How we can produce clean energy in the future and the e-mobility boom has put the energy sector at the center of attention. Austria is a pioneer in Europe in terms of green energy and creative energy solutions. Startups play an important role in these developments, and the #chick challenge takes the most exciting new energy projects to the stage.
Erste Bank and Sparkassen, Trending Topics and 4Gamechangers are also looking for the next major energy startup in Austria’s largest startup competition. At a pitch on Tuesday, March 12, at the Cinema Paradiso in St. Pölten and supported by Tecnet and Accent, 8 startups will pitch in front of a top-class jury. The winner of the pitch will receive a prize of € 1,000 and enter the finals of the # believing Challenge as part of the 4Gamechangers Festival on April 9th in Vienna.
These energy startups start in St. Pölten:
Awattar
Awattar is a young Viennese electricity provider that offers an hourly variable price. This is to encourage customers to bring their electricity consumption into line with natural production: the tariff is lower in sunny and windy hours. A surplus can also lead to negative prices, which are passed on to the customer. Simon Schmitz and Peter Votzi founded Awattar in 2014.
Compressed Air Energy Storage
The production of green electricity is strongly weather dependent and therefore fluctuates. That’s why energy storage is becoming increasingly important. Compressed air storage would be an environmentally friendly and efficient solution. However, the method is still too expensive to be used economically.
Doro turbine
The Graz start-up Doro Turbine wants to make hydropower economically possible, even at lower heights, and thereby exploit untapped potential. This is made possible by a water wheel with a new mechanism of action, the hydrostatic pressure. Each turbine could be used to power up to 800 households in domestic communities.
FISHCON
Fishcon has developed a fish trap that, thanks to an innovative interconnection, can restore the continuity of water and also uses the guiding stream to generate energy. In the connecting pipe from the upper water to the underwater there is a turbine for this purpose. At the end of 2018, the first FFG pilot plant was installed in Austria.
Greenwell
The Viennese startup Greenwell wants to use well-funded oil and gas wells to deliver environmentally friendly heat. For this purpose, they will be converted to geothermal wells. In addition, the start-up company is also planning the land around the old oil or gas extraction probes for an infrastructure that is geothermally heated – such as glasshouses. Customers lease this infrastructure including the heat.
LimeCam
The startup LimeCam has dedicated itself to a niche important to municipalities: the renewal of street lighting. This is commonly associated with high investment, but can also bring high savings. To plan a renewal efficiently, LimeCam has developed its own measurement method. An optical multi-sensor measuring system delivers a meaningful report in one pass, which serves as a planning aid for necessary maintenance or for a new installation.
Ourpower.coop
Ourpower wants a digital marketplace for renewable energy from small scale facilities such as solar, wind and small power plants. Electricity should be traded regionally across the marketplace without large energy companies – between neighbors and friends. It is also possible to become part of the Energy Cooperative only as a consumer.
XL Operations
XLO’s goal is to minimize the huge use of resources in the oil and gas industry. The focus is on the goal of optimizing land use in shale gas projects. To this end, XLO is developing an integrated planning platform that ensures a smooth and efficient planning process for major oil and gas projects.
Also published on Medium.