Pete Armstrong joins the Leaders in Cleantech podcast to reflect on building Mixergy
Mixergy CEO/CTO and Co-Founder Dr Pete Armstrong recently returned to Leaders in Cleantech, the podcast hosted by David Hunt and sponsored by Hyperion Search, for a conversation that covers the journey from early-stage startup to a business operating at scale across social housing, new build, and commercial buildings.
Pete first appeared on the show back in 2018, when Mixergy was still in its early stages, and the contrast between that conversation and this one makes for a useful illustration of what sustained progress in the cleantech sector looks like.
The opportunity in existing infrastructure
The founding insight behind Mixergy was straightforward in principle: hot water cylinders are already a form of energy storage, and with the right intelligence built in, they can do considerably more than heat water on demand. With millions of hot water cylinders in UK homes alone, the potential to turn a meaningful proportion of those into flexible, grid-connected assets represents a significant opportunity for the energy system as a whole. The technology to do that exists, and Mixergy has spent the better part of a decade proving it works in real buildings, at real scale.
As Pete discusses in the episode, the technical foundations were established early, but the work of bringing intelligent hot water to market at scale involved navigating routes to market, installer networks, supply chains, and the gradual process of changing procurement behaviour in a sector that moves carefully and rightly so. The shift towards a model centred on specification and technology partnerships proved to be the approach that allowed the business to grow with the rigour that its markets require.
Rethinking what already exists
What David Hunt finds most compelling about Mixergy’s proposition is its underlying logic. At a time when much of the energy transition conversation focuses on new technology, Mixergy’s approach centres on making better use of infrastructure that is already there. The cylinder is already installed. The question is whether it is performing as well as it could, and for the vast majority of the nine million in UK homes, the answer is that it isn’t. That gap between current performance and what intelligent hot water can deliver is where Mixergy’s work sits, and it represents a practical, proven route to lower bills, reduced carbon, and a more flexible energy system.
Listen to the full episode on Spotify or visit the Leaders in Cleantech website.
