Grid evolves.
Homes follow.
Electricity used to be something you consumed. Now it’s something you can earn from. With EVs, solar, heat pumps and home batteries entering mainstream use, the home is turning into an active part of the energy system.
This week, we look at what happens when software finally catches up with hardware in the home — through a new podcast episode with Greenely’s Chief Product Officer, Daniel Wentz, whose work sits at the center of this shift.
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This week featuring the race to orchestrate the modern household.
How Homes Become Power Plants: Inside Greenely’s Race Toward Zero-Cost Energy
Greenely’s Daniel Wentz argues that the home shouldn’t just use energy, it should manage it. In our new podcast episode, he explains how trust, software and real-time orchestration are turning ordinary households into active players in the grid.
When Daniel joined Greenely three months ago, he entered a sector moving faster than most people realize. What used to be about checking your electricity bill is now a systems problem: EV chargers, solar inverters, heat pumps and home batteries all need to behave like one coordinated whole.
With years of experience building Electrolux’s connected-appliance platform across 90 markets, he immediately recognized the challenge.
– First you have to earn trust and control. Without that, nothing else matters, he says.
Every device Greenely integrates with comes with its own quirks, APIs and firmware logic. Some partners are born-digital. Others bring decades of hardware heritage and a thin software layer on top. Greenely has to make all of them reliable, predictable and unified.
– You can almost judge a hardware company by its APIs. Some are great. Some are… less great, Daniel says with a smile.
Virtual power plants are much more sexy than I thought
The deeper shift, he argues, is that homes are no longer passive endpoints. With a battery on the wall, a household can store energy, shift consumption and even earn money by stabilizing the grid. Virtual power plants have gone from concept to operational reality, and Daniel admits the space surprised him.
– Battery energy systems and virtual power plants are much more sexy than I thought. The data flows, the orchestration, the bidding strategies… it’s a different world.
One battery alone is meaningless from a grid perspective. A few thousand, controlled as one, becomes a new kind of asset. Greenely aggregates these batteries, schedules them day by day and shares 50 percent of the revenue with users. It’s an unusually transparent model in a traditionally opaque industry.
– You can’t do anything meaningful with a 10 kW battery. But two thousand batteries acting together? Now you can participate in stabilizing the grid, says
For many founders in the sector, this is the path toward zero-cost electricity. Solar panels cover the sunny months; batteries extend the curve; VPP income closes the loop. But none of it reaches mass adoption without ruthless simplicity.
– We have to make the experience dead simple. Set it and forget it. Let us manage the complexity. But we have to earn the trust to do that.
Almost nothing in energy scales without rework
Daniels’ point is clear: none of this reaches the mass market without ruthless simplicity. If your car doesn’t charge or your home goes dark, it doesn’t matter how clever the optimization engine is.
– Reliability beats sophistication every time, he says.
International expansion adds another layer of friction. Unlike consumer electronics, almost nothing in energy scales without rework.
– Each market is basically new. New partners, new regulations, new grid rules. You can’t copy-paste your way into Europe.
Still, he’s optimistic. Hardware is maturing, consumers are getting more comfortable with distributed energy, and Greenely’s product ambitions are sharpening.
– Twelve months from now, we should be among the most mature product experiences in Northern Europe. Whether you’re starting the energy journey or you’re the nerdiest person in the room.
The move from consumption to participation is only beginning. And if Daniel is right, your home won’t just draw power from the grid. It will help run it — quietly, automatically, in the background.
Lately ⏮️
Selected news from the hardtech ecosystem
- Metal-organic frameworks just got a global spotlight, and the timing couldn’t be better. With new results pointing to MOFs’ industrial relevance in CO₂ capture, filtration and storage, this is a space worth tracking. Recent work in Nature underscores why.
- European deeptech surges while climate tech cools. Sifted’s read of Atomico’s new report shows deeptech taking 36% of VC dollars, defence funding hitting record levels, and climate tech falling from 32% to 18%.
- Gungnir Capital launches Scandinavia’s first defence tech–only fund, targeting €20m for early investments across the sector. A new specialist player entering one of Europe’s fastest-growing categories.
- Sweden’s linear economy leaks nearly SEK 600bn a year, according to a new RISE report — driven largely by premature disposal and short-lived products. A clear signal for hardtech teams working on durability and circular design ...
- ... and speaking of: Industry association Svensk Elektronik will lead a three-year, SEK 11.9M effort to develop tools and standards that make Sweden’s electronics sector more resource-efficient and resilient.
Up next ⏭️
What's brewing in the community?
- 🎯Danish startup UMag Solutions is hiring an embedded software engineer to build real-time drone magnetic systems for land and naval mine detection. A hands-on role in next-gen sensing hardware.
- 🎯CLER is hiring a Head of Partnerships to scale its filter-free air-purification hardware globally. Based in Stockholm, this is a hands-on commercial role for someone who can build and grow reseller and channel networks.
- We know you're busy landing 2025, but just a reminder: the EU’s new Ecodesign framework under ESPR is already in force, and the first product-specific requirements are set to take shape through 2026. Better to be early than surprised.
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