“There is no field or sector that is not being impacted by technology. The important challenges we are currently facing can only be addressed through innovation”, said the Chairwoman of Red Eléctrica Group, Beatriz Corredor today during the opening of the Innovation Sessions organised by Elewit, the Group's technology platform. At the meeting, Corredor highlighted the Group's commitment to the development of innovative technological solutions to promote the two major transformations underway, namely the energy transition and a new generation of universal and inclusive connectivity.

Today in Madrid, Red Eléctrica's technology subsidiary held the second edition of this leading innovation ecosystem event in Spain, which brought together around one hundred entrepreneurs and agents from the energy and telecommunications sector. During the event, more than 20 experts shared their views on the creation of high impact companies, prospects for the evolution of satellite services and innovative solutions to accelerate the transformation of the energy model.

Innovation to drive the green and digital double transformation

The holding of the Innovation Sessions consolidates Elewit’s career, created in 2019 to promote innovation in Red Eléctrica Group together with the support of other agents in the field of entrepreneurship and research. "We have a strategic focus on innovation and we are aware that it is not a path which we can go on alone; collaboration is key to solving the challenges we face within the Group", said Roberto García Merino, Chief Executive Officer.

Over these three years, the Group has already been the driving force behind more than 120 projects, launched three venture client programmes, invested in five companies, launched five technological challenges and developed pilot programmes with more than 20 start-ups, among other milestones.

During the meeting, the Chairwoman and Chief explained some of these innovation initiatives in detail. One of these is a line of innovation that Elewit is developing with REE and other technological partners in order to continue facilitating the integration of renewable energies. 

The Osmose initiative is key in this respect. It is a European project that aims to develop a hybrid storage solution to be integrated as an asset in the transmission grid and provide strength and stability to the electricity system in a context with a higher share of renewable energies.

Work carried out in the field of self-consumption, which will become more important in the near future, is also highly relevant. In order for the system’s operation to have visibility of these facilities, an IoT platform is being developed to provide information on a representative sample of self-consumers, to which 1,400 have already been connected.

Another highlight is the DALIA project to facilitate inspections of overhead power lines with greater efficiency. To this end, it uses drones that provide a higher level of automation and avoids work at heights, thus increasing work safety.

On the other hand, Red Eléctrica is also maximising the potential of satellite technology to bring connectivity to rural and remote environments in order to bridge the digital divide. This is the focal point of initiatives that Hispasat has already launched, together with start-ups that are IoT experts. To date, two pilot programmes have been successfully carried out: one of them has turned a municipality in the Sierra de Aralar, in the Basque Country, into a smart city, digitising local public services to improve the quality of life of its citizens. The other has managed to transform a fishing boat into a smart boat to monitor its devices and machines in real time and thus to improve the efficiency of its operations and the safety of its crew.

Work is currently underway on a project to install satellite-connected IoT devices on rescue and emergency professionals operating in remote areas. In this way, their status can be monitored at all times to reduce risks and ensure greater safety, measuring in real time parameters of physical activity, positioning, temperature or even detecting possible falls. 

Innovative designs for high-voltage pylons

During the closing ceremony, García Merino announced the winner of the challenge launched by Elewit last January to find innovative designs for high-voltage pylons (also known as towers) in Spain. The winner was Grupo Alten, a Spanish company specialized in power transmission and distribution engineering and information systems.

The aim of this challenge is to seek out new proposals that continue to promote the evolution, modernisation and sustainability of the infrastructures that offer such an essential service to communities, the supply of electricity. The technical and economic viability of the proposal received will be assessed over the next few months.