00:12:30 · James Wise, Alan Chang
[00:12:30] S1: And can you talk a little bit about the kinds of people then, and org structure that you've had to create to build a business, as you say, which is vertically integrated, so does so many different things? [00:12:43] S0: Something we've done differently this time is we have engineers that lead execution end to end. So we give ownership to engineers, and they actually lead a project or a product area. We don't really have a management structure, Right? We have no middle managers. We have no PMs. But just like engineers that can... That wants to do something... Build something end to end. [00:13:10] S1: And do you have to... I mean, it's an amazing amount of freedom that you give people, rightly so. Do you have to hire a different kind of person for that level of responsibility when you've got innovations in software, in hardware, you have supply chains and regulation? There's so many different aspects and challenges from different domains in what you're building. Have you therefore hired sort of people who have got lots of different experiences in industries, or people who are brilliant at one thing, and you help them grow into other areas over time?
00:13:10 · James Wise, Alan Chang
[00:13:10] S1: And do you have to... I mean, it's an amazing amount of freedom that you give people, rightly so. Do you have to hire a different kind of person for that level of responsibility when you've got innovations in software, in hardware, you have supply chains and regulation? There's so many different aspects and challenges from different domains in what you're building. Have you therefore hired sort of people who have got lots of different experiences in industries, or people who are brilliant at one thing, and you help them grow into other areas over time? [00:13:39] S0: Yeah, so, I'll say we value role, skill, and talent over experience in our business, right? So just to give you an idea, we rarely hire anyone from the energy industry, right? So for example, our project engineers, we've hired mainly from the Elon companies, like SpaceX and Tesla. Software engineers, hired from hedge funds, from big tech. And the quants will also hire from mainly also hedge funds. So we basically identify, Okay, what is the top skill? What is the skill we need? And then we identify, Okay, do the people with these skills mainly work in today and try to convince them to to come to us? And then they they learn about energy very, very quickly. [00:14:39] S1: And then, you know, you've spoken a little bit about Fuze's vertical integration. Can talk you to us a little bit about the kind of products that you're excited by that Fuze Energy customers could have access to that you think will be continue to be transformative to either the bills or the experience of a customer going forward?
00:14:39 · James Wise, Alan Chang
[00:14:39] S1: And then, you know, you've spoken a little bit about Fuze's vertical integration. Can talk you to us a little bit about the kind of products that you're excited by that Fuze Energy customers could have access to that you think will be continue to be transformative to either the bills or the experience of a customer going forward? [00:14:59] S0: Yeah. So probably one of the products I'm most excited about which we're launching next year is a micro solar and battery solution, right? So if you think about traditionally solar and battery is quite inaccessible in, you know, both in terms of capital, right? You need to have over 10, even if your finances are quite high cost. Or you need to own your own roof, which a lot of people do not. So we're basically building this product where even if you're renting, you can literally plug in the socket and you can get you can hang a solar off your balcony or if you're lucky enough to have a backyard, a backyard. And it just works, right? And the fully loaded cost will be under $2. And yeah, it's and with financial payback of like roughly three years. So we think this is going to be very transformative to a lot of people. Right? And at the same time, providing a very, very good customer experience.
00:14:59 · Alan Chang, James Wise
[00:14:59] S0: Yeah. So probably one of the products I'm most excited about which we're launching next year is a micro solar and battery solution, right? So if you think about traditionally solar and battery is quite inaccessible in, you know, both in terms of capital, right? You need to have over 10, even if your finances are quite high cost. Or you need to own your own roof, which a lot of people do not. So we're basically building this product where even if you're renting, you can literally plug in the socket and you can get you can hang a solar off your balcony or if you're lucky enough to have a backyard, a backyard. And it just works, right? And the fully loaded cost will be under $2. And yeah, it's and with financial payback of like roughly three years. So we think this is going to be very transformative to a lot of people. Right? And at the same time, providing a very, very good customer experience. [00:16:04] S1: Mhmm. And batteries are needed for loads of different reasons, but but part of it is, you know, the grid is changing. As you say, renewables introduce some advantages, but they do also introduce volatility into the grid. Can consumers solve this? Is this something which you and I, by having batteries at home or solar, can really have an impact on? Or do you think really, to fix some of the energy problems we have in The UK and beyond today, there needs to be sort of grid level innovation as well?
00:16:35 · Alan Chang
[00:16:35] S0: I think the answer is both, right? So, I think a lot of people underestimate the power of the consumer, But consumers domestic properties represent roughly 40% of the power economy. That's quite big, right? More than most people think, right? Now obviously, industrial sector is a bit larger, but 40% is no small feat. And at the same time, we're seeing huge inefficiencies in the grid. So UK grid is actually a prime example of inefficiency. So if you look at how power is generated and distributed in The UK, we have loads of wind in Scotland that gets paid to turn off, And that power is not flowing through to where demand centres are, like key cities like Manchester and London. Instead we rely we at the same time tell the wind turbines to turn off, pay them to turn off, and then pay additional peaker plants to turn on to power cities. Insane, right? And that's one of the reasons why the power prices in The UK are so high, right? And if you can find a way to coordinate supply and demand better on a regional level, what you can do is basically use more of that wind power in Scotland without wasting it and therefore, A, reduce wastage B, reduce the cost we pay wind turbines to turn off and also reduce peaker plants being turned off, right? So this can if you're able to coordinate this supply and demand on a regional level much better, we can actually not only reduce energy costs for people who participate in this coordination, but also reduce the system level cost for everyone else, including ones that are not participating. Now obviously, another part of the solution is actually reinforce the grid where it's needed. The issue with the current grid is the grid operators are not very sophisticated, and it requires a new level of, know, I'll say software modelling that wasn't a requirement before. That also needs to happen.
00:19:13 · James Wise
[00:19:13] S1: You know, you've mentioned some of the challenges of the grid. One of the new challenges that's arisen over the last couple of years clearly is consumption of energy for AI and the need to feed and scale data centers. What role do you think data center's gonna play on the grid going forward? And is there something that Fuse can do there to support us to use more AI?