It’s a pleasure to open my blog with this title! Having worked in the telecommunication for an important part of my career, it was easy to use this well-known “Triple Play” analogy representing multiple services provided on a single broadband connection such as Internet, Telephony and TV.
Why “Triple play”?
We can believe that Photovoltaic (PV), Electrical Energy Storage (EES) and Electric Vehicle (EV) should be the equipment of all homes in the future. Even if these technologies are not provided from a single line as it is in the telecommunication, we are still speaking about 3 consumer services, which are linked and do work together.
- Photovolataic (PV) as the energy producer
- Battery (EES) store and manage the energy demand
- Electric Car (EV) as the main usage source
The thing is that these products may well be ordered from the same company! Reason why we should use a marketing concept to push them!
How could this happen?
The ideal energy “Triple Play” consumer would typically start the journey with the installation of Photovoltaic panels on the roof of his house, followed with the integration of a Storage Battery. This would result in important costs that should be amortized over a potential length of 10 years or even more. This ROI (Return on Invest) type of calculation would include mainly the energy savings with the own PV energy production, market energy price and future usage. That’s where the Electrical Vehicle comes in action!
Electric Vehicle could be the trigger
The first purchase of an electrical vehicle (EV) would require the installation of a home charging station and generate a change in electricity consumption. Indeed, an EV would become the biggest consumer products of any residential place. A 4 person household does consume an average of 5000 kWh per year. The EV could well increase this yearly consumption of a 1/3. This would motivate the EV driver to optimise his electricity usage. Moreover, if the company providing the Charging Station would push for a packaged approach!
What are the limits or risks of Energy “Triple Play”
The main risks are based on the costs which could make a too long return on invest in the future. This is based on the following aspects:
- Evolution of the electricity price: Higher the better
- Evolution of batteries and PV cells Hardware price: Lower the better
- Penetration of Electrical Vehicle on the market: Depending of the production of better, sexier and cheaper EVs
All these hypothesis are going to be analysed in my next posts.
Yes, perhaps but when?
With a PV market penetration of less than 1% of the housing market in Switzerland, we cannot speak of a “Big Bang”today. However, with the upcoming penetration of EV cars supported with good news from German car makers and the arrival of the Tesla Model 3 in 2018, the decrease of battery prices and potential increase of electricity prices in the coming years, we might have this revolution starting in 3 to 5 years.
In conclusion, “Triple Play” was a marketing concept used mainly by ISP (Internet Service Provider) to promote new set of services and so could it become for these energy products.
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