The NEW ENERGY Manifesto

Our approach to energy production and consumption is evolving. European countries pivot away from coal and focus on solar and wind. What we casually call the "Energy Transition" is, in fact, a full-blown revolution — one that goes far beyond replacing one generator by another. Trickling down to grids, metering, pricing and the very way we use electricity.

However, this revolution has reached a critical tipping point.

Its success hinges on our ability to embrace the volatility of renewables as an advantage. Renewables are already by far the most cost-effective energy source out there, but we must make energy consumption follow its availability.?

The solar industry historically focused on building generation capacity, putting decades of blood, sweat and tears into the installation of solar panels - roof by roof, park by park, kW by kW. Now, charge points and heat pumps follow, but again in an unconnected, conventional way. This is more than a missed opportunity, it poses an existential risk to the energy revolution.

How do we stop the waste of clean energy?

Over the years, the static feed-in of solar energy at midday has led to frequent negative electricity prices on summer days across Europe and higher prices during mornings and evenings. But more importantly, it brings the grid to its knees and as a consequence, leads to production shut-downs and creates billions in cost. Countries like the Netherlands are already struggling with congested grids and significant price fluctuations. In Germany, billions of Euros are paid each year to wind park operators to turn off their parks during peak hours.

Old Solar evolves into New Energy

It's about time we enter the next phase of the energy revolution. What is known as "New Energy" is an intelligent, integrated system where generators and consumers communicate — directly or via power exchanges and grid parameters — and synchronize automatically. This ensures that clean, affordable electricity is being efficiently distributed to where it's needed. In other words: Once you make the consumption follow production, ,you will always access the cleanest and cheapest electricity available. There is a lot of beauty in this correlation - the economical and the ecological benefits are in sync.

With this huge potential at our fingertips, stagnation is not an option. Clinging to the principles of Old Solar without embracing change will lead us nowhere. While the technology evolves, businesses and policy frameworks need to evolve with it. Germany's current EEG subsidy still incentivises feed-in at midday as it was originally designed to enable the installation of generators. Today, this is creating billions and billions of unnecessary costs for taxpayers that could be avoided by switching to a New Energy based scheme incorporating the flexibility of all assets.

So was it all for nothing?

It is important to note that Old Solar wasn't in vain. In fact, it brought the revolution to where it is today! And no one has to be left behind: With a little bit of clever software, we can transform Old Solar into New Energy, making both customers as well as the general public profit from its benefits, paving the way for clean and cheap renewable energy for all.