Energy Efficiency Services, WRI to hold start-up challenge

Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) are teaming up to call for a start-up challenge. This Energy Innovation Challenge will seek ideas for scalable solutions pertaining to grid management, eMobility, energy efficiency, and market innovation segments.

“Essentially, we seek to start an innovation challenge. We have picked out areas which we feel are important as we move ahead in the energy sector. One is eMobility, the second is battery storage and the business case around it. The third large area is financial innovation because many things do not get commercialised for want of finance particularly in the clean energy space,” Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director at EESL, said.

The challenge is associated with EESL’s annual event, International Symposium to Promote Innovation & Research in Energy Efficiency (INSPIRE), an International Conference on Showcasing Innovation and Implementation Best Practices in Energy Efficiency Technologies, Policies and Financing.

The targeted innovations need to focus on technologies, processes and business models that can sustain clean energy supply and responsible consumption while balancing development ambitions.

O P Agarwal, CEO, World Resources Institute said, “In a normal procurement method the government floats a tender and specifies exactly what it wants. It doesn’t allow any space for innovation. In a challenge, only the outcome is told, and then solutions to achieve it are sought. Most of them are innovations which need initial handholding to grow. That’s where challenges have proved very successful.”

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