Our Story
We're passionate about accelerating the energy transition towards a clean energy future
​
​We leverage our energy and tech expertise to develop energy solutions that are innovative, that help homeowners and that deliver significant positive environmental benefits
​
We've been thinking about pools for a long time. In 2012, we were trying transform normal pool pumps into variable speed pumps. It didn't happen but the problem kept bothering us: "how can we reduce all the energy waste in pools".
​
We got back together in 2023 and realised that pools could actually be a solution for the transition, not by just reducing energy use, but also by using pools to balance the grid. So we developed TED.
​
Together Energy wants to help you reduce the cost of your pool and do good for the environment
​
By bringing together Australia’s 1.3 million pools, we are also developing a first-of-its-kind giant load-balancing appliance, that will lower energy prices for all Australians and help accelerate the transition
Meet The Team
Why Together Energy?
Australian backyard pools to the rescue
There are over 1.3m backyard pools in Australia each running several hours a day, every day of the year
​
Did you know the average pool costs over $1,000 per year to filter? That's about 20% of the electricity bill
​
Australia's 1.3m pools' combined load is equivalent to one of our largest coal fired power station, and together they consume 3.1TWh of electricity, costing $1bn and emitting 2.0 MtCO2e per year – that’s huge, in fact its about 2% of Australia’s annual electricity use
​
People are confused about how long to run the filter - they usually run too long and at the wrong time of the day, with a set and forget schedule
​
So we asked “What if Australia’s 1.3m pools ran the right amount of time, at the right time of the day, every day?"
Renewables pose a challenge
balancing the grid is increasingly difficult
We love renewables, and we need more, but they do make the job of balancing our national electricity grid increasingly difficult
​
Wind and solar farms already supply more energy than we need in the middle of the day, and definitely not enough in the early evening peak period
​
Huge batteries and pumped hydro schemes like Snowy2.0 can help manage some of that, but they cost a LOT of money
​
Shifting demand to the most over-supplied times of the day seems obvious, but people tend to want electricity when they want electricity, right?
​
Well not always.... pools are one area where we don't really care when the pump runs, and together they could make a huge difference
By making pools more efficient, we lower emissions
For opt-in customers, TED can also shift when pools run and help balance the grid (load-shifting, load-soaking and demand response) which in turn:
-
Reduces volatility and lower the cost of electricity for everybody
-
Reduces the need for storage, backup generation and infrastructure
-
Reduces the chances of blackouts, and importantly
-
Creates better economics for future solar / wind projects
​
So the more people use TED, the better it is for us all​
Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre/Flickr