The Positive Energy+ platform has selected 14 projects from the 396 proposals received after the launch of its urgent call to tender last April. The proposals, which offer solutions to alleviate the economic and social impact of COVID-19, were presented at the Positive Energy+ Demo Day event, held virtually yesterday afternoon and organised by the corporations promoting the initiative: Enagás, Elewit, CLH, Iberdrola, bp, EIT InnoEnergy, Acciona, Capital Energy and DISA. The initiative is also supported by institutions such as Startup Olé, ASCRI, El Referente, Socios Inversores, Byld, Everis, Dentons, PKF Attest innCome and Pons IP.
The CEO of the organising companies participated in the meeting, which was inaugurated by the High Commissioner for España Nación Emprendedora, Francisco Polo, who wanted to highlight the value of this joint initiative because “the union is what has enabled us to overcome the most complicated phase of the health crisis and will also be essential in overcoming the economic and social impact that will be caused by the pandemic in Spain”. In this sense, he said that “Positive Energy represents the best of entrepreneurship in our country. I think it's a good thing, because it represents the best of Spanish society and the importance of uniting to meet the major challenges ahead”.
The 14 selected projects were presented by Spanish start-ups or scale-ups, with different degrees of maturity and professional background. They have passed a first phase in which the participating companies have analysed all the received proposals. In addition, the companies have also held interviews with the start-ups and scale-ups to evaluate their viability and maturity.
Several of the proposals address the main vectors of the new energy model and focus on decarbonisation, renewable energy, energy efficiency, storage, sustainable mobility and circular economy. These include, for example, an innovative solution to boost the generation of renewable energy through floating wind platforms; storage technology to allow greater penetration of renewables in the energy mix or another technology able to exploit any type of organic or inorganic waste by converting it into gas with a high hydrogen content.
Other proposals aim to contribute directly to mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and offer alternatives for dealing with the immediate future after the pandemic, such as an ecological disinfectant tunnel that does not use bleach derivatives; devices to clean the air of viruses and bacteria through the generation of atmospheric plasma; or transportable containers to produce medicinal oxygen from electrolysis. Specifically the start-ups/scale-ups submitting the proposals are: Solatom CSP S.L, Hybrid Energy Storage Solutions S.L, Pastoria Project, S.L, Nautilus Floating Solutions, S.L, PFT Engineering Development, Zubi New Ventures S.L, Egoa Energía, Light App SL, Cedrion Consultoría Técnica e Ingeniería S.L, OriGen.AI, Inc., Silbat Energy Storage Solutions, Graphene Solutions, Ariema Energía and Cedanjobs.
Positive Energy+ urgent call, a pioneering initiative in Spain, was launched on 7 April in search of projects that, from the energy side, would coordinate innovation as the main tool for boosting Spain's economic and social recovery after the COVID-19 crisis. In just thirteen days, the call received a total of 396 projects.
In the next phase, the participating companies in Positive Energy+ will complete their analysis and before the end of May each of them will enter into a collaboration agreement with at least one start-up/scale-up, which may, in some cases, be a joint venture by several corporations. The projects finally chosen will receive support from the companies for the development of the project through financing and/or by offering their innovation, investment, commercial development and structural tools to them.
The objective is that the start-ups/scale-ups with which participating companies reach an agreement start working in June to develop and implement their projects within a year, following the established calendar.