New business unit of Eneco Group accelerates energy transition through innovation
Eneco Innovation & Ventures focuses on innovation and startups
Eneco Group launches new business unit that focuses entirely on innovative energy projects, partnerships and collaboration with energy startups. With the creation of Eneco Innovation & Ventures, the company wants to accelerates the transition to a sustainable energy supply. Responsibilities of the new business unit include collaboration with young partner companies such as Nerdalize, Peeeks and Sustainer Homes and the international introduction of the smart thermostat Toon® together with partner company Quby.
Jeroen de Haas, CEO of Eneco Group about this step: 'The energy world is changing faster than many people think. The current number of 200,000 households that generate their own energy increases by several hundred each day. At the same time, a fast growing number of Dutch citizens use electricity instead of gas or petrol for cooking, showering and driving. Tesla, as a new player on the energymarket, has developed a battery that can store excess solar energy. And Eneco’s smart thermostat Toon, which is installed in some 130,000 homes, is an excellent platform for providing our customers better understanding of and control over their energy consumption: energy management 2.0. The rapid advance of technology enhances the opportunities for realisation of our mission ‘sustainable energy for everyone’. Eneco is picking up the pace to take advantage of these opportunities and to accelerate the energy transition with technology as the main driving force.'
Innovation outside the energy sector
Hans Valk, until recently director of Eneco Consumers, manages the approximately 30 employees of Eneco Innovation & Ventures. Eneco seeks to collaborate with, in particular, young entrepreneurs in the field of energy. Hans: 'We notice that more and more innovative energy projects generating ground-breaking products and services are started by companies outside the energy sector. Companies that are creative and flexible, but do not yet have a revenue model or a market. At Eneco, we are experts in energy, have a wide business network and possess a lot of know-how in areas such as marketing, service and invoicing. Our successful collaboration with the developer of the Toon thermostat, Quby, demonstrates that we are able to put our views on synergy into practice. This is why we actively seek collaboration with a new generation of entrepreneurs who have good ideas that contribute to enhancing the sustainability of the energy supply.'
Investments
Eneco expects to invest some 100 million euros in innovation and startups over the next few years. Hans: 'This provides sufficient financial room to initiate pilot projects and to achieve our ambitions with respect to Toon. We keep a realistic perspective: not all initiatives are expected to cross the finish line. But the initiatives that do, shall definitely make a difference for our customers and for the energy transition.'