EnTech superhub to turbocharge green revolution

The UK’s first EnTech superhub has launched in Manchester, providing both a showcase for innovation and a testbed for R&D, in a move designed to turbocharge the green energy revolution.

The cutting-edge facility has been launched by Kraken Technologies, part of Octopus Energy Group. To be known as the Kraken Tech Centre, it will house engineering teams and work as a testing hub for integrating third-party devices with Kraken — the world’s fastest-growing energy platform.

The ambitious vision for the Centre is to see it help unleash the full power of the future smart grid. The timing looks good in political terms, especially given the election this month of a new Labour Government that pledged in its campaign Manifesto to make Britain a ‘clean energy superpower’.

Powerhouse to welcome big-name partners

The Manchester powerhouse will be a melting pot of global leaders in clean tech, bringing together some of the world’s biggest names in e-mobility, EV charging, heat pumps and home batteries.

In a show of widespread industry support for the Centre, Kraken has already secured over a dozen partners for the launch, including: automotive leaders BYD and Ford; battery pioneers Tesla, Enphase Energy, SolarEdge, GivEnergy; EV chargepoint players Indra Renewable Technologies, Hypervolt, Ohme and Myenergi; as well as heat pump providers Mitsubishi Electric and Daikin.

The new EnTech superhub aims to empower these pioneering partners to boost the usability of their products and expand their reach to more customers, homes and businesses by integrating with Kraken.

Working with Kraken, clean tech devices such as EVs and heat pumps can draw power from the grid when it is cheapest and greenest, plus export back when prices are higher. In this way, Kraken connects the entire energy value chain to create a smarter, more efficient system that slashes bills for consumers.

Set to house to over 200 Kraken employees, the new connectivity hub is located in the historic Pariser Building in central Manchester, and takes design inspiration from the famous Hacienda nightclub.

The ‘Silicon Valley for Energy Tech’

The launch is a win for both the North and the UK, says Devrim Celal, CEO of Kraken Technologies:

“Manchester is on track to become the ‘Silicon Valley for Energy Tech’. Our new EnTech superhub is a gamechanger for the UK’s renewable ambitions, and will speed up the country’s transformation into a clean energy superpower.“

Octopus Energy Group first arrived in Manchester in 2020 with the acquisition of Upside Energy, now Krakenflex. The company’s main office is located in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, where it employs nearly 600 people across technology, flexibility and customer operations roles.

Automation of the energy supply chain

Kraken Technologies aims to offer a best-in-class end-to-end platform for energy supply and is currently operating in the UK, Japan, US, New Zealand, Australia, and most of mainland Europe.

Kraken’s proprietary platform is contracted to serve 54 million customer accounts across the globe through licensees. Its first client was Octopus Energy, where Kraken manages 7.7 million retail customers globally and over 60,000 business customers (the largest of which is Arsenal Football Club).

Kraken manages more than 38GW in utility scale assets, from offshore wind to grid-scale batteries. Based on advanced data and machine learning capabilities, it automates much of the energy supply chain to optimise service and efficiency as the world transitions to a decentralised, decarbonised system.

Kraken is also a global leader in the rapidly growing field of domestic flexibility. The platform already handles 162,000 domestic devices, totalling more than a gigawatt of power.

Kraken Technologies is part of Octopus Energy Group and was developed to enable select third parties to take advantage of advances and innovations in cleantech. It has already been licensed by major global players, including Origin Energy, E.ON and EDF.

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