Dear ROX community 

2020 has been a year of extremes. When asking most people how they will remember 2020, they will surely reply it has been a very strange year and they will first point to the COVID-19 pandemic as the single thing that has shaken our World down to the roots. 

Robotina ROX is not an exemption. According to Roadmap, 2020 has been planned as The Year. We planned to hit the start button and start our platform services in September 2020. Well, we decided not to do so because of multiple reasons. First, we faced severe limitations in technical activities due to lock-down and we have been almost blocked in our commercial activities. Second and very important, pandemic reviled and even catalysed dramatic changes in electric energy landscape. First, consumption has been hit with an important reduction of electricity prices. You will agree that launching our platform when electricity prices are in downtrend, is not the best idea. I hear you saying that HEMS and platform functionality are less attractive now. If you think so, you are wrong, very wrong. Let me explain. 

There are several reasons behind my statements but let us focus on two easily visible mechanisms. 

Pressure on the supply side to reduce prices is logical when demand is low, and supply is high. Traditional sources of energy like coal and gas fired power plants are typically relatively low-capex businesses compared to renewable energy sources, but they have relatively high operational expenses (opex). It is logical, that the world first switched off or reduced production in high opex plants. This is visible, oldest plants have been closing, but less than one would expect, because of reduced oil and gas cost, these plants have been still profitable operating at tiny operational margins compared to renewable power sources. When demand will catch up again, oil, coal and gas prices will increase again and high opex plants will become even less profitable. As a consequence, we can expect reduction in supply, which will reflect in higher electricity prices. This alone, would be a good sign for HEMS and our platform services, but this is not all. Renewable energy power plants are much less flexible in generation than say: gas-fired ones. In fact, such plants have been widely used to provide flexibility in our electric grids. And, you surely remember, providing flexibility is one of the most attractive features of HEMS and ROX based platform. I guess you can share my excitement. 

Have you noticed what car manufacturers are doing? Dramatic increase of electric cars supply has been surpassed only by announcements of new electric cars and making many traditional models obsolete. Yes, your guess is right. Car manufacturers are changing to the fast track into electric, which will increase demand for electric energy and power delivered to our doorsteps. Electric grids which supply energy to homes in developed countries, can only provide enough power for 10% of homes, which are charging electric cars simultaneously. Yes, we know the solution: HEMS.

Robotina ROX revised its plans. First, we changed the date when our platform will be operational and available to September 2021, but more importantly we are adding functionality to HEMS and platform, which will contribute to even better usage of the above explained changes in the electric energy world. We are excited about what the future is bringing us and we look forward to continuing our leadership in empowering people.

Thank you for being with us.

                                                                                         Devid Palčič, CEO