PowerUp! 2018: From Recycling for a Prize to Water for Energy and Gree

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PowerUp! 2018: From Recycling for a Prize to Water for Energy and Green Parking!

Date: June 20^th 2018

Author: Alenka Lena Klopčič, Praga

Category: En.vision

Topic: Renewables , New technologies

At this year’s PowerUp! competition, organised by Europe’s largest energy accelerator InnoEnergy, 15 energy startups presented their solutions. These were the winners of the country finals which took place in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Greece. The finalists were selected from 299 teams from the 24 Central European countries who applied to the PowerUp! competition. Their solutions ranged from peer-to-peer trading to smart(er) recycling, (energy) efficient and sustainable mobility (with applications in different areas of life and operation), the co-generation of energy and drinking water from waste water and the generation of drinking water from air. Energetika.NET attended Tuesday’s grand final in Prague as a media partner.

At the event, Powerex from Slovakia presented its P2P energy trading model, aimed at avoiding increasing costs in the distribution grid. It uses a platform which is based on electricity distributors and is already carrying out a demonstration project for a large energy company.

Meanwhile, Greece’s Recytrust is creating a disruption in business recycling, introducing into the office/workspace not only bins for separating waste, but also an application that allows the companies to measure the efficiency of waste separation of their employees, which makes them even more motivated to recycle. Recytrust’s 10-member team is already generating revenue from sales.

The field of recycling is also covered by Serbia’s Solagro, which presented its can crusher with an application that awards the user for their actions with a little gift. The team is generating revenues both from sales and from renting the devices, as well as from advertising on them, and have already entered some supermarkets and festivals.

Hungary’s Bes Europe, meanwhile, focuses not only on the significance of waste water, but also on using it to produce purified/drinking water, as well as electricity, which is either fed back into the grid or used on site. The global market potential is estimated at EUR 400 billion, whereas to start off, they need EUR 250,000.

The Croatian Mobile Vehicle Technology, on the other hand, requires EUR 300,000. The team combines the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to ensure energy savings in personal mobility, similarly as Zubax, the Estonian startup, which won the competition with its energy efficient motor control solution for aerospace applications.

The issue of the deterioration of diesel-fuelled machines and personal vehicles due to bad quality fuel was addressed by Diesel Express Tester, which is seeking EUR 250,000 to launch the production of its testers. The Czech Neuron Soundware, on the other hand, presented a diagnostic technology, aimed at corporations, which provides an early detection of broken devices/machines, thereby preventing complete shut-downs.

Meanwhile, Lithuania’s Wellparko focuses on a specific area of mobility – parking. It presented an advanced parking guidance system that provides parking slot availability in real-time. It is meant to be used in suitably equipped areas, such as public parking lots or car parks. At the moment, it is working on installing its system at one of the U.S. WholeFoods parking lots.

The problem of air pollution was tackled by Ukraine’s Hempire with its houses made of natural materials, primarily hemp. It offers upgrades for existing buildings using these materials and already has over 30 projects running and partners all over the world. It is seeking EUR 700,000 to increase its production.

Alternative materials are also the focus of Romania’s Craft Bicycle, which produces comfortable lightweight bamboo bicycles. It has already received an award for its work as part of the European Transport Innovation Challenge. This year, it sold 40 bicycles, costing EUR 900 each. The team requires EUR 120,000 to increase its production.

According to the Reengen team from Turkey, energy is the new internet. The startup offers energy internet as a new solution that combines different activities, from demand-side management to buildings management, and has already received an investment from Microsoft, among others.

Finally, Latvia’s Mazzy works on encouraging users to be more energy efficient by equipping them with smart meters and by basing its business model on subscriptions. The PowerUp! event also featured presentations from Poland’s Indoorway, a smart indoor platform for creating location-based experiences, and Slovenia’s myWater with a device which generates drinking water from air (MORE).

Read also Energetika.NET’s article on the winners of this year’s PowerUp! competition!

This article is available also in Slovene.