Good Energy, the Chippenham-based green energy firm, has launched the UK’s first online marketplace for renewable electricity, giving businesses the power to choose how and where their electricity is generated.
Called Selectricity, the scheme is supported and part funded by the government and has already signed up the National Trust, the Eden Project, Community Power Cornwall and Brixton Energy as customers. 
The platform matches businesses with local renewable energy generators, providing them with more control and hour-by-hour visibility of their usage and allowing them for the first time to choose where their energy comes from.
The first peer-to-peer offering on the market, it also allows businesses to make more sustainable choices and meet their corporate social responsibility and zero carbon emission goals.
Selectricity will be available for hundreds of business sites to join and, with the advent of smart meters, there is also a potential to roll out the platform to households in the future.
Businesses can browse local generators by computer, tablet or smart phone and choose to be supplied by generators such as local wind and solar farms and schools.
Good Energy managing director David Brooks said: “We’re really excited to be launching Selectricity. This new offering puts consumers at the heart of the market and could unlock the potential of renewables with decentralised, local energy here in the UK.
“The platform will allow companies all across the country to develop an energy mix which perfectly suits their business and brings to life their commitment to renewable energy”.
Minister for climate change and industry at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Nick Hurd, added: “Unlocking the innovative capabilities of business is paramount to our transition to a low-carbon economy, so I am delighted to see this project, which was backed by our Energy Entrepreneurs Fund, brought to the marketplace.
“We are putting innovation at the centre of our Industrial Strategy so that we are creating the ideal conditions for businesses and industries to thrive. This new online marketplace is an indication of how low carbon and decentralised, local energy schemes can work.”
Augusta Grand, head of policy at Cornwall’s Eden Project, one of the first businesses to use the platform, said: “Selectricity is a great advance towards the smart grid: being able to match our electricity needs to a particular local supplier gives us transparency and takes the strain off the wider network. We are delighted to be part of such an important new offering.”
The platform was developed by London-based technology start-up Open Utility and the pilot was awarded £310,000 from the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund from the then Department for Energy and Climate Change.
Good Energy, which was launched 17 years ago, has more than 72,250 renewable electricity customers and 43,000 carbon neutral gas customers. It owns the Delabole Wind Farm in Cornwall, the UK’s first commercial wind farm, and owns and operates Hampole Wind Farm, near Doncaster, along with seven solar farms.
