O-PENS sesame!
Researchers in Cork have develop an automated energy management platform that can reduce energy bills and carbon emissions, it was recently announced.
The team at MTU developed a retrofittable energy management platform that enables energy cost savings of approximately 20% and a similar reduction in CO2 emissions.
The O-PENS (Optimise Predict Energy Saver) team said it plans on spinning out the platform into a start-up company later this year and is currently in talks with potential customers and investors.
The innovative energy management platform, O-PENS is designed to facilitate off-setting of peak load tariffs for commercial, agricultural, and domestic end users and enable energy managers in high energy consuming organisations to meet their carbon emissions and energy cost reduction targets.
The system incorporates a real-time pricing structure to enable end users to engage with integrated single electricity market pricing.
O-PENS is the brainchild of Dr Conor Lynch and his research team at MTU’s Nimbus Research Centre.
Dr Lynch said: “Whereas many existing energy management platform systems optimise renewable generators or available energy storage assets for a particular site, O-PENS takes a more holistic approach – developing a grid-connected smart network system encompassing energy market-tracking tariff prediction technologies, used in conjunction with auxiliary battery supply and any customer-own electricity generation assets.
“It then uses AI and machine learning to deliver customers the quintessential energy schedule to optimise their respective energy requirements based on overall cost or CO2 emissions or indeed a blend of the two, which mutually benefits both the end user and the environment.”
Ronan Coleman, Commercialisation Specialist at MTU, said: “O-PENS is the result of many years of research by Dr Lynch and his team. It is very rewarding to see what was originally a concept secure the necessary funding support from Enterprise Ireland to turn this concept into reality. The funding enabled the team to develop a fully functioning product which can have a real impact, both from a commercial and societal perspective.”
The development of O-PENS is funded under the Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation fund, a national programme that helps entrepreneurial academics and commercial leaders in Ireland’s research system to commercialise new technologies and inventions.
Daithí Power, Commercialisation Specialist at Enterprise Ireland, said: “EI has a long history of working with researchers in MTU to create High Potential Start-Up companies. EI is delighted to support Conor and his team to develop this technology which will ultimately create high skilled Irish jobs, encourage more Irish businesses to install renewable energy and reduce CO2 emissions.”