Building a better market for renewable energy in Britain

Somayeh Taheri - Founder and CEO, UrbanChain

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Every business needs energy. Without it, nothing happens.

 

In the UK, more than half of our electricity now comes from renewables. So why isn’t renewable more than half the mainstream market? What is stopping it from becoming the default source of energy for every business?

 

The answer, says UrbanChain founder and CEO Dr Somayeh Taheri, lies in the market structure that prices it. "Intermittency of renewables has been used as the scapegoat of volatile energy prices. This is simply because of a lack of a system that allows renewables to act as a true price stabiliser.”

 

The wholesale energy market is still dominated by fossil fuel generators and large intermediaries. Even though renewables now account for around half of UK generation, it is the output of those fossil fuel generators – importing resources from across the world, exposed to international events and volatile commodity prices – that continues to set the market price. Renewable generators are not causing that volatility. They are suffering its consequences: revenue uncertainty for generators, cost uncertainty for consumers.

 

UrbanChain exists to fix that. "Let’s build a system of energy markets that works for sustainable growth," says Taheri. "That’s exactly what we do at UrbanChain. We make private markets that work for renewables."

 

Building the alternative

 

Founded in Manchester in 2017, with the aim of addressing energy poverty and making renewable viable without subsidies, UrbanChain spent five years developing an energy operating system before going commercially live in 2022.

 

Today, the company is a licensed UK energy supplier with a team of more than 70 people, managing over a terawatt hour of power - the equivalent of more than 350,000 homes. Its growing network includes large infrastructure-grade renewable generators and major energy consumers: data centres, EV charge point operators and critical UK infrastructure.

 

For COO and CRO Julian Denee, a private market is not simply "a bunch of transactions." It is a more efficient market design, built to deliver the stability that both consumers and generators are craving. The distinction matters.

 

 Conventional procurement routes leave both sides exposed to the same wholesale market dynamics that have defined energy pricing for decades. UrbanChain’s model is designed from the ground up to work differently.

 

Through the UrbanChain operating system, participants enter their own private market or, if they prefer, the UrbanChain general market. Consumers sign a consumption agreement; generators sign a generation agreement. These agreements are fully transparent and visualised through the UrbanChain portal, demonstrating where your energy was utilised for generators, and where your energy was generated for consumers.

 

For consumers: certainty, stability, control

 

For major energy consumers, UrbanChain offers something the wholesale market cannot: price certainty, stability and, critically, control. By connecting renewable generators directly to consumers, the system creates direct access to shaped and structured renewable volume which delivers stable prices,  with full traceability of where power has come from – not just certificates. Supply is regulated and guaranteed, with consumption and generation forecast to manage any imbalances at a portfolio level.

 

That traceability matters. As scrutiny of corporate energy claims intensifies, the difference between a certificate and a verified, time-matched supply chain is significant.

 

Businesses increasingly need to demonstrate not just that they have purchased renewable energy, but that the power they consumed was genuinely matched to renewable generation at the time it was used. UrbanChain makes that possible.

 

For generators: bankability, access, durability

 

For renewable energy generators, the primary concern is their exposure to the wholesale market prices which can change dramatically with little generators can do in response. UrbanChain offers access to off takers as an alternative, with long-term, predictable contracts.

 

That predictability of revenue improves financing conditions, and improved financing drives greater returns. Generators of any size can connect to a wide range of end consumers and enjoy the price stability that delivers.

 

Critically, because those revenues flow from customers rather than government subsidies, they are structurally more durable over time. Subsidy regimes change; but contracted demand from a managed selection of anchor business consumption does not carry the same policy risk. UrbanChain gives generators stability, access to demand and the foundation to scale.

 

What comes next

 

The model is expanding. Batteries, electric heat and transport, and green gas are all being brought within the UrbanChain market. And the company is growing internationally, entering new markets including the US and India.

 

"Our business might be complex," says Taheri, "but our mission is simple: make renewable the mainstream market and the norm for everyone."

That is what UrbanChain is building - and the market is beginning to move with it.

The energy transition doesn’t wait. Neither should your business. Join the network that’s already reshaping how Britain powers itself.

 

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Find out how UrbanChain is building better markets for renewable energy

 

c.parry@urbanchain.co.uk