{
  "id": 5533812,
  "title": "Almost anyone can make money selling electricity with AI, batteries and solar panels",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/04/almost-anyone-can-make-money-selling-electricity-with-ai-batteries",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-04T09:42:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Japan Times",
    "slug": "japan-times",
    "url": "https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/09/04/markets/energy-selling-electricity-ai-batteries/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the sweltering summer of 2022, a simple homeowner in Shropshire, England, found a lucrative way to capitalize on soaring energy costs and high temperatures. Andrew Austin, a 34-year-old resident, took advantage of a scorching June 24 when London's temperature hit 34 degrees Celsius. Energy prices spiked as the sun set, prompting Austin to utilize his 200 kilowatt-hour home battery. Having charged the battery using inexpensive grid power during the day, Austin sold the stored electricity back to the grid from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., earning approximately £60 ($82) in just a few hours. Remarkably, this amounted to roughly the same amount an apartment dweller would typically pay for electricity in an entire month. Austin accomplished all of this without lifting a finger, as a computer programmed to analyze electricity prices every 30 minutes from his utility, Octopus Energy, automatically executed the energy trading process while he continued with his daily routine.",
  "summary": "Millions of people are using their solar panels and batteries to generate energy and sell excess back to the grid.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}