Women’s Entrepreneurship Day: women leading the transformation of the energy sector
Nov 19, 2024
Committed
Energía Positiva+ and Ingenia Energy Challenge receive hundreds of proposals aimed at defining the energy sector of the future while mitigating the economic and social impact of COVID-19
Could it be that the coronavirus has brought about the perfect scenario for the creation of a direct pathway to decarbonisation? During our lockdown period, we witnessed how the planet responded positively and quickly to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The European authorities have strengthened their support for policies that promote decarbonisation efforts and the large energy companies have been multiplying their efforts in innovation and technological development to bring about the adoption and widespread use of new energies.
Entrepreneurs also have a prominent place in this scenario. Many experts believe that times of crisis present ideal situations for entrepreneurship because small businesses adapt better to change and are more flexible in the face of adverse circumstances. However, COVID-19 has also affected this sector. Despite the fact that ideas and desire remain unchanged, uncertainty has put the brakes on financial backing.
In the light of this situation, the leading energy companies have set to work. A clear example is the Energía Positiva+ platform, an urgent initiative whose aim is to contribute to mitigating the economic and social impact of COVID-19 from the energy perspective and through innovation.
Energía Positiva+, which is backed by Enagás, Red Eléctrica, CLH, Iberdrola, BP, EIT InnoEnergy, Acciona, Capital Energy and DISA, is open to other energy companies with tools for investment, innovation, commercial and/or structural development tools to offer immediately to entrepreneurs and start-up and scale-up businesses.
In April, the platform received almost four hundred proposals in less than two weeks. Of these, 140 were submitted by newly created companies and 217 were proposals for late-stage start-ups that currently have a turnover of up to one million euros per year.
Twelve projects will finally be selected. These will eventually be received support from one of the project’s backers and receive between 100,000 and three million euros in funding in order to move forward.
The start-ups and scale-ups focusing on social impact in response to COVID-19, decarbonisation, renewable energies, energy efficiency, storage, sustainable mobility and the circular economy, are: Solatom CSP, S.L.; Hybrid Energy Storage Solutions S.L. (HESSTEC); Pastoria Project, S.L.; Nautilus Floating Solutions, S.L.; PFT Engineering Development; Light App, S.L.; Cedrion Consultoría Técnica e Ingeniería, S.L.; Ariema Energía; Cedanjobs (with its product Purefy); Voltaware Services Limited; BeePlanet Factory, S.L.; and Batterycare, S.L.
Several of these 12 projects were considered to be of interest to Enagás and some of them have seen significant progress made in the process to provide support or investment. In the field of social impact and the fight against COVID-19, for example, progress is being made to allow testing of the technology developed by Cedrion Consultoría Técnica e Ingeniería, which is a system for eliminating viruses and bacteria present in the air and on surfaces through the generation of atmospheric plasma. In the field of energy, progress has also been made with Solatom CSP and its solar concentration technology to generate heat for industrial processes.
Energía Positiva+, which is backed by Enagás, Red Eléctrica, CLH, Iberdrola, BP, EIT InnoEnergy, Acciona, Capital Energy and DISA, is open to other energy companies with tools for investment, innovation, commercial and/or structural development tools to offer immediately to entrepreneurs and start-up and scale-up businesses.
Enagás is one of the companies backing the initiative through Enagás Entrepreneurship, its open innovation and corporate venturing vehicle for investment in and acceleration of innovative start-ups and scale-ups, and technologies in the field of energy transition and decarbonisation, with particular emphasis on renewable gases (biogas and green hydrogen), sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, digitalisation and cleantech in general.
Enagás Entrepreneurship has 12 start-ups in its portfolio and has recently completed the Ingenia Energy Challenge, an initiative to support innovation projects that promote energy transition and decarbonisation, with 116 ideas received.
“While some see the glass as half full and others as half empty, the entrepreneurs go to fetch water,” said Marcelino Oreja, the Enagás CEO, on the day the Energía Positiva+ platform was officially presented.
Now is the time to drive these projects towards a sustainable future that will benefit society as a whole. For the first time in Spain, at a difficult time, the country’s leading energy companies have managed to join forces in order to support talent.