BUT start-up optimises renewable energy use with artificial intelligence
Efficient utilization of energy from renewable sources with the help of artificial intelligence algorithms. This is the vision and goal of the new BUT start-up – FT4U Company. This innovative enterprise, founded by PhD students from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication Technologies at BUT (FEEC BUT), introduces intelligent software called Wattee. It optimizes the management of energy flows in residential and corporate complexes, significantly reducing energy consumption costs.
“BUT played a key role in the creation of our start-up. We studied here, gained industry insight, and thanks to the university, we are doing what we do today. We consider it important to acknowledge BUT and promote the fact that successful start-ups originate here. We look forward to further deepening this collaboration,” said Lukáš Jablončík, founder and CEO of FT4U Company, during the start-up agreement signing. With the Wattee project, they secured a shared first place in last year’s university competition BUT Student Entrepreneurship Award.
“I am pleased that BUT continues expanding its family of start-ups and spin-offs and transferring university know-how into practice. For BUT, this is one of the best ways to showcase the university’s capabilities both externally and internally and to confirm the relevance of achieved results. At the same time, it is essential to raise awareness that entrepreneurship and enterprising spirit are not in conflict with the mission of academia but significantly enrich it. Simply put, entrepreneurship ‘suits’ universities, and supporting it is entirely justified. Representatives of BUT start-ups and spin-offs can therefore count on legal and marketing consultancy or incubation support in the early stages of business development, for example, in cooperation with the JIC innovation agency or the Brno Technology Park,” emphasized Rector Ladislav Janíček during a meeting with FT4U representatives.
From Charging Station Management to Intelligent Energy Management
FT4U was founded in 2021 when three PhD students from FEEC BUT – Lukáš Jablončík, Michal Mikulášek, and Michal Ružička – came together. They initially focused on implementing control units for charging stations. However, their scope gradually expanded to comprehensive energy system management for entire buildings and facilities. This led to the development of Wattee, a product with global ambitions. “Although we are currently focusing primarily on implementations, we aim to shift increasingly towards selling software solutions for charging stations and energy management. We target residential buildings, corporate offices, local distribution networks, and municipalities – areas with higher electricity consumption,” Jablončík explained.
Wattee offers not only ecological benefits but, more importantly, economic advantages. “For people to be motivated to build renewable energy sources and buy electric vehicles, it must make economic sense. This means maximizing profit from selling surplus energy while minimizing costs for charging and other consumption. Wattee works not only with photovoltaics but also with battery storage, virtual power plants, and spot energy prices. As a result, we can shorten the return on investment for solar systems by up to two years,” Jablončík explained.
Artificial Intelligence as the Path to Fully Autonomous Energy Management
The future of energy lies in advanced artificial intelligence technologies. “Our ultimate goal, our ‘Mars,’ is a system that automatically identifies and executes the most advantageous energy strategies. The key is continuous operational data collection, cloud analysis, and autonomous real-time decision-making – regarding consumption, production, energy storage, or advantageous buying and selling,” Jablončík outlined the system’s principle, adding that everything happens in the background without user intervention. The goal is for every municipality mayor or facility manager with Wattee installed to never even need to open the application. “The best version of software is the one nobody notices,” Jablončík quipped.
Meaningful Energy Utilization Instead of Waste
Recently, controversial “excess energy dissipators” have appeared in the energy sector – devices that consume surplus electricity, often without any real purpose or use. Lukáš Jablončík commented: “Many people have figured out that this is currently the simplest way to draw energy from the grid. However, if we want a more efficient and meaningful solution, we need more battery storage, electric vehicles, and a more robust transmission network in the Czech Republic. Electromobility and photovoltaics are interconnected – the more electric cars we have, the better we can utilize surpluses from renewable sources.” FT4U and its founders recognize that sustainable technologies require time, strategic planning, and a visionary approach.
You can read the full press release here.
| Author | Mgr. Petr Kubíček |
|---|---|
| Published | |
| Link | https://www.vut.cz/en/but/f19528/d282716 |