Free Electrons 2020 has more than 850 applications from worldwide startups
This is the highest number of applications since the program was started. In all, startups from 86 countries have applied, including 14 from Portugal. The 36 selected for the virtual bootcamp to take place at the end of March have been selected by now.
Free Electrons, the first global program connecting the most promising startups with giant companies in the energy sector, received a total of 857 startup applications from 86 countries for the 2020 edition, including 14 applications from Portugal. The largest number of applications came from the United States with 105 applications, followed by the United Kingdom (44), Germany (41), India (37), Australia (34) and Brazil (32).
Among the applications registered, 50% are related to energy management, 46% to clean energy, 41% to smart grids and 21% to customer solutions, among other categories.
Now that the application process is closed, the 36 startups will have the opportunity to present their project to 10 international utilities in a bootcamp to be held at the end of March, now in an online format due to the corona virus outbreak.
Among these startups is Tesselo which is based in Portugal. It was founded in 2017 and combines the use of satellite images and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide real-time information in fields such as agriculture, forestry, and infrastructure - thus solving environmental challenges. Startups from 17 other countries join Tesselo to look for a place in module 1, to be held in June, in Sydney, Australia.
As founder of the program, EDP has already developed 18 pilot projects and invested around 11 million euros in 6 startups during 3 years. "We have tried to combine EDP's strengths with the capabilities that startups have to develop tools and this combination is reflected in the investments we make," explains Carla Pimenta, Director of EDP Innovation.
She also emphasized that the expectations for this year's edition of Free Electrons are running high. "After receiving a record number of applications, we decided to increase the number of startups in the bootcamp, which means that we will have more energy projects presented to the utilities that are part of the program," she said.
Since 2017, Free Electrons has received more than 2300 applications and investments were made in more than 100 pilot programs while about 20 million euros were invested in startups. Together, the utility companies have about 80 million customers and are present in more than 40 countries.
List of 36 startups selected for the bootcamp
BluWave-ai | Canada
Hearth Labs | United States
Netobjex Inc | United States
Shifted Energy | United States
Enerbrain | Italy
Future-Grid | Australia
IND Technology | Australia
energyX Solutions Inc. | Canada
Ghost Robotics Corporation | United States
MEAZON SA | Greece
Chargetrip | Netherlands
fos4X GmbH | Germany
Gridio.io | Estonia
FlexiDAO | Spain
Green Eagle Solutions SL | Spain
NET2GRID BV | Netherlands
Tesselo | Portugal
Ripple Energy | United Kingdom
Sedicii | Ireland
Zaphiro Technologies SA | Switzerland
Skylab Analytics | Netherlands
Soraytec AS | Norway
TWAICE | Germany
Allume Energy | Australia
Disruptive Technologie | Norway
H2 Energy Now | Israel
RedGrid | Australia
TEGnology | Denmark
75F India | India
AMPLY Power, Inc. | United States
FLITE Material Sciences Corp | Canada
PDP-Technologies | Israel
UIB | Singapore
ShieldIOT | Israel
Vutiliti | United States
Vyntelligence | United Kindgom
Program structure
The 2020 edition of Free Electrons will be divided into three global modules: the first, in Sydney, Australia, in June; the second, in São Paulo, Brazil, in September; and the third and final module will take place in Singapore, in October, where the big winner will be known receiving a prize of 200 thousand dollars.
Companies participating in Free Electrons
The founding members of Free Electrons are Ausnet Services (Australia), DEWA (Dubai), EDP (Portugal), ESB (Ireland, Innogy (Germany), Origin Energy (Australia), SP Group (Singapore) and Tokyo Electric Power Company ( Japan).
In 2018, American Electric Power (USA) and CLP (Hong Kong) joined the program. Free Electrons is supported by the Portuguese Beta-i.
Check the Free Electrons website for more information.