Slovenian energy technology company SunContract said on Oct. 7 that a metalworking company using its automated electricity-sharing platform reduced power costs by €1,797 over three months. The company reported that the industrial customer normally spends around €5,000–€6,000 per month on electricity. In its strongest month under the system, savings reached €853, according to SunContract.
The figures were reported by the company and were not independently audited. SunContract said the results illustrate how electricity sharing is moving from regulatory theory toward a commercial industrial application. The underlying business model was described as different from conventional solar development.
How electricity sharing works for industrial customers
The customer does not necessarily need to install its own photovoltaic system, change electricity supplier, or materially alter production schedules. Instead, software matches the customer’s electricity demand with renewable generation available elsewhere within the permitted sharing framework. SunContract said the economic value comes from better allocation of existing electricity.
This approach can create an asset-light market for platform operators. A traditional renewable developer earns primarily by owning or operating generation, while an electricity-sharing platform can earn from software and related services including transaction management, customer acquisition, allocation, settlement and optimisation. The platform is described as an intermediary connecting producers with consumers whose load profiles complement available generation.
For industrial customers, SunContract said the attraction can be straightforward in cases where rooftop solar is not feasible. It cited constraints such as unsuitable roofs, lease-related complications for ownership, capital allocation elsewhere, and rooftop space that may be too small relative to factory demand. Electricity sharing was presented as another route to access some of the economics of renewable self-consumption without generation being physically located behind the customer’s meter.
Settlement requirements and scaling across markets
SunContract said digital allocation allows interaction between geographically fragmented distributed solar production and concentrated industrial demand at factories and commercial facilities without requiring every consumer to own generation. It added that granular settlement is essential because electricity production and consumption need to be allocated over sufficiently short time intervals reflecting when energy was available and used. Smart meters, automated data processing and settlement algorithms were identified as core infrastructure supporting that process.
The service was described as sitting at the intersection of electricity supply, software and financial settlement. For industrial users, SunContract said the platform can also be used within a broader energy-management strategy starting with reducing average procurement cost. It added that the same software layer could later combine shared generation with dynamic tariffs, onsite generation, flexible consumption or storage.
Implications for suppliers and regional expansion
SunContract said optimisation opportunities could include increasing some electricity-intensive processes when shared renewable generation is abundant and reducing consumption when market electricity is expensive. It described this progression as energy sharing evolving into demand flexibility. For suppliers, it said the model creates both a competitive threat and an opportunity depending on whether customers can obtain part of their electricity economically through sharing arrangements without changing supplier.
It also said suppliers could integrate sharing into their own products by offering packages combining conventional supply with access to shared renewable production plus balancing, metering and optimisation. SunContract said this would turn retailing into a multi-layer service. The company also stated it is preparing expansion into Austria, where regulatory changes effective from October are widening opportunities for electricity sharing.
SunContract said the technology becomes more valuable when replicated across multiple markets because the software required to match generation with consumption, allocate electricity and manage settlement is largely scalable. It added that regulation and market rules remain country-specific but the underlying platform does not need to be rebuilt from zero each time. This could support regional energy companies that control digital infrastructure while owning relatively little generation themselves.
The next challenge identified by SunContract is proving economics at scale for industrial customers after platform charges alongside balancing costs, taxes and network charges are included. It said value will vary by customer load profile and by the timing of available renewable generation, noting that a factory consuming heavily during solar hours may benefit more than a business operating primarily at night. SunContract also stated that energy sharing does not have to remain limited to community-energy concepts focused on households and municipalities, adding that it can become an industrial procurement product.
If measurable savings persist across larger portfolios, SunContract said competitive advantage may increasingly depend on which party can determine which consumer receives each available kilowatt-hour and when.