Naturgy launches the fifth edition of its entrepreneur support program ‘Connecting Energy’

Naturgy launches the fifth edition of its entrepreneur support program ‘Connecting Energy’, which recognizes projects with an impact on the energy transition with a focus on sustainable innovation.

With ‘Connecting Energy’, the company supports the development and growth of projects that generate structural change in the energy system and contribute to the energy transition in areas such as efficiency and responsible consumption, renewable gases, sustainable mobility, circular economy, and waste management.

Naturgy offers financial support of €25,000 to one of the participating projects to validate its solution through a pilot within the company, and a second prize of €5,000 for the startup with the best progress during the program. In addition, the selected projects take part in a 6-month mentoring program that connects them with company professionals, who share their knowledge and extensive experience with the entrepreneurs, guiding them on sector needs and helping them through specialized training to develop their business plan, define their growth strategy, and gain the momentum they need to achieve their goals.

Jesús Chapado, Head of Innovation at Naturgy, highlights the value of the ‘Connecting Energy’ program as a driver of sustainable innovation. “Our aim is to develop an ecosystem that enables collaborative and open innovation, capable of responding quickly to signals of change in the environment,” says Chapado.

The goal of Naturgy with this program is to help and support entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs to consolidate their solutions with a positive impact on the environment, as a reflection of the company’s commitment to innovation and society.

A consolidated incubation program

Throughout its four previous editions, ‘Connecting Energy’ has contributed to accelerating projects of diverse kinds, ranging from technologies linked to operational efficiency to sustainable mobility solutions. This platform has incubated more than 40 startups through a team of over 50 mentors and specialists with experience across all areas of the energy sector value chain, enabling them to develop a business plan, create a proof of concept, or prototype their solution.

In the first edition, the winner was Clevergy, with a platform for retailers and installers that improves customer relations and centralizes operations. The second edition went to Evorgy, with a digital platform for operations and maintenance aimed at solar sector installers. In the third edition, the award was given to startup Calpech, for a project developing iron nanoparticles applied to environmental remediation and energy recovery.

Technology to reduce energy consumption in biogas plants

Last year, the winner of the fourth edition was the Seville-based startup Biomixing, an initiative created in 2022 as a spin-off from the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Fluid Mechanics at the University of Seville, focused on the optimization of bioreactors.

The project consists of a disruptive mixing system for bioreactors, with applications in sectors such as healthcare and energy. In the latter case, this technology can be used to reduce processing times and energy consumption in current biogas plants. After winning, Biomixing will work with Naturgy in a pilot plant to test its technology, although preliminary trials suggest a 50% reduction in energy consumption in renewable gas generation plants.

For Inés Herrero, Founder of Biomixing, “having a demonstrative pilot plant is a very important milestone for us, one that will mark a turning point in the biogas sector and allow us to continue developing technology applied to the field of biosolutions.”

The deadline for applications is October 19, and more information is available on the program’s website: https://www.naturgy.com/innovacion/nuestros-proyectos/connecting-energy/