Portuguese start-up among the 12 Free Electrons finalists
451 start-ups from 51 countries were registered for the World Start-ups Acceleration Programme
The 12 innovative energy companies that will participate in the Free Electrons Global Start-ups Acceleration Programme have been chosen. Following a detailed analysis and a vote by all the utilities involved, twelve of the 451 registered start-ups have been selected - four from the USA, two from Israel and one from each of the following countries: Portugal, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and India.
The 12 start-ups will now start their participation in the three acceleration modules, lasting one week and focused on innovation for utilities. The three modules will be delivered in San Francisco/Silicon Valley, Lisbon/Dublin and Singapore. The first module takes place in May in Silicon Valley and the 12 selected start-ups will participate in workshops and meetings with the utilities where they will develop their projects further.
BeOn Energy, the Portuguese finalist, markets microinverters. Microinverters are used to transform direct current into alternating current in order to inject the energy produced by solar panels into the grid. The inversion process involves providing alternating voltage (200V / 60Hz, for example) or alternating current at the inverter output, using continuous voltage / current as the supply (for example a photovoltaic solar panel).
BeOn Energy currently supplies microinverters to EDP which includes them in its solar supply; it is also the start-up of the EDP Inovação ecosystem that sells most products to the group.
The winning Free Electrons start-up will win a cash prize of 200,000 dollars and will be announced by the end of the year.
The 12 finalists by area:
Smart Grid
E-Mobility
Clean Energy
Energy Management
Cyber Security
About Free Electrons
In January, EDP joined seven other utilities from countries such as Australia, Singapore, Germany, USA and UAE to establish the consortium to launch the World Start-ups Acceleration Programme. Free Electrons seeks to recruit start-ups connected with energy to drive the next generation of ideas in clean energy, energy efficiency, electric mobility, digital technology and customer services on-demand.
The Free Electrons programme was started by eight international utilities: AusNet Services, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), ESB (Electricity Supply Board), EDP (Energias de Portugal), innogy, Origin Energy, Singapore Power (SP) and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), with the support of two accelerator partners, New Energy Nexus and Swissnex San Francisco.
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