Free Electrons

Connecting startups with world leading energy utilities

Free Electrons, the ultimate Open Innovation program

Startups will work alongside leading energy utilities from around the globe to deliver cutting edge solutions and co-create the future of energy. The program will focus on working together to pilot projects, commercially deploy products,  facilitate investment opportunities, learning and development.

In its 9th edition, utilities and startups have collaborated on over 200 pilots resulting in USD $16million in pilots, $68million in deployments and $36million in direct investment – total deals to date exceed USD $132million.

 
Applications for the 2026 edition of Free Electrons will open soon.

Get early access to key updates, timelines, program details and take the first step toward collaborating with some of the world’s leading energy utilities.

Join a global network driving innovation, piloting impactful solutions, and accelerating the clean energy transition.

Notify Me
Scroll
Our Offer

Why should startups join Free Electrons?

The program includes a series of modules held across the globe (physically and digitally), where startups work closely with The Utilities, local accelerators and experts to refine and test their solution and explore options to jump start their company’s growth.

Each module is structured to facilitate ongoing conversations between startups and utilities to refine value propositions, seed pilot projects, and explore investment opportunities.

Free Electrons offers the chance for startups to:

  • Test Solutions

    Test their solution in the energy sector in partnership with utilities

  • Develop Pilots

    Develop a viable pilot side by side with the utilities

  • Receive Feedback

    Receive input, feedback and insight into their product/service and business

  • Gain Exposure

    Gain exposure to American, European and Asia Pacific markets

  • Build Relationships

    Build relationships within the startup community to share learnings and explore startup-to-startup opportunities

  • Grow Networks

    Grow their networks by immersing themselves in local and global ecosystems

  • Contract and Receive Investment

    Promote their products/solutions and seek investment from utilities. Deals to date exceed USD $118 million

  • Work with Open Innovation experts

    Work with open innovation partner Beta-i on strategy and approach

  • Access Mentors & Experts

    Access a global pool of mentors and experts matched to their unique requirements

OUR CHALLENGES

Challenge yourself with Free Electrons

We envision a future where smart, clean and accessible energy will transform every aspect of our lives. To achieve this vision, we seek to join forces with startups who are dedicated to driving change.

The Utilities are committed to supporting startups that can reshape the energy market with next-generation ideas. We are looking for startups that have secured funding, developed a working prototype, and gained valuable experience along the way – companies with whom we can grow and learn together.

Free Electrons is tackling several challenges in the energy sector by embracing innovative solutions. The selected startups for Free Electrons 2025 will address these critical areas.

Learn more details about the categories of solutions we’re looking for.

  • Next Generation Renewables iconNext Generation Renewables
  • Energy management and data iconEnergy Management/Data
  • Asset Optimisation iconAsset Optimisation
  • Thermal Solutions iconThermal Solutions
  • Grid Planning, Optimisation and Stability iconGrid Planning, Optimisation and Stability
  • Energy Storage iconEnergy Storage
  • Connected and Engaged Customers iconConnected & Engaged Customers (B2B and B2C)
  • Mobility and Transport iconMobility & Transport Electrification
  • Other iconOther

The Utilities share their perspectives on why Free Electrons works

“
Opening up the utility world to the startups, providing them with a global customer base, accelerating deal execution with the utilities, that’s what Free Electrons is all about. I can’t think of a better opportunity for a startup operating in this space.

Luis Manuel

Executive Board Member,
EDP Innovation
“
Origin sees the enormous potential of combining the best ideas with those companies capable of delivering them at significant scale. By leveraging all the expertise of the many partners involved we are confident extraordinary outcomes will be reached.

Anthony Lucas

Chief Financial Officer,
Origin Energy
“
It's a perfect match - smart startup ideas meet a transforming corporate that is re-inventing itself and has established lean and agile structures that speak “startup” and “corporate” language alike. We can help startups scale fast; startups can help us with the best possible products. We go outside to innovate from within.

Stefan Padberg

Managing Director,
E.ON Innovation Co-investments Inc
“
The Free Electrons Accelerator Program enables CLP to work with some of the world’s smartest and most dynamic innovators on solutions to 21st century, digital energy challenges. With our industry leadership across Asia Pacific markets spanning Greater China to Australia, CLP is excited by the opportunity to partner with the best startups to create transformative new energy technologies and applications for individuals, businesses, cities and governments.

David Simmonds

Chief Strategy, Sustainability and Governance Officer,
CLP Holdings Limited
“
At ESB we are driven to make a difference and have committed to bringing new cutting edge solutions to our customer base. Since its first edition the Free Electrons program has afforded ESB the opportunity to work with the world’s leading energy start-ups. The relationships and connections made during the program help us to innovate and collaborate in order to meet our ambitious goal of Net Zero by 2040.

Marguerite Sayers

Deputy CEO,
ESB
“
The Free Electrons program is essential for both corporate businesses and startups, serving as a singular and dynamic platform that fosters collaboration. It bridges pioneering startups with global leading utilities for real-world pilot projects, funding, and strategic partnerships. For JERA, this program is instrumental in achieving our goals, as it facilitates extensive collaboration with energy companies and strong engagement with innovative startups.

Saajid Abuluaih

Data Integration Manager, Senior Project Manager,
Jera Co., Inc
“
The accelerated pace, the numerous interactions and activities, the breadth of perspectives, the wealth of ideas and the sheer energy of the program create magic among participants. Whether you are a startup or a utility, Free Electrons provides you with unexpected business opportunities and immense learning experience.

Maxime Godin

Senior Delegate - Innovation Partnerships,
Hydro-Québec
prev
1 / 7
next
Copyright © 2025 Free Electrons. All rights reserved.
Site credits
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We use your information internally to serve the content of this website in the best format and personalise things based on analytics results logs. View more
Cookies settings
Accept
Privacy & Cookie policy
Privacy & Cookies policy
Cookies list
Cookie name Active

Who we are

Our website address is: https://freeelectrons.org.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Contact forms

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select "Remember Me", your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

Who we share your data with

How long we retain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where we send your data

Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

Your contact information

Additional information

How we protect your data

What data breach procedures we have in place

What third parties we receive data from

What automated decision making and/or profiling we do with user data

Industry regulatory disclosure requirements

Save settings
Cookies settings