Free Electrons: Meet the partners and what they are looking for! (Part 2)

February 18, 2019

Free Electrons is a truly global accelerator backed up by an alliance of energy utilities, committed to supporting energy entrepreneurs and startups to transform the energy market with next-generation ideas.

Energias de Portugal (EDP)

EDP is an energy producer, distributor and retailer with around 12 million customers in Portugal, Spain and Brazil. EDP has 25GW of power production capacity of which 5GW is hydro and 10GW is wind. This makes EDP the 4th largest wind power producer in the world. The renewable power business is present in 14 countries including the US, Brazil, Spain and the UK.

What are they looking for?

  • Renewable power and distributed energy resources;
  • Electric cars;
  • Data management and AI;
  • Digitization processes.

Opening up the utility world to the startups, providing them with a global customer base, accelerating deal execution with the utilities, that’s what Free Electrons is all about. I can’t think of a better opportunity for a startup operating in this space.

Luis Manuel
Executive Board Member,
EDP Innovation

innogy New Ventures LLC

innogy SE is a European energy company, offering sustainable and innovative energy solutions. With its three business areas of renewables, grid & infrastructure as well as retail, it addresses the requirements of a modern, decarbonized, decentralized and digital energy world.

What are they looking for?

  • Solutions active in the data space.

We started Free Electrons because there is a deep need in our industry to access and source innovation. Free Electrons, therefore, has a very transaction-oriented approach – generating deals between startups and corporates is the prime objective of Free Electrons. We assembled a unique consortium of innovative utilities that spend billions every year in running and transforming energy systems globally.

Florian Kolb
Managing Director,
Innogy New Ventures LLC

Origin Energy

Origin is an Australian integrated energy solutions provider with leading positions across energy retailing, power generation and natural gas production. Origin has a rapidly growing renewable energy portfolio and was the world’s first energy company to adopt all seven ‘We Mean Business Coalition’ initiatives, joining a worldwide group of non-government organizations, signatory companies and institutional investors committed to leadership on climate change.  Origin is also scaling up its capabilities in digital metering and data and analytics to create more innovative and differentiated energy solutions for its millions of customers.

What are they looking for?

  • Renewable energy;
  • Data-based technology.

Origin sees the enormous potential of combining the best ideas with those companies capable of delivering them at significant scale. By leveraging all the expertise of the many partners involved we are confident extraordinary outcomes will be reached.

Anthony Lucas
Executive General Manager, Future Energy and Business Development,
Origin Energy

SP Group

SP Group is a leading energy utility group in the Asia Pacific. It owns and operates electricity and gas transmission and distribution businesses in Singapore and Australia, and district cooling businesses in Singapore and China. SP Group is committed to providing customers with reliable and efficient energy utility services. More than 1.4 million industrial, commercial and residential customers in Singapore benefit from SP Group’s world-class transmission, distribution and market support services. These networks are amongst the most reliable and cost-effective worldwide. For more information, please visit spgroup.com.sg follow us on Facebook

What are they looking for?

  • New areas of energy transformation and transition;
  • New technologies and new business models for their customers, that allow them to reduce costs.

SP Group is committed to providing high quality, sustainable lifestyle for customers. We are excited to partner respected international utilities and experienced accelerators, who have extensive innovation and R&D experience, to support promising start-ups around the world. Together we can develop transformational energy solutions to provide customers with more choices, and help them to save energy and costs.

May Liew
Vice President, Strategic Development,
SP Group

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO)

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TSE: 9501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is the largest utility in Japan serving millions of homes and businesses. Worldwide the company has more than 43 subsidiaries and 19 affiliates in 4 countries and employs approximately 41,525 people. Consolidated revenue for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, totaled 5.8 trillion Japanese yen. The company was established in 1951 and is listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

What are they looking for?

  • New technologies;
  • New business models;
  • Transmission and distribution;
  • Renewable energies.

TEPCO is excited to work with all of the global utilities and startups participating in the Free Electrons program. We value the opportunity to learn from their innovative business models and technologies, and hope to leverage these learnings for the benefit of our customers.

Takafumi Anegawa
President of TEPCO Research Institute,
TEPCO