How the "Heartbeat" will change homes

Hamburg-based startup 1KOMMA5° has become a climate tech unicorn after raising €430 million in funding. Founded less than two years ago, the company's main product is Heartbeat, an IoT device that serves as the air traffic control for home energy systems. By connecting clean renewable energy generation with energy storage, car chargers, and heat pumps, Heartbeat optimizes the entire system.

The goal of 1KOMMA5° is to decarbonize the energy grid while helping homeowners save money. Heartbeat achieves this through "energy system optimization," improving the efficiency of electric devices in homes. It automatically purchases power when it's cheap, like on a windy or sunny day, and sells excess power back to the grid when prices are favorable. It's estimated that Heartbeat can save homeowners €1,550 annually on energy bills. The device comes with a real-time monitoring app.

1KOMMA5° creates a "virtual power plant" by integrating multiple independent energy sources, enabling more efficient supply and demand balancing. Founded by former Tesla country director Philipp Schröder, 1KOMMA5° aims to make buildings carbon neutral quickly. According to the founder, their current goals are to make as many buildings as possible carbon neutral as fast as possible, and to make the heartbeat compatible with as many existing devices in the market right now.

A scenario where the Anorra wind turbine would be in use is in a home that has an Anorra, a few solar panels, a battery pack, and an inverter. On windy days the Anorra would generate the most electricity, the battery would then store the energy until a time that the grid is buying energy at a premium, then the heartbeat would sell the excess energy from the windy day back to the grid, making back some money. This innovative product is an enabler for homeowners generating electricity to become buyers and sellers of that electricity based on their usage and the market demand.