Applications for the 5th edition of Free Electrons are open, the global program that allows the most promising energy startups to get to know, and work closely, with industry-leading utilities. Applications are open until March 29 and startups from all over the world can sign up. The final of this competition will take place in November, when the winning startup will be known and awarded a prize of 200 thousand dollars.

Free Electrons is a truly global program, focused on the possibilities of developing projects and businesses between startups and industry players, and aims to find solutions in the areas of clean energy, management, and energy efficiency, customer-friendly solutions, smart networks, energy communities, energy storage, energy access, mobility, costumer and public service’s resilience, goods and facilities management, and solutions for cooling and connectivity.

Since its first edition, Free Electrons has been responsible for the development of several partnerships between startups and utilities, with figures proving the success of this program. In four years, more than $100 million has already been invested in pilots, funding and businesses. Since it was created, this program has received more than 2300 applications, from which more than 130 startups of 17 nationalities have been selected.

The 5th edition of Free Electrons will last eight months and, depending on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic globally, may take a virtual or physical form. If startups acceleration modules can be carried out in person, program finalists will go through four locations: Melbourne, in Australia, Lisbon, in Portugal, Hong Kong, in China, and Dublin, in Ireland. 

EDP is working with seven startups who participated in the latest Free Electrons edition. In addition to Vyntelligence, which was last year’s winner, NET2GRID, Chargetrip, EnergyX, FlexiDAO, Soraytec and Tesselo have gained the interest of several of the group’s companies, that have been developing pilot projects with these startups since then. Through EDP Ventures, EDP also made investments in three of these startups: Tesselo, Vyntelligence and Net2Grid.

Free Electrons is promoted by a utilities consortium of AusNet Services (Australia), DEWA (Dubai), EDP (Portugal), ESB (Ireland), E-ON (Germany), Origin Energy (Australia), SP Group (Singapore), TEPCO (Japan), American Electric Power (USA) and CLP (Hong Kong). Free Electrons is supported by the Portuguese Beta-i.

Schedule of the program:
Applications: January 4 – March 29
Bootcamp Dubai: May 10 – 13
Module Melbourne: June 21 – 24
Module Lisbon: July 28 – 29
Module Hong Kong: September 22 – 23
Module Dublin (final): November 9 – 11

For more information and applications visit the Free Electrons website.

Source: https://www.edp.com/en/news/2021/02/03/edp-launches-5th-edition-free-electrons-program