Teaming solar panels and AI could change future of energy

What if solar panels didn’t just cut your energy bills but actually made you money? That’s the future I glimpsed this week at the New Energy Forum in Narrabri, a remote farming and coal mining town in Australia that brought together some of the most unexpected solar innovators I’ve met in years.

- CHRIS WRIGHT

One of them, Michael Huang, is a young engineer with a big idea: what if rooftop solar didn’t just power your home but worked for you – generating profit by trading energy like a mini power plant?

Michael works for a clean tech company called Energus, which is one of the leading solar panel installers in the country. But now, they’ve added a twist – pairing solar with batteries, as well as advanced AI-powered energy management systems that not only track your energy needs but also monitor the electricity market to sell excess power at the most profitable times.

This combination has the potential to not only significantly bring down the upfront costs of a solar energy system but given the right energy market settings, transform it into a profitable business opportunity in the short and medium term.

This week he sat me down and explained how this model works and is already being used to generate revenue for farmers, processing plants and even a small roadside motel, sometimes slashing the payback periods in half. For small businesses, this not only transforms the upfront risks of installing solar and batteries but could generate revenue within a few years, as the AI system would constantly be working to sell power back to the grid at the most valuable times.