How an energy start-up wants to network Germany

Hundreds of companies in Germany earn their money with renewable energies. Synergies often fail to materialize. The energy start-up 1Komma5 Grad wants to connect households with each other. Manager Sophia Rödiger explains how this can also help companies in the ntv podcast "So techt Deutschland".

Companies and consumers don't know what the future holds for the energy transition. Orders for heat pumps have collapsed. Sophia Rödiger from energy start-up 1Komma5 Grad describes the situation as "a big mess" in the ntv podcast "So techt Deutschland".

The Hamburg-based start-up has developed a "master plan with three chapters", reports Head of Marketing Rödiger. The three steps include rethinking and digitalizing the value chain. "Step number two is the intelligence that we need to breathe into the whole thing," explains Rödiger. This would mean, for example, that the heat pump talks to the solar system.

Sophia Rödiger is Head of Marketing at 1Komma5 Grad.

In this context, 1Komma5 Grad sees itself as a technology platform for energy, says the manager. Customers are provided with a small device that is responsible for networking and controlling energy consumption. Self-consumption should then be optimized so that consumers either use the electricity they produce themselves or buy electricity on the market. "Step number three is then to network all households with each other and really talk about a green energy source that lives from wind and sun." Every household would then function like a decentralized power plant, Rödiger explains the long-term vision.

Own solar module factory

To achieve this, 1Komma5 Grad is buying into craft businesses on the market. "We look for the biggest players on the market who already have expertise, who have been doing this for a few years and who have the entrepreneurial spirit," says Rödiger. Some companies have already gone from 30 to 130 employees with the help of the start-up, adds the Head of Marketing.

According to a report in the Handelsblatt newspaper, the start-up founded by former Tesla Germany boss Philipp Schröder wants to produce solar modules itself from next year. The company wants to expand production at the factory in eastern Germany to up to five gigawatts by 2030.