AMPnet Wins PowerUp! Croatia Final; HEP to Invest in 500 Solar Project

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AMPnet Wins PowerUp! Croatia Final; HEP to Invest in 500 Solar Projects

Date: April 2^nd 2019

Author: Tanja Srnovršnik

Category: En.vision

Topic: Renewables , New technologies , Economy

In the PowerUp! 2019 country final in Croatia, the final leg of a competition for startups engaging in sustainable energy, the AMPnet financial platform for new or existing energy cooperatives, a project developed by AMPnet IO, Croatia, has been announced the winner among nine shortlisted startups. At the event on Saturday, the director of HEP Opskrba, Tina Jakaša, announced that the Croatian utility Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP) would invest around HRK 30 million (EUR 4.04 million) in 500 solar power projects.

Providing services to energy cooperatives, the AMPnet platform focuses on an alternative model of selling electricity (by working with a power exchange) and financing renewable energy sources. According to Mislav Javor of AMPnet, the product is ready to enter the market and has already won its first clients, said Invento Capital Partners, the co-organiser of the event in Zagreb alongside InnoEnergy, the largest energy innovation engine in Europe, after the Croatian final of PowerUp! in Zagreb.

“The winner of InnoEnergy’s PowerUp! competition, AMPnet is a team with a flexible product. The startup has already demonstrated its ability to make changes in the market, get in contact with potential clients, and attract investors. Therefore, all the team needs is additional encouragement to reach the point where it can start expanding across Europe and, ultimately, the United States,” said one of the judges, Stevica Kuharski (Fil Rouge Capital).

The winner gets to participate in the Grand Final in Krakow on 21st May, where it will be in the running for financial prizes and an opportunity to join Highway®, InnoEnergy’s prestigious business accelerator programme offering access to an international network of prospective business partners, wide-ranging InnoEnergy expertise, and financial investment up to EUR 150,000. This year’s fifth edition of the PowerUp! competition sees participation of nearly 300 start-ups from 24 Central-Eastern European countries. The Slovenian 2019 final will be held on Thursday, 4 April, at 4 pm on the Ljubljana Castle (MORE).

HEP to introduce a new product: HEPI Solar

One of the speakers at the Croatia final in Zagreb was the Director of the Croatian energy supply company HEP Opskrba, Tina Jakaša. Speaking about the EU’s energy vision, Jakaša said the four strategic areas for the accomplishment of the climate neutrality goal by 2050 were decentralisation, decarbonisation, digitalisation, and democratisation. According to Jakaša, joint action is required in seven strategic areas: circular economy, deployment of renewables, infrastructure (smart grids), aggregation, carbon capture and storage, e-mobility and energy efficiency.

With regard to renewables, she said wind and solar were already mature and cost-effective technologies. Earlier this year, Croatia brought into force a new law that enables net-metering for households.

Meanwhile, HEP is in the process of launching a new product. HEPI Solar will provide personalised solar analysis to establish the right size of a solar plant for each client, and offer advice on project financing. Additionally, the company will invest around HRK 30 million in 500 solar projects in households. According to Jakaša, the public call for proposals will be launched later this month.

Digitalisation has a very important role in the energy transformation, noted Jakaša. In 2017, HEP developed HEPI Trader, a new service and software solution that large customers can use to manage their electricity procurement (MORE).

This article is available also in Slovene.