EBN member Consorzio Arca has been selected by Enel, the world’s largest producer of renewable energy, as the partner for scouting and supporting innovative teams operating in the field of renewable energies. The teams selected will have the opportunity to scale-up their solution and their business in cooperation with this global company, and use the Catania Enel Innovation Hub’s facilities in Passo Martino, in Sicily, for the design, implementation and testing of their systems.

The aim of this global call is to select innovative projects pertaining to one or more Enel technological priorities in the field of renewable energy and, in particular:

• New module technologies for solar generation
• Components and devices for optimizations of the performances of renewable plants
• Automation and artificial intelligence for construction and maintenance of renewable plants
• Hybrid generation systems from renewable sources
• PV Floating solutions
• New technologies and augmented reality for increased safety and operations improvement
• Innovative digital services for energy (IoT, Big Data Analytics, Predictive and automatic O&M)
• Distributed Energy Resources Aggregation – Fog/Edge Computing – Machine Learning

The innovative solution proposed must have a solid technical and scientific background and it should have been already demonstrated, even at a preliminary stage, in an operational environment. Thus, the expected technology readiness level is mid to high (from 6 to 8). Nevertheless, even ready-to-market innovative technologies can be considered for a partnership with Enel Group.

Companies interested in the initiative can submit their projects on the www.openinnovability.enel.com platform

Apply by November 15

What happens next?

The awarded teams will access to Enel's technology and knowledge and will have a unique scale up opportunity on Enel’s business divisions. Enel will also offer co-working space in Enel’s Innovation Lab in Catania and a dedicated acceleration service, if needed to speed up the company growth. The acceleration programme has been entrusted to scale-up experts of Arca business incubator.

Innovators from non-EU countries will be supported to access the Start-up VISA programme by the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development.

Applying, why not?

The SMEs and startups selected will be able to grow within the laboratory of the Enel Innovation Hub in Catania, with the support of highly specialised technicians and using laboratories specially designed to test innovative technologies in the renewable generation field, such as solar thermal and photovoltaic systems, microgrids, storage and wind power, with indoor and outdoor testing equipment. In addition, companies will have access to Enel's network to identify strategic partnerships in order to further develop their businesses. Start-ups on the other hand will have the opportunity to access to an Enel acceleration programme, with training sessions with industry experts and support services for international expansion, growth, access to finance and strategic planning.

This initiative is part of the broader investment programme of more than 100 million euros that Enel has launched in its Sicilian technology hub. The project envisages the investment of more than 80 million euros in the 3Sun photovoltaic manufacturing plant and 20 million euros in the Innovation Lab. Thanks to the new investment, the Innovation Lab will become a technology campus and an innovative business accelerator designed to stimulate research and innovation in the energy sector. It will host start-ups and SMEs, national and international research centres and will have links with Enel's Innovation Hub network around the world, becoming a meeting place for excellence in innovative technologies.

For further information please send an email to enelinnovationhub@consorzioarca.it. Preliminary evaluation of your solution is also available!