Octopus Energy to launch into hydrogen market  

Octopus Energy Group is to push into the hydrogen market with the launch of a new company this autumn, Utility Week has learnt.

Octopus Hydrogen is described as a locally distributed ‘green hydrogen as a service’ proposition for heavy goods transportation, energy storage, industrial applications and aviation.

The company said its new business is part of its bid to push into the “parts of the economy electrification can’t reach”.

It will be led by William Rowe as chief executive with Julius Baghdadi, who spent six years at Ovo Energy, as chief commercial officer. Other members of the team include Charlie Harris, also ex-Ovo, as technology and operations director. All three most recently worked for Octopus Energy Hatchery, the company’s environmental consultancy arm. They will be joined by Will Turner, Good Energy’s former head of trading, who will lead on trading and origination and Ben Eaton as engineering director.

In a statement the company said: “Octopus Hydrogen will bring the unrivalled customer centric approach Octopus Energy has delivered to the green hydrogen supply market.

“With the recent acquisition of Octopus Renewables and the world leading Kraken platform, the group is uniquely positioned to drive down costs and help customers drive the transition to a competitive and 100 per cent green economy.”

Ebico Trust

Elsewhere Ebico Trust, the charitable arm of Octopus Energy’s latest white label supplier, has announced a new initiative to develop sustainable solutions for affordable home warmth.

The two-year programme, created in partnership with Sustainable Pioneers, CIC, part of start-up investor Sustainable Ventures, will see up to 20 successful candidates take part in a three-week “entrepreneurs bootcamp” in July this year where they will form teams and develop new ideas.

They will pitch their ideas to a panel of experts including members of The Ebico Trust’s board and Sustainable Ventures’ senior management team. Each participant will receive a £500 stipend to participate in this first stage.

Up to three pre-startup teams will proceed to the first incubation phase and receive a £7,500 grant per team. They will also have access to Sustainable Workspaces’ co-working space, including access to regular workshops, webinars and networking opportunities. At the end of this three-month phase they will pitch for investment.

The second incubation phase offers a £15,000 investment following a successful pitch. At the conclusion of this phase, there is the potential of additional investment through the Sustainable Accelerator of up to £125,000.

Phil Levermore, chief executive of Ebico, said: “As net zero targets draw closer, and heating and running homes remains a struggle for many, low carbon solutions for one of our biggest polluting sectors – housing – needs new ideas and innovation to accelerate.

“This programme sets out to do just that by tapping into the entrepreneurial might found in this sector.”