Energy prices at record highs: Price security thanks to year-round electricity storage system picea

• Private households currently pay an average of 42 cents per kilowatt hour.
• For the first time in Germany, electricity is as expensive for industry as for private households.
• Thanks to the year-round electricity storage system, owners of a picea are largely independent of electricity price increases.

Owners of the year-round electricity storage system picea from HPS Home Power Solutions AG (HPS) are barely affected by sharp increases in electricity prices, even in times of crisis. With the world’s first available year-round electricity storage system for buildings based on green hydrogen, private individuals and company owners can supply themselves with green electricity from their own roofs all year round.

In Germany, electricity prices are at a record high. There are manifold reasons for this. Natural gas shortages, the failure of nuclear power plants in France and problems with coal transport by inland waterway transport during drought are leading to a shortage of fossil and nuclear electricity supply and thus rising prices. "Electricity prices have been rising continuously for more than 20 years. Currently they are reaching record levels. For energy pioneers who choose picea, the electricity price shock is almost irrelevant. With picea, they are largely independent and achieve their own personal energy turnaround with CO2-free electricity," says Zeyad Abul-Ella, CEO and founder of HPS.

Current figures illustrate how heavy the burden is in this country. Despite the abolition of the EEG levy in 2022 of more than six cents, the price of electricity is not stabilising and is rising steadily. According to Verivox, the current electricity price for private households averages just under 42 cents per kilowatt hour. Last year it was 31 cents per kilowatt hour. This means that the electricity price for private households has increased by 35 percent within one year.

For the first time in Germany, electricity is as expensive for industry as for private individuals. For example, industrial companies paid 40 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity for new contracts in July this year. Last year it was still 21 cents. This is the result of calculations by the Bundesverband für Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (BDEW).

HPS customers are barely affected by the electricity price shock with the picea year-round electricity storage system: With picea system solutions, they use their electricity themselves all year round. The surplus solar power from the roof in summer is converted into hydrogen and stored. In winter, the process is reversed and the hydrogen produced is converted back into electricity. The stored solar electricity can also be used to operate a heat pump in winter. Energy-efficient buildings can thus for the first time be supplied with up to 100 percent renewable energy all year round.

With picea, citizens are protected from energy price fluctuations and horrendous electricity payments. Since the turn of the millennium, the cost of a kilowatt hour of electricity has risen from 14 cents to around 42 cents. The coming challenges for the restructuring of our energy supply raise fears that this trend will intensify. "Our customers are making themselves independent of this. They receive added value in three respects: high security of supply, protection against price increases and maximum CO2 savings," Abul-Ella notes. "And the effect goes even further – beyond your own house. Investing in one’s own energy security reduces the necessary investments in the grid infrastructure and therefore also counteracts further electricity price increases, which will affect everyone."

About picea:

picea is the world’s first commercially available hydrogen-based year-round electricity storage system for buildings. The surplus energy generated by the photovoltaic system on sunny days is stored as green hydrogen and used in the dark season to supply electricity and heat. picea enables a CO₂-free full supply of energy all year-round and reduces heating costs. Per year, a picea system avoids about three tons of CO₂ emissions and this is equivalent to the amount that 130 spruce trees capture annually. picea has received several prestigious awards, most recently the Handelsblatt Energy Award, the Smarter E Award 2021, the Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award and the Sustainability Challenge 2022 of the German Sustainable Building Council.