Virta and Zero Hertz Systems competed for victory at Cleantech Venture Day in London on 31 October.
Back in March 2018, the Smart Energy Innovation Challenge by Grid.vc, Nord Pool, Fingrid, Lahti Energia and Nordic Innovation Accelerator called for ideas on smart energy usage without the formation of demand clusters.
Their call was open to all fields of innovation, such as electric mobility, market mechanisms, smart grid systems and demand response – and it was answered by 24 high-quality applications from eight different countries.
The top 10 companies were invited to pitch at the Cleantech Venture Day Lahti, Finland, in June in front of a panel of corporate judges and a full house of smart energy executives and financiers.
Nicholas Sharaf from Nord Pool AS, Europe’s leading power market, commented: “The range of entries we received for this competition, from research teams taking their first steps to commercialise their idea, to international companies with several dozens of employees, made the challenge of selecting a winner all the more interesting.”
During the months leading up to the competition final in London, the shortlisted teams were able to further develop their ideas and business models with the help of world-class mentors. From the Top 10 companies Virta and Zero Hertz Systems were selected to pitch at the Cleantech Venture Day London on 31 October, competing for the challenge victory.
The winner was Zero Hertz Systems Oy, based in Lappeenranta, Finland, which develops direct current technology for electricity distribution networks. As their prize Zero Hertz will receive a consulting package from Nord Pool, aiding them in commercialising and further developing their idea, as well as a one-year licence to use Nord Pool’s data services.
Congratulating Zero Hertz, competition judge Jaakko Isotalo from Grid.vc, said: “The technology developed by Zero Herts Systems makes it possible to scale-up microproduction, storage and the self-sufficiency of distribution networks thus improving their stability significantly and cost-effectively.”
The Top 10 finalists in the 2018 Smart Energy Innovation Challenge were: 3A, Bubble, Cation Ltd, DEPsys, Greenbird, GreenPocket, Virta Ltd, VoltStorage GmbH, Xigrid Technology, and Zero Hertz Systems.
About Nord Pool
Nord Pool, Europe’s leading power market, delivers efficient, simple and secure trading across Europe. The company offers day-ahead and intraday trading, clearing and settlement to customers regardless of size or location. Today 380 companies from 20 countries trade on Nord Pool’s markets.
Nord Pool operates markets in the Nordic and Baltic regions, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and the UK. Nord Pool is a Nominated Electricity Market Operator (NEMO) in 15 European countries, while also servicing power markets in Croatia and Bulgaria. In 2017 Nord Pool had a total turnover of 512 TWh traded power. The company has offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, London and Berlin.
Nord Pool has 25 years of power market experience built on offering flexibility, transparency, innovation, greater choice and participation to our customers.
Lysaker, 12 November 2018
For further information, please contact:
Nicholas Sharaf, +358 40 7420717, [email protected]
Choose quarter
{{ group.year }}
- ({{ period.count }})