Bloomberg New Energy Finance today announced its selection of the 2015 New Energy Pioneers - game-changing innovators who are revolutionizing the energy sector. The diverse group (listed in full below) represents a broad range of industries, including advanced transportation, bioenergy, energy storage, solar and wind.
The 10 winners were recognised on stage at the eighth annual Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York City. By rewarding game-changing innovators, Bloomberg New Energy Finance hopes to show the profound transition in today’s energy system, towards new business models, technologies and market structures that are creating great commercial opportunities.
An independent panel of industry experts, assisted by our technology experts, selected the 10 winners from a high volume of applicants from around the world. Each candidate was assessed against three criteria: potential scale, innovation and momentum. Each New Energy Pioneer has a combination of innovative technologies and business models, the ability to demonstrate substantive progress in their activities and the potential for global scale.
“This year, we were delighted to have a very strong set of candidates for the New Energy Pioneers programme, drawn from a wide spectrum of sectors – including solar, wind, storage, transport and bioenergy," said Michael Wilshire, selection committee chair and head of analysis of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. "We were struck by the amount of innovation that these organisations display and the impact that they are already having on the energy system of the future."
The 2015 New Energy Pioneers are:
- BBOXX (UK)designs, manufactures, finances and sells off-grid solar products to rural areas of developing countries, and offers a monthly payment plan on mobile for customers.
- Blade Dynamics (UK) has designed and built a unique modular blade to combat the problems of weight, cost, manufacturability and transportability associated with larger wind turbines.
- Cool Planet (USA)produces a carbon negative cellulosic gasoline that could be one of the only products that meet the US biofuel policy mandates, and also produces biochar to reach a negative carbon footprint.
- Elevance Renewable Sciences (USA), a specialty chemicals company, uses a proprietary, Nobel Prize-winning technology to convert vegetable oils to a range of renewable chemicals.
- Greensmith’s(USA)systems combine cloud computing with battery storage and management technologies to help solve complex problems related to critical changes unfolding on the electrical grid.
- Lehigh Technologies (USA)takes end-of life tires and manufactures a range of micronized rubber powders, to use as a raw material in a wide range of industrial markets – offering lower cost, more sustainable and equivalent or improved performance compared to resource-intensive inputs.
- Locus Energy (USA)helps drive the wide-scale adoption of solar energy by providing real-time monitoring and analytics intelligence tools – helping stakeholders manage sites, maximize energy yields, and minimize operating costs, while also reducing operational risk.
- Proterra (USA) designs and manufactures zero-emission, battery-electric vehicles enabling bus fleet operators to reduce operating costs and deliver clean, quiet transportation to the community.
- Sonnenbatterie (Germany) is one of the leading residential energy storage system providers in Germany, catering to homes and small businesses that want to be independent from conventional power supply.
- Stem (USA)combines a powerful learning software and advanced energy storage to reshape the way energy is distributed and consumed, helping business better manage electricity use and enhancing grid operations.