Norwegian households will soon for the first time have access to a heating and hot water control solution that embraces the Internet of Energy for the smart home.
It comes as the result of a partnership between Norwegian energy provider Istad Kraft and UK smart energy solutions firm geo.
The two companies have spent three years developing, designing and testing the solution, based on geo’s Cosy heating, and unveiled their partnership today at European Utility Week in Paris.
The roll-out to customers will start in December in the Møre og Romsdal region and will mean that they can easily manage the energy they are using and cut down on unnecessary heating and hot water by using a smart phone app that provides insight of all heat sources in one place.
The launch is a culmination of extensive trials to ensure Cosy meets the demands of extreme temperature changes, long, cold winters and the flexible needs of Norwegian families.
geo and Istad Kraft have collaborated to test the solution in home and cabin systems where multiple home heat sources range from electric panels, underfloor heating through to heat pumps and hot water systems.
“This is the first time that householders in Norway have been able to get access to a multi-zone heating and hot water system that allows them to manage energy from their mobiles in such a way that they can reduce consumption and save money, also by the linking of Nordpool prices by the hour, without any compromise to their comfort,” said Rune Humlung, Managing Director at Istad Kraft. “Bringing a solution like geo’s Cosy to the Norwegian market enables consumers to realise their socio-economic and sustainable goals and enjoy the Internet of energy for the smart home.”
Chief executive of Cambridge-headquartered geo Patrick Caiger-Smith said: “We have worked very closely with Istad Kraft to meet the sustainable and very specific design requirements of Norwegian homes. Cosy Nordics compliments clean design lines and can be installed quickly as a retrofit to existing homes as well as new build properties. It will work with smart meters, and unlike other smart home systems, Cosy will continue to work even if the home Internet connection goes down.”
He added: “The intelligence in our Internet Of Energy solution is founded in our unique machine learning data science algorithms developed by our own Cambridge Data Scientists. This intelligence ensures that our systems continue to learn, grow and add value to our solutions as they seamlessly optimise and balance the heating, comfort and cost benefits in the home by the sophisticated linking of hourly Nordpool tariff prices.”
