EDP is Changing Tomorrow Now

At EDP, we are creating a new energy system on the planet. More inclusive. Shared. Greener. We’re changing tomorrow now.

Our vision is to be a global energy company, leading the energy transition to create superior value, through the values of innovation, sustainability and humanization.

For EDP, it’s not just about powering communities, it’s about empowering our communities to live green and sustainable lives. We recently announced our Strategic Update for the period 2021-2025, with an unprecedented €24bn plan for investment in the energy transition. 80% of this investment will be in renewables, improving our portfolio across technologies – wind, solar, hydrogen and storage, with a commitment to deploy 4GW per year and double solar and wind capacity by 2025. The new plan will pave the way for the company to become coal-free by 2025 and carbon neutral by 2030.

To lead the energy transition, we will strengthen our focus on innovation while promoting a digital transformation, with special attention in accelerating new impactful businesses and promote faster adoption of innovative solutions. In line with this strategic focus, we’re seeking projects in seven categories: customer solutions, digital innovation, energy storage, clean energy, smart grids, access to energy and innovative internal processes.

Since co-founding Free Electrons, in 2017, the program has been a vital tool for EDP to solve some of the biggest challenges in the energy industry, through open-collaboration partnerships with some of the most innovative startups around the globe. This is demonstrated by our pipeline of 24 pilot-projects, 7 rollouts and 12 VC investments which, combined, represent a total of €27M in deals with startups and SMEs from the program. Here are few examples of successful partnerships from the past editions:

• Vyntelligence: Pilot-project, investment and rollout. Vyntelligence, the Free Electrons ’20 winner, has completed 3 different stages of engagement with EDP, delivering intelligent field operations with its short-video, AI and Advanced Analytics platform to EDP Comercial.
  
• Chargetrip: EDP Comercial has partnered with Chargetrip to develop a routing engine that calculates the best route to an EV user’s destination, with the optimal charging stations in between. A solution that makes possible, for EV owners, the better planning of their trips.
  
• Energyworx: working with E-REDES, the Portuguese DSO, to develop an Energy Data Management (EDM) system that will enable a more efficient storage, management, validation and certification of energy measurement data.
• NET2GRID: development partnership that allows for real-time access to data and to increase data granularity from the smart meters with a factor of 1,000. The Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) technology is giving EDP customers insights in energy consumption and efficiency of individual appliances, without the need for sub metering.
• Tesselo: E-REDES, the Portuguese DSO, is using Tesselo’s satellite imagery solution to identify vegetation species and to calculate growth speed, tree health and height analysis.

Startups taking part in Free Electrons have the chance to work closely with the world’s leading utilities to refine their company’s solutions and explore options to jump-start their company’s growth. With EDP in particular, you will work with the 4th largest wind power producer in the world and the largest electricity generator in Portugal that produces, distributes, and supplies power to over 9 million customers across 21 countries and has more than 24GW of power production capacity, where about 74% of which come from renewable sources. We’re also proud to be one of the most sustainable integrated utilities in the world in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Through EDP Starter, EDP continuously sources for collaboration with startups and SMEs, promoting non-stop discussions with different Business Units, across all the geographies where the Group operates. For this, over the last several years, we have developed a proven fast-track collaboration model for startups to quickly proceed with their pilot and rollout contracts within EDP. If selected, you will be able to trial your solutions at a large scale and to refine your solutions with key insights from our energy, innovation & technology experts, with several years of experience in the industry. You will also have the chance to attract investment from our corporate venture arm, EDP Ventures.

Free Electrons connects startups and SMEs with some of the largest utility companies in the world and industry experts, exposing them to invaluable knowledge and a great network, helping them to scale internationally. This program is beyond an accelerator, it’s about deal opportunities and the number of pilots and investments are the evidence of the amazing results we are achieving with this unique program.
Carla Pimenta, Head of Startup Engagement at EDP.

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