Berlin was buzzing with energy innovation last week at the WIRED x Octopus Energy Tech Summit.
We unveiled exciting updates in Octopus technology, built a wind turbine onsite in just eight hours and drove a convoy of EV enthusiasts there from London.
But first, let’s dive into our announcement, the launch of ‘Mercury’: the Bluetooth of energy.
Watch the highlights from Greg’s keynote at the Energy Tech Summit:
Introducing Mercury: Bluetooth for energy.
Just as Bluetooth set a global standard for tech devices, we need a similar approach for energy – allowing millions of smart energy technologies to seamlessly integrate with each other.
Greg Jackson, CEO
Kraken, the home-grown technology that powers our business, is forming a global consortium to set the new technical standards to make green energy products work seamlessly together with the energy grid.
Octopus Energy is a founding member.
Electric technologies are an upgrade. Cheaper to run, smarter and convenient too. As millions of people make the switch, two things are essential:
- These products need to work in people’s lives (an EV charged by morning, or a toasty home when you get back from work).
- They have to support the grid – heat pumps, EVs and batteries use a lot of power: if not managed correctly, they could add a lot of extra load (and hence cost) to the grid
We can achieve both by optimising these devices to switch on when clean energy is abundant, and when the grid has more capacity.
For it to work, we need low carbon devices to meet functional standards that match grid and energy company requirements so they can all communicate and work together: as a coordinated, flexible energy ecosystem.
Kraken is looking for Mercury Members
We need the energy world to come together to make this a global reality.
Manufacturers, utilities, regulators, technology providers: let’s unite to set the new standards for the future.
What would Mercury mean for me?
We want your home’s clean energy systems to be as reliable as Bluetooth is now—no hassle, no confusing setups or gadgets that won’t talk to each other, just seamless integration.
Imagine you’re buying a heat pump. You want to know if it can pair with your Octopus tariff to make the most of renewables and cheap energy. You wonder if you‘ll be able to manage it in the same app as your EV charger and solar panels.
You see a familiar little “Mercury-enabled“ sticker on the box and know you’ll be able to do all of it.
A community of tech visionaries
Greg was joined by an amazing lineup of leaders shaping the future of green tech. Formula One driver Kevin Magnussen alongside CEO Jeff Dodds, former European Parliament President Martin Schulz, and explorer and clean tech pioneer Bertrand Piccard all took the stage to talk about the incredible inventions and possibilities ahead. These inspiring voices shared their vision for a greener, smarter future.
Subscribe to our YouTube to get an inside look at all the highlights of the day.
Turning Up the Heat (Pump)
And that’s not all. Last year, we introduced the Cosy 6 heat pump, designed for small homes. This winter, we’re turning it up a notch with the new Cosy 10, a 10-kilowatt version powerful enough to heat mid-sized homes with the same efficiency.
Turbine in 8 Hours? No problem!
What’s an Octopus Energy event without a little adventure? We built Fat Boy Spin, our second travelling wind turbine, onsite in Berlin in just 8 hours—yes, you read that right. Our team got to work, and proved that with the right tech, speed doesn’t mean cutting corners.
600 miles on the Octobahn
Oh, and we didn’t just fly into Berlin: we took an epic overnight road trip from London in a convoy of EVs, with an unstoppable crew of sustainability enthusiasts including Jerome Foster, the White House’s youngest advisor & environmental champion, Top Gear racing driver Becky Evans.
We had a blast showing the world that the future of travel is already here; fun, seamless and eco-friendly. We’ll share more about their adventure soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel – we’ll be sharing more highlights from our EV road trip and the Energy Tech Summit in the coming days.
With Mercury, and Cosy heat pumps, we’re not just making energy greener—we’re making it easier and cheaper for everyone, no matter their age or technical ability.
This year’s Energy Tech Summit showed us that the tech to power our green future is already here. Now we need to bring it all together. We’re leading that mission, and we’re inviting the entire industry to join us.
