UK energy supplier E.ON Next has launched a new smart energy pilot scheme for households with solar PV and battery installations. The pilot programme, Next Solar Max, will be open to up to 1,000 households for both solar PV and battery energy storage installations and will run for one year. The scheme, which E.ON states is a “first of its kind”, will use AI technology from Australian solar energy platform Amber to learn from each household’s energy usage habits, while also forecasting solar generation and tracking real-time energy prices. A new solar installation, comprising 270 solar PV panels and capable of generating around 100MWh each year, will be installed at a school in East London, which will benefit from the solar energy generated on-site. Uniquely, any excess solar energy generated on the site will be allotted to nearby homes at a discounted rate.