On Christmas morning last year, dozens of households in the Republic of Ireland woke up to a hot water tank that had been heated overnight – for free. These households were part of a pilot run by the pioneering social enterprise EnergyCloud, which has found a way of using surplus wind energy on blustery nights to help people who are experiencing fuel poverty.  All it takes is the installation of a special switch that allows EnergyCloud to activate water heating when there is bountiful energy on the grid. People can still heat their hot water tank via a manual switch…

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