10 companies chosen as 2017 New Energy Pioneers at tenth annual Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York City

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) is pleased to announce its selection of the 2017 New Energy Pioneers – game-changing innovators that are revolutionizing the energy sector. The diverse group (listed in full below) is active in many different parts of the energy system, responding to market gaps and new opportunities in areas such as data, storage, digitalization, heating, advanced transport and energy access. The 10 winners will be recognized on stage later today at the tenth annual Bloomberg New Energy Finance The Future of Energy Summit, in New York City. By recognizing game-changing innovators, BNEF aims to illustrate and accelerate the transition that is underway in today’s energy system, towards new business models, technologies, market structures and commercial opportunities.

An independent panel of industry experts, assisted by BNEF’s analysts and technology experts, selected the 10 winners from over 170 applicants from around the world. Each candidate was assessed against three criteria: potential scale, innovation and momentum. Each New Energy Pioneer has demonstrated a combination of innovative technologies and business models, substantive progress in its activities, and the potential for global scale.

Michael Wilshire, selection committee chair and head of strategy at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: “This year, we were delighted to receive a record number of strong candidates for the New Energy Pioneers program, drawn from 43 different countries. We were struck by the new types of innovation we are now seeing in the industry. A number of our winners apply clean energy technologies to address new market frontiers in sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, remote lighting and energy access. Others have focused on making today’s energy industry more efficient through technology or process innovation in areas such as wind, heating installations and access to clean energy finance. We have also seen continued product innovation in fast growing market sectors such as advanced transport and in emerging markets.

“We are very encouraged by the breadth of innovation and creativity shown by these Pioneers and by the impact that they could have on the energy system of the future. We are, as always, very grateful to our group of external judges on the selection committee who had the challenge of narrowing the field of entries to a final set of 10 winners.”

The 2017 New Energy Pioneers are:

Envirofit (USA) has developed a line of smart, clean cook stoves that reduce fuel use, smoke and toxic emissions, delivered to people living in energy poverty.
EV-Box (Netherlands) provides electric vehicle equipment and related cloud-based services for individuals, businesses, facilities, and public charging networks. They currently have over 50,000 charging points installed.
Fluidic Energy (USA) provides zinc-air energy storage solutions that are long-duration capable (from hours to several days), cost-effective and function within harsh environments, aiming to provide reliable storage to 100 million people by 2025.
Romo Wind (Switzerland) uses its ultrasonic iSpin technology to measure the speed of the wind when it hits the spinner at the front of a wind turbine’s rotor, improving the accuracy of wind measurements and leading to improved turbine performance.
Skeleton Technologies (Estonia) manufactures ultracapacitors based on patented curved graphene, with high power densities that make electrification and energy savings for automotive, grid, and transportation industries possible.
SunCulture (Kenya) designs, manufactures, finances and distributes solar-powered irrigation solutions that make smallholder farmers profitable by increasing yields and decreasing costs.
SunFunder (USA) unlocks debt capital for the off-grid solar sector by aggregating diversified portfolios of investment opportunities.
Sunna Design (France) develops and produces smart and durable off-grid solar public lighting products, now installed in 40 countries, mainly in Africa.
Thermondo (Germany) offers and installs smart distributed and managed energy solutions for homeowners via a digital installation and maintenance platform.
We Care Solar (USA) designs and distributes compact ‘Solar Suitcases’. These are durable, efficient solar powered light and monitoring kits for remote health centers to ensure women can give birth safely with essential light and power.
The New Energy Pioneers program partners are Cycle Capital Management and CohnReznick Capital Markets Securities.

For more information on the New Energy Pioneers program, visit: https://www.bloomberg.com/company/new-energy-pioneers/

For more information on the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit, visit: http://about.bnef.com/summit/

CONTACT

Veronika Henze
Bloomberg New Energy Finance
+1 646 324 1596