The World's largest program on energy transition
Free Electrons
The ultimate energy transition innovation program has been around since 2017. It is also a perfect example of collaboration, as it reunites energy utilities from all over the world to connect with top startups. This is a multi-partner open innovation program where challenges are shared and focused on the same industry.
By fostering partnerships, the program accelerates innovation, time to market, and peer collaboration, enabling utilities and startups to share successful use cases and uncover synergies in areas like energy efficiency, smart grids, electrification, and sustainable fuels.
Every year, the Free Electrons partners update the challenges they want to tackle and open the call to the best startups and their solutions.
Next Generation
Renewables
Energy
Management/ Data
Asset
Optimisation
Thermal
Solutions
Grid Planning,
Optimisation and Stability
Energy
Storage
Connected & Engaged
Customers (B2B and B2C)
Mobility & Transport
Electrification
Key Results
Pilot Projects
Countries
USD in Deals
Applications
Free Electrons
The Impact
Revolutionizing Green Energy Reporting
The collaboration between ESB and Granular Energy improved green energy reporting for businesses by offering hourly matched Guarantee of Origin (GOO) certificates. By linking data from ESB’s Carnsore wind farm with test customers’ hourly consumption, the project boosts accuracy in documenting green energy usage. It also tackles key challenges in Ireland’s energy sector, such as the demand for clean electricity and carbon emission management.
Enhancing Forecast Accuracy for Dams Optimization
Hydro-Québec teamed up with Salient Predictions to improve seasonal weather forecasting through a tool combining traditional models with AI. This hybrid tool helps predict water inflows to large dams and optimize energy transactions.
Optimizing With Dynamic Load Management
E.ON partnered with gridX to optimize EV charging through a dynamic load management solution using gridX’s platform. The AI-based system distributed charging power efficiently, increasing E.ON’s EV capacity without grid extensions. E.ON acquired a majority stake in gridX, and later on, the remaining shares, reinforcing its commitment to transforming the energy sector.
Guiding Investments for Higher Impact
Origin collaborated with the Australian startup Gridcog to enhance its Data & Analytics capabilities. Gridcog’s platform optimizes energy projects, guiding investments for better environmental and commercial returns. The solution has improved Origin’s data collection and provides a user-friendly interface for its C&I customers, supporting various teams across the utility.
Transforming Costumer Data Into Energy Insights
EDP partnered with NET2GRID to test NILM (Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring) technology, analyzing household energy consumption from smart meters. NET2GRID’s solution delivered detailed consumption breakdowns using standard 15-minute data. EDP invested strategically to scale the technology and expand its use beyond Europe. This collaboration supports utilities in shifting from low-margin commodity sales to high-margin, data-driven services, promoting a more efficient and sustainable energy future.
Rewarding Consumers for Energy Efficiency
Origin Energy worked with U.S. startup OhmConnect to bring demand response technology to Australia, rewarding users for reducing energy consumption during peak times. Through game-like incentives, the goal is to engage users, improving energy efficiency and grid stability. This collaboration led to the launch of Origin Spike in 2020, a rewards program encouraging customers to cut energy use during peak periods.
L&D Leading to a Custom Solution
The goal of the collaboration between Origin and Tempus was to help reduce energy costs and support decarbonization. Origin tested this technology at select sites to explore savings from load shifting. They developed a custom platform to manage distributed assets, enhancing decarbonization, grid stabilization, and personalized solutions for customers. As a result, Origin’s Virtual Power Plant now operates at 1.4 GW with over 400,000 connected services.
Revolutionizing EV Charging
E.ON Next teamed up with ev.energy to improve its EV customer offerings and create a competitive time-of-use tariff. They developed the Next Drive tariff, featuring one of the UK’s lowest off-peak rates at 4p per kWh between midnight and 4 am. Ev.energy supplied the technology, including a mobile app and APIs, to automate and optimize EV charging during these hours without needing extra hardware. E.ON Next Drive became a popular choice for UK EV drivers, providing substantial savings and a user-friendly app experience.
Optimizing Grid Reliability with AI Predictions
CLP Hong Kong partnered with Jungle.ai on a pilot project to improve power grid efficiency and reliability. Using machine learning algorithms, the initiative aimed to predict equipment failures and optimize maintenance schedules. This collaboration is part of CLP’s strategy to integrate advanced technology for sustainability, showcasing the transformative impact of AI on modern power systems.
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