The third edition of Free Electrons has finalists already. The international program for energy startups has just announced the 15 companies that will take part in the final in Lisbon, which will take place in September. The prize for the winner will be 200,000 dollars.

Two of the selected startups are Spanish, Carto and Dexma. The first one, which after its growth has been installed in the US, develops a platform for the treatment and visualization of geospatial data. Dexma, on the other hand, focuses its innovative project on the development of a management and energy efficiency software.

Both companies were selected among the 481 startups that were initially registered in the program. Of these, only 30 participated in intensive training sessions in Dublin (Ireland), where they had to present a pilot project to be developed jointly with the 10 companies in the sector that support this program, including EDP. Finally, the organizers selected the 15 companies that presented the innovative solutions with the highest potential for the energy sector.

According to Luis Sanz, Carto’s managing director, Free Electrons “is a great opportunity for establishing relationships and working directly with other people and companies with which we share the objective of promoting the use of location intelligence in the energy sector”.

Dexma’s R&D director, Miguel Cruz, has emphasized that participating in this program “will allow us to adapt and validate our new energy-saving product based on artificial intelligence. Moreover, it allows us to work with 10 of the main energy companies in the world, so it is obviously an unprecedented opportunity for the internationalization of our company”.

The remaining companies come from countries such as Estonia, Germany, Portugal, China or the USA. All of them develop their projects in crucial areas for the energy sector, like energy storage, clean energies, client solutions or data analysis.

The next stage in the program consists of three international modules, where the startups and the companies will develop and strengthen their pilot projects. The first module will take place on May, in Columbus (Ohio); the second one will be on June in Hong Kong; the third one will be the program’s final, in Lisbon, where the winning company will be known, which will receive 200,000 dollars.

Free Electrons is an international program with the objective of joining energy-linked companies, which will boost the next generation of ideas in the energy sector. Through this program, these enterprises collaborate with companies in the sector, which add up to more than 80 million customers in 5 continents.

Finalist startups:

Akselos (Switzerland), Ambi Labs (Hong Kong), Carto (Spain – USA), Dexma (Spain), Enging (Portugal), Envelio (Germany), Energyworx (Netherlands), Ev.energy (UK), GridBeyond (Ireland), Heila (USA), Hygge Power (USA), Save 2 Compete (Portugal), Solandeo (Germany), Sensewaves (France) y WePower (Estonia).

Companies participating in Free Electrons:

The founding members are Ausnet Services (Australia), DEWA (Dubai), EDP, 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 in.

For more information: www.freetheelectron.com

Starter Acceleration Program

Parallel to Free Electrons, EDP has launched the call for the Starter Acceleration Program, a program in which all interested energy startups can register until May 6 at www.edpstarter.com/acceleration.