Nine hydrogen and renewable energy startups make the cut for EDP’s Energy Starter in Singapore

Global energy company EDP has chosen nine startups with renewable and green hydrogen projects to take part in its Energy Starter, an open innovation program created to accelerate energy transition on a global scale.

According to EDP, the selected startups will advance to the boot camp of the program, which will be held April 16-18 in Singapore, marking the first time EDP hosts an open innovation event in the APAC region.

The startups coming from Australia, Singapore, the USA, Norway, Israel, and the Netherlands are part of the second module of EDP’s Energy Starter program.

After a first module dedicated to solutions for the electrical grids of the future, this second phase looks for startups with disruptive ideas that could be applied to renewable energy and green hydrogen, strategic areas for the energy sector and EDP’s growth, the company explained.

The aim is to help achieve the expansion targets for renewables and accelerate their deployment, especially in sectors of activity where decarbonization is more complicated. Green hydrogen, a fast-growing technology, is also an area of focus. EDP maintains its strategic goal of investing in projects that will guarantee a further 1.5 GW capacity by 2030.

During the boot camp, the chosen startups will have the opportunity to work together with several EDP experts to accelerate the development of pilot projects and businesses. In addition, the startups will have access to potential financial support and the experience and network of EDP Ventures, the EDP’s venture capital area.

The SunGreenH2 startup focused on developing high-performance nanostructure materials to enable affordable green hydrogen for wide-scale adoption is among the selected nine projects. The remaining startups cover autonomous technologies, inspections of solar plants and wind farms, digital twin technology, AI, and data analytics.

“At EDP, innovation is not just a strategic advantage, it is essential to the energy transition. Through our EDP innovation program, Energy Starter, we actively seek out new technologies, startups, groundbreaking ideas and projects. We harness the power of these new technologies to accelerate our progress towards achieving our ambitious targets,” said Tomás Moreno, Head of Innovation Ecosystem at EDP.

“It’s the first time we’ve held the bootcamp in Asia. EDP is looking for innovative technologies globally and wants to deepen its presence in more dynamic ecosystems, such as Japan, South Korea and India.”

Last year, EDP joined forces with Spanish energy company Cepsa to boost the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley, said to be the largest green hydrogen project in Europe promoted by Cepsa.

The partners will study the joint production of green hydrogen as part of the project of up to 1 GW in the Bay of Algeciras in the framework of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley project, including the supply of renewable electricity and possible collaboration to produce sustainable marine fuels.

The agreement will facilitate the conversion of EDP’s thermal power plant in Los Barrios, Cádiz, into a green hydrogen plant.

EDP is also a member of the BEHYOND consortium which launched a joint project to develop a conceptual engineering and economic feasibility study for an offshore system for green hydrogen production from offshore wind power in 2021.