Deadline: 28-Jan-23
Applications for the 2023 Free Electrons Ultimate Open Innovation Program are now open.
The program will focus on working together to pilot projects, commercially deploy products, facilitate investment opportunities, learning and development. Join them in accelerating the clean energy transition.
In its 7th edition, utilities and startups have collaborated on over 150 pilots resulting in USD $20million in pilots, $30million in deployments and $30million in direct investment – total deals to date exceed USD $80million. They envision a future where smart, clean and accessible energy will transform every aspect of the lives and they’d like to join forces with startups to make this happen.
Challenges
Embracing its resolution through innovation, the selected startups for Free Electrons 2023 will be tackling the following challenges.
- Next Generation clean energy
- Distributed generation – micro/modular nuclear; modular CHP; solar + storage; feeder/community-level storage
- Long duration energy storage solutions with total installed costs <$100/kWh
- Mobile long duration energy storage solutions
- Innovative fuel cell technologies (e.g. small SOFC)
- Innovative sector coupling/seasonal storage technologies
- Energy management and efficiency
- Easy to use platforms to manage disparate energy generating assets and loads before and behind the meter to optimize energy efficiency
- Platform to trade energy offsets
- Sustainable Alternative Fuels and Carbon Management
- Modular Green/Blue hydrogen or alternate energy carriers that support seasonal storage and/or adjacent industry feedstock needs
- Innovative and scalable carbon accounting, reporting & visualization tools covering the whole supply chain
- Innovative negative emission technologies for carbon capture & removal for utility scale generation and/or industrial applications
- Innovative production technologies of low carbon hydrogen
- Hydrogen in transport (land, water, air)
- Smart grids and energy communities
- Virtual Power Plant/ Advanced demand side management – including technologies and service models that support residential, commercial or industrial applications that provide services, devices and connectivity for energy/peak awareness, automated energy conservation and market participation/monetization.
- Low-cost behind the meter solar and/or storage.
- Packaged reliability and resiliency enablers/solutions for residential, SMB, and commercial customers.
- Services/technologies that enable optimized planning, operation and maintenance of electricity- , gas- and district heating grid
- Green Heat Solutions for B2B and B2C
- Services and technologies to provide heat with a low or neutral contribution to CO2 emissions, eg biomass, solar and geothermal (including ambient heat from heat pumps).
- Services and technologies that enable residential/SME/industrial customers to reduce dependency on natural gas
- Services and solutions that enable increased efficiency in heat generation, utilization and storage; eg waste heat recovery technologies
- Technologies that enable green heat (eg steam) production at industrial order of magnitude and higher temperature levels
- Mobility Transport & Industry Electrification
- Services or technologies that support the customer lifecycle (awareness, consulting, engineering, procurement, financing/capital, ownership, maintenance) for fleet, commercial or industrial electrification
- Services or technologies that support energy efficiency as a service across commercial and industrial customers. Service and technology combinations can include unique approaches to reducing energy for decarbonization or cost savings.
- Services and technologies for electrification and fuel switching, beyond fleets that help industry achieve cost or carbon goals.
- Energy adjacent product or service offerings/models for promotion of electrification/ decarbonization and user experience in using/consuming non-carbon generation sources.
- Facility and asset management
- Disaggregation of loads for predictive/preventative maintenance.
- Solutions to help forecast grid impacts to extreme weather events
- Tools that enable the remote evaluation of buildings/assets (from single family homes, commercial buildings, city quarters to complex business/industrial sites) on energy reduction potentials
- Smart emissions reduction solutions for either municipalities or commercial & industrial customers
- Connectivity & Communication solutions
- Grid edge technologies including but not limited to smart inverters, telemetry, sensing and control
- Leveraging captive utility customers for new services beyond electric generation, transmission, and/or distribution
- Distributed energy resource aggregation as a service
- Other
- Innovative solutions for the “renovation challenge” -> making renovation faster, cheaper, easier and more efficient. Retrofit solutions for heating and cooling in buildings (a major component of the energy transition in the building sector is the renovation of existing buildings. This can be complex and often causes inconveniences for residents)
- Remote lead / potential identification and qualifications tools
- Acceleration of cost curve for Hydrogen Installations such as: Solutions for rapid learning across engineering/procurement/construction industry to understand risk to minimize risk factors in estimation; Solutions for rapid learning to provide cost effective deployment of hydrogen installations; and/or Solutions for rapid learning to optimize sequence of work
Why should startups join Free Electrons?
- The program includes a series of modules held across the globe (physically and digitally), where startups work closely with The Utilities, local accelerators and mentors to refine their company’s solution and explore options to jump start their company’s growth.
- Each module is structured to facilitate ongoing conversations between startups and utilities to refine value propositions, seed pilot projects, and explore investment opportunities.
- Free Electrons offers the chance for startups to:
- Test Solutions
- Test their solution in the energy sector in partnership with utilities
- Develop Pilots
- Develop a viable pilot side by side with the utilities
- Receive Feedback
- Receive input, feedback and insight into their product/service and business
- Gain Exposure
- Gain exposure to American, European and Asian markets
- Build Relationships
- Building relationships within the startup community to share learnings and experiences
- Grow Networks
- Grow their networks by immersing themselves in local and global ecosystems
- Contract and Receive Investment
- Opportunity to sell their products to utilities and seek investment from utilities. Deals to date exceed $20m
- Work with Open Innovation experts
- Work with open innovation partner Beta-i on strategy, approach and receive advice on pitching to corporates
- Access Mentors & Experts
- Access a global pool of mentors and experts matched to their unique requirements
- Test Solutions
Eligibility Criteria
- Looking for companies:
- located in Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia/NZ, Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America
- incorporated
- prototype, users or paying users stage
- have raised funding or not
- currently raising or not raising funds
- have revenue or not
- Startups will work alongside leading energy utilities from around the globe to deliver cutting edge solutions and co-create the future of energy.
- The Utilities are committed to supporting startups to transform the energy market with next-generation ideas. They are looking for startups that have already raised money, created a working prototype, and earned a few battle scars along the way that they can grow with and learn from.
- If you have applied to the previous edition of Free Electrons, you are still eligible to apply.
For more information, visit Free Electrons.