and improves the environmental credentials of the apartment building.

Damien Glanville, CEO of LPE, is quoted in The Fifth Estate on the challenges of rooftop solar for apartments:

“Putting on a single solar system for every apartment, which we have done, is too difficult and it’s too messy. You’ve got too much equipment that typically you don’t have the space for.”

The Allume SolShare is the solution to this problem. By sharing one rooftop solar installation for multiple customeres in the same building, it removes the need for each apartment to have its own PV inverter. It also ensures that there is maximised consumption of solar onsite. Furthermore, as the SolShare can turn solar on and off to specific apartments, its pervents the stranding of assets due to churn if a customer moves out of the building.

For apartment residents, it’s a straightforward way to contribute to a greener future, and save money on their electricity bills at the same time.

If you would like to learn more about the Allume’s SolShare technology, contact us.

SolShares at the Focus Apartments in Turner, ACT

 

An apartment building in Turner is the first to go solar with a new Australian-made technology.  The 20 residences in the Focus Apartments on Gould Street now share one rooftop solar installation thanks to SolShare technology invented by Melbourne-based Allume Energy and installed by ACT solar installer SolarHub. Residents will enjoy lower electricity bills and help decarbonise the energy grid.

“We’re thrilled to be the first in Canberra to install an Australian-made solar sharing system that benefits owners and tenants alike. It’s a win-win!” said resident and OC Executive Committee member, Deborah Purss.

Allume Energy’s SolShare is a patented technology that allows one set of rooftop solar panels to be shared by multiple residents in the same building. The SolShare constantly monitors customers’ energy demand and sends solar power to the apartments when they need it the most. This maximises the use of solar power in the building and reduces electricity bills by as much as possible

“The SolShare was invented with Canberra in mind. Lots of mid-rise apartment buildings with plenty of sunshine throughout the year. We look forward to bringing our World-first solution to established and new-build apartment buildings throughout the nation’s capital” said Cameron Knox, CEO of Allume Energy.

Over 50,000 Canberrans live in apartments, with new apartment complexes being constructed around the light rail corridor and town centres.

“The SolShare means we can bring rooftop solar to customers that previously couldn’t access it, including apartment buildings and shopping centres. This Aussie invention is a game-changer for the industry” said CEO of SolarHub Benn Masters.

Canberra apartment residents are encouraged to contact SolarHub to learn how they can go solar at www.solarhub.net.au or contact Allume Energy directly.