EXCEL Accelerator is a growth-stage accelerator focused on the clean energy transition and climate change mitigation in China. Leveraging our connections in local government, academia and industry, EXCEL Accelerator provides growth-stage startups with technology/product expertise, pilot opportunities, and market expansion.

This year in Cohort 3, we are proud to be supporting 15 startups offering innovative climate solutions across various fields including clean tech, energy internet and carbon emission reduction. They also share the same vision – to contribute to China’s ‘’Dual Carbon’’ goal (to reach peak carbon use by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060).

Here are the finalists of 2022 EXCEL Accelerator Cohort 3:

Energy Internet Sector

TerraQuanta (大地量子)

TerraQuanta is a technology-driven company, it has established efficient data acquisition channels with global mainstream satellite data providers, integrating massive multi-source satellite data through a team of experienced remote sensing scientists, AI algorithm team and engineering team. TerraQuanta combines data fusion and algorithm development together to bring 600,000 meters’ data within reach and creates a “Data Encyclopedia of the Earth”.

At present, TerraQuanta has supported the application of more than 30 scenarios in the fields of agriculture, forest carbon-sink, agricultural insurance, infrastructure, environmental protection, and inclusive finance, scenarios include ground cover monitoring, crop yield estimation, water resources and water environment monitoring, forest resources dynamic monitoring, urban subsidence monitoring, etc.

BigData FinTech (大数金科)

BigData FinTech specializes in carbon emission management calculation, accounting and inventory system tools and carbon planning service provider. BigData FinTech was founded in 2016, the company uses industrial internet technology and cloud services to optimize the practical needs of accounting, inventory, internal control, collection, supervision and optimization of carbon emissions (carbon assets) for manufacturing enterprises such as steel, chemical, non-ferrous and construction industries.

The company can provide enterprise carbon data management, product carbon footprint calculation and CEPP certification for the traditional process manufacturing industry represented by metallurgy, building materials and chemical industry and their logistics supply chain.

Since BigData FinTech’s establishment, the team has been aiming at serving entities and keeping up with the industry, and striving to help China’s manufacturing industry achieve the ultimate goal of carbon neutrality.

Dayu

DAYU (大禹智芯)

DAYU is the first technology startup in China focusing on DPU since it was registered and founded. It is currently the leading company in the DPU field in China and is committed to building advanced DPU products with versatility through self-developed software, hardware, and chips.

Through existing and self-developed advanced chips, self-developed high-performance IaaS components and protocol-specific acceleration capabilities, DAYU provides a complete set of hardware and software products and services around DPUs, including chips, hardware products, system software, and application integration, and is committed to building a new generation of cloud computing engines to help users build leading IT infrastructures and accelerate the pace of enterprise digital transformation.

The company’s vision is to “unleash the application potential of high-speed networks in the way of DAYU, allowing enterprises to enjoy technology dividends selectively and helping them to build leading IT infrastructures well and fast”.

PH Edge Intelligence

PH Edge Intelligence (朋禾智能)

PH Edge Intelligence’s team has more than ten years of experience in online monitoring and fault diagnosis of power equipment, industrial IoT platform design, edge computing system architecture, and machine learning applications, and is experienced in sensors, data acquisition, industrial data reliability, and industrial artificial intelligence. As the earliest pioneer in industrial intelligence and edge computing applications in China, PH Edge Intelligence is now dedicated to promoting the application of industrial edge computing, IoT and artificial intelligence technologies in the power industry. The core team members include doctors and masters who graduated from Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao tong University, Tongji University and Xi’an Jiao tong University, as well as practitioners from National Instruments, General Electric, CyberInsight and other related fields within the industry. As a high-tech leading company in assisting the digital transformation of power grids, PH Edge Intelligence is a high-tech enterprise in Shanghai, a member of the Shanghai Industrial Internet Association, a member of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Industry Association, an Enabler of Microsoft AI and IoT Lab, and has applied a number of patents and software copyrights on the project. PH Edge Intelligence has also established cooperation with Schneider and Shanghai Electric and other companies within the power industry to jointly build an intelligent and digital power grid. The team’s vision is to become an industry-leading industrial intelligence and digitalization comprehensive solution service provider.

Deep Sensing Technology (清蓉深瞳)

Deep Sensing Technology was established in 2021. It is a scientific and technological innovation enterprise relying on the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of Tsinghua University and Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute Tsinghua University. Deep Sensing Technology focuses on the frontier of energy Internet and the new power system and has developed a number of fundamental technologies for energy sensing and energy collecting with core independent intellectual property rights, mainly providing key sensing components, intelligent diagnostic algorithms and overall solutions for energy system deep situational awareness, energy equipment intelligence and carbon tracking. The 500kV-level conformal integrated multi-parameter intelligent power fitting is successfully applied to the real-time assessment of natural disasters, prediction, fault and risk warning of power line status, insulation characteristics, of transmission lines and corridors off, the invention won the Gold Award of the 2021 Geneva Invention Award. The first digital system embedded in circuit breaker equipment was successfully developed, realizing highly reliable non-intrusive measurement of mechanical parameters, operation process and temperature load of circuit breaker, and its online diagnosis and unattended through knowledge mapping and artificial intelligence algorithm.

Syitsing Energy Technology

Syitsing Energy Technology (西清能源)

Syitsing Energy Technology, founded in 2018, is a high-tech enterprise focusing on technology R&D in the field of energy digitization. The company’s goal is to help the digital transformation of the power industry through advanced technology and to promote the transformation of the energy and power industry with intelligent applications.

All of Syitsing Energy’s core team members graduated from Tsinghua University and other well-known universities, with rich industry experience and technology development capabilities. Syitsing Energy has passed the ISO management system certification and holds a number of invention patents with several technologies that are advanced in China.

The company has rich implementation experience and several finished projects in the fields of power system design and planning, energy storage active safety and digital twin technology application, etc. Currently, the company’s major products and solutions include:

• Active safety management and intelligent operation and maintenance system of energy storage power station and new EMS system
• Integrated source-grid-load-storage energy management platform
• Power system digital twin and active equipment operation and maintenance

MetaStar (元能星泰)

MetaStar is a cutting-edge technology enterprise jointly invested by Beijing Zhongguancun Development Frontier Enterprise Investment Fund, Taiyou Fund and Shuimu Tsinghua Alumni Capital. Relying on the R&D team from top universities such as Tsinghua, South China University of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the company is deeply engaged in vertical segments such as new energy, power grid, power plant, water conservancy and hydropower, oil, natural gas, chemical and coal, etc. MetaStar has independent core technologies and built the Meta-Universe digital twin PAAS toolchain and digital twin intelligent production operation platform series products to help enterprises implement digital transformation.

Macro AI

Macro AI Technology (暂元智数)

Macro AI Technology Co., Ltd. is an artificial intelligence high-tech company providing 3D vision solutions for high-precision industrial manufacturing, with an AI algorithm team led by PhDs from European and American top universities. Macro AI Technology upholds the mission of “empowering intelligent manufacturing with cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology” and practices the business philosophy of “technology for good to achieve self-realization”, and has solved the problems of ultra-complex machine vision recognition, inspection, positioning and measurement in the production process for many precision manufacturing enterprises. With the service attitude of “doing technology rigorously and winning the market with integrity”, Macro AI Technology has rapidly accumulated a good reputation in the industry and gained strong support from the government. In the future, Macro AI Technology will pay more attention to the construction of ecological partner system, and adhere to the “sharing is winning” cooperation concept, through strong alliance, to bring more industrial manufacturing enterprise customers with better, more economical, more intelligent Smart Factory solutions, to help industrial enterprises to achieve digital, intelligent transformation and development.

Environmental Protection Sector

Blue Future

Blue Future (湛蓝未来)

Blue Future was founded in 2014 and has been focusing on the R&D and industrialization of in-situ sludge reduction technology. The founder is a talent of the “Golden Panda” program from Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, graduated from the aerobic granular sludge team of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and published several papers in international journals. Blue Future’s environmental philosophy is “treating waste with waste”, and it has technologies such as iron sludge, bio-iron and iron batteries. Its honours include the second prize in the Chengdu-Shenzhen Twin Cities Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition, the third prize in the Environmental Protection Innovation Competition of the Sichuan Department of Environmental Protection, the finalist enterprise of CCTV Chuang Ye Ying Xiong Hui, and the bronze medal in the Beijing Enterprises Water Group Cup 2020 among more than 570 projects recognized by experts, including academician Jun Ma. The corporate governance is well-organized, Blue Future is invested by CDHTIWENTURE Capital, Chengdu Industry Investment, Sichuan State-owned Assets Operation and Investment Administration and other provincial, municipal and district level state-owned capitals.

Senle Environment Technology

Senle Environment Technology (森乐环保)

Senle Environment Technology is a joint-stock enterprise launched by Chengdu Senle Group in 2018 to meet the needs of the national environmental protection industry, with a registered capital of 20 million yuan and fixed assets of 86 million yuan. Senle Environment is committed to the research and development and engineering transformation of gas preparation, separation, refinement, purification, drying, desulfurization, denitrification, hydrogen production, decarbonization, dust removal, ultra-low emission technologies in oil and gas, iron and steel coking, coal chemical, fine chemical, industrial gas, biochemical, fuel ethanol, glass, cement, thermal power, waste power generation, non-electricity industries: Senle Environment is proficient in gas purification and comprehensive utilization of coke oven gas, pressure swing adsorption, temperature swing adsorption, high-purity hydrogen production, SCR/SNCR denitration, ultra-high-porosity furnace denitrification, dry process, semi-dry desulfurization, flue gas removal and recovery of SO2, annealing furnace hydrogen recovery, nitrogen and hydrogen gas mixing, and other technologies. And Senle Environment has the production and manufacturing capacity of important components (adsorbent, desulfurizer, catalyst, program-controlled valve) and complete sets of skids.

By 2022, Senle Group has 1 EPC company, 2 manufacturing companies, 1 technology R&D company and 1 investment company. There are 3 regional operation centers and 12 offices in China generating 100-200 million yuan output value. Senle Group has established long-term cooperation with reputable universities such as Nanjing Tech University’s Adsorbent Research Institute, Fudan University’s Adsorbent Research Center, Sichuan University and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, becoming a comprehensive enterprise integrating technology research and development, engineering consulting and design, technical services, EPC, equipment manufacturing, plant operation and maintenance, special materials supply, investment and financing operation and other sectors.

Over the past twenty years, Senle Group has designed and built nearly one thousand large industrial plants for oil and gas, iron and steel coking, fine chemical, and non-electric industries.

Energy Finance Sector

Knowcarbon

KnowCarbon

Knowcarbon is a technology company focusing on carbon neutralization. It is committed to providing one-stop carbon services based on carbon accounting and blockchain for carbon account, carbon audit and carbon asset management. Knowcarbon was incubated in Tsinghua University and gathered team members from Tsinghua University, Cambridge University, Geneva University and other well-known universities at home and abroad, with rich academic resources. ​

Knowcarbon puts forward two products, carbon pet and enterprise carbon treasure: “carbon pet” aims to reduce emissions through the development of carbon accounts, develops carbon accounts in the form of pet cultivation, enables individual users to cultivate “carbon pet”, and obtains carbon points for the gift of a sustainable mall, forming a closed-loop product to help individuals reduce carbon emissions; Qitanbao uses blockchain technology to make its own carbon emission, carbon emission reduction, supervision, audit and other processes open and transparent, and relevant records can be traced and verified at any time, so as to reduce the cost of human carbon audit and ensure the transparency of carbon audit.

Eahon Technology

Eahon Technology (益泓科技)

Eahon Technology (Shanghai) Co. was founded on April 20, 2021, in Shanghai. Eahon Technology is a high-tech company that provides energy management and carbon asset management services and is committed to helping companies achieve net zero emissions. Eahon Technology can provide a carbon asset digital monitoring system and management platform, energy saving and emission reduction in the production process and daily operation, new energy infrastructure planning, integrated power management, and carbon asset management consulting services. Eahon Technology’s in-depth research in carbon asset management technology has made major progress in IoT sensors, Network Communications, Big Data and software development. Eahon Technology can provide services such as equipment operational status monitoring, environmental monitoring, asset integrity management consulting, integrated operation management platform development (including energy, asset, security, etc.), and digital and intelligent transformation.

New Energy Fuel Sector

Wuhan Troowin

Wuhan Troowin Power System Technology (众宇动力)

Established in 2011, Wuhan Troowin Power System Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Troowin) engages in the research and manufacturing of core parts, stacks and systems of fuel cells. As an expert in the fuel cell sector, Troowin has comprehensively mastered the core technologies of hydrogen fuel cells. The ability of design and development of fuel cell stacks allows Troowin to cooperate with manufacturers of end products according to the nature of applications in the market to sell and provide technical services for stacks and systems.

Since its establishment, Troowin has formed a R&D team of energy + gas + fuel cell led by experts under Hubei’s 100 Talent Plan, and has cooperated with scientific research institutions, universities, enterprises, etc. In addition, Troowin has been awarded such honorary titles as national high-tech enterprise,enterprise technology center and hydrogen energy talent training base of Hubei Province. Up to now, Troowin has applied for more than 200 patents and been granted over 100 patents (including 5 for invention in the USA, Japan and the EU), nearly 20 of which are internationally leading core technologies or proprietary technologies.

Troowin has developed three major products, namely fuel cell stacks and their core parts, fuel cell systems and fuel cell solutions, and can provide products and industrial solutions for automobiles, ships, distributed power generation and power supply. Troowin has established cooperation relationships with CMCC,SG,CGN,CSIC, DFM , Geely, Skywell, Hubei Wanshan and other companies to continuously promote the industrial and commercial operation of fuel cells.

Sinwt Science & Tech

Sinwt Science & Technology (三听科技)

Sinwt Science&Technology is committed to providing customers with products and solutions for intelligent recognition, location and tracking of sound events using acoustic emission sensor (AE Sensor) arrays + artificial intelligence technology. The major products are divided into two major categories: Ti-Ting series and Zhi-Yun-Ting series. The Ti-Ting series is mainly used in scenarios such as Power Bureau monitoring, sensitive area monitoring and “black flying” drone, while the SmartCloud series is a microphone array-based acoustic signal acquisition and processing system for multiple scenarios and types of applications.

Sinwt Science&Technology has been awarded as National High-tech Enterprise, Zhongguancun High-tech Enterprise, Ministry of Science and Technology Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Beijing Economic‑Technological Development Area Rising Star Enterprise, and has been awarded as Beijing Golden Bridge Project A type support project and Beijing Excellent Young Engineer Innovation Studio A type support project, etc. Sinwt has always insisted on independent research and development and has dozens of invention patents, utility model patents and software copyright, and the technical innovation ability is steadily improving along with the R&D.

Innovation leads to development, and science and technology achieve dreams. Sinwt Science&Technology, the sound knows it all.

by Yafu Zhao, Head of Climate Fintech, New Energy Nexus China.

Dunhuang Solar Power Station, Gansu Province, China. (Photo Credit: Darmau Lee)

Blockchain will emerge as key development in climate fintech in 2022, mainly due to the boom of distributed renewable energy projects, such as residential solar and the tracking of supply chain carbon emissions data.

Spurred by the central government’s 2060 carbon neutrality goal, there has been a rapid increase in distributed renewable energy projects in China, but blockchain tech can help banks unlock even more opportunities.

Distributed solar used to be the most under-banked area of renewable energy, especially for residential solar. For banks, the cost of performing due diligence is high, and they find it challenging to manage and properly measure the risks associated with these projects. For instance, it takes almost the same amount of effort to evaluate a 50kW project compared to  a 1MW project because an  in-person inspection is usually required. And in addition, banks lack proper tools to control the risks of data manipulation in power generation, which is why many hesitate to finance distributed solar projects and charge higher interest compared to utility scale projects. 

Climate fintech, especially blockchain technology, however can go a long way in resolving these challenges. Electricity-generation data, for instance, can be collected by sensors connected to the solar panel, which can then be stored on the blockchain – a decentralized network that ensures the authenticity and immutability of data. Banks can then access this data on a regular basis to measure the performance of these projects, preventing the risk of fraud and saving inspection costs. Such data can also be used should a bank decide to sell its residential solar loan to another financial institution, therefore improving the efficiency of such financial transactions. 

Given the booming distributed solar market in China and other parts of the world, we predict that the adoption of blockchain technologies for distributed climate finance will increase in 2022. 

In 2021, distributed solar PV represented 53.4% of total installation, which was up from 32.2% in 2020 (source here, in Chinese). Residential solar demonstrated the fastest growth in 2021:  21.5 GW of residential solar was installed, an 115% increase from 2020.

This trend is likely to continue in 2022 for four reasons: 

1. Demand for solar is expected to be enormous this year as prices for materials in the solar supply chain are expected to drop (due to the increase of production capacity, in particular polysilicon).
2. The unit cost of installing a residential solar PV project is lower than that of a utility scale project because less construction is required and the higher electricity price from end users can offset installation costs;
3. Residential solar is still entitled to subsidies in some provinces in China compared to  utility-scale solar which no longer enjoy subsidies;
4. The market has been accelerated by the National Energy Administration (NEA)’s notice regarding county-level trials of distributed solar power generation designed to boost rooftop solar capacity. 

Supply chain carbon data tracking is another factor driving the adoption of blockchain technology. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are low-hanging fruits for carbon emission calculation, but Scope 3 emissions, which includes complex upstream and downstream emission data, require calculation by more advanced technologies [1]. 

The European Union will impose carbon tariffs on selected carbon-intensive imports  from 2026, which means that there is an added urgency for exporters to track carbon emissions in supply chains. In this context blockchain tech will help enhance the traceability, transparency and accountability of carbon emission data, just as it has for distributed renewable energies. For multinational corporations such as Apple and L’Oréal who have pledged to reduce their emissions, blockchain technology will help them monitor carbon emissions in their supply chains. An additional benefit: emission data stored on the blockchain is immutable and transparent, which helps prevent greenwashing in climate finance. Banks can therefore easily identify climate-friendly projects and clearly estimate the impacts of their green loans. 

As CEO of Rivtower, Shawn Wang said: “Blockchain can significantly reduce the friction cost of transactions and enhance the efficiency of a sustainable finance network.”. Rivtower is currently providing services for China Merchants Bank (CMB). 

Keep an eye on this space if you’re an investor or keenly follow China clean energy and technology space, and reach out if you want to partner with us.

For more information: check out this Webinar with Shawn Wang (in Chinese) with CEO of Rivtower. For more climate fintech stories and applications, please download the New Energy Nexus Climate Fintech Report or contact us at hellochina@newenergynexus.com

[1] Definition of Scope 1, 2, 3 by “The Greenhouse Gas Protocol”: Scope 1: Direct GHG emissions; Scope 2: Electricity indirect GHG emissions; Scope 3: Other indirect GHG emissions. https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/ghg-protocol-revised.pdf

What are the unique challenges and hurdles women face to become clean energy entrepreneurs? What needs to be done to break down these structural barriers? And what advice do other women in the clean energy ecosystem have for up and coming talent? We asked some experts around the world at New Energy Nexus.

Only 20% of global startups are led by women (2019), while women represent only 32% of the workforce in the renewable energy sector. 

The challenges are social, cultural and financial…

In the United States, female founders remain far behind their male counterparts in raising venture capital. According to an article published by Bloomberg: “Female founders secured only 2% of venture capital in the U.S. in 2021, the smallest share since 2016 and a sign that efforts to diversify the famously male-dominated industry are struggling.” This means that women need to find alternate means of raising the funds to support the development and commercialization of their innovations. 

‘’Considering these hurdles, incubators, accelerators and other government programs are working hard to deliver funding, education and resources at the right time to female entrepreneurs to close this gap. NEX is on the forefront of this mission, seeking to provide critical support to a diversity of entrepreneurs so that they can be successful despite lack of venture capital funding.’’ – Tenley Dalstrom, Director at CalTestBed (our California program)

Mia Perez of Solarwise PH, a startup that offers a centralized one-stop online platform linking solar customers, installers & suppliers, supported by NEX Philippines.

In the Philippines and India, the socio-cultural conditioning and gender biases significantly disadvantage women in business, especially in the energy sector, which is perceived to be a male-dominated industry. Another challenge is the lack of strong women role models in the industry to look up to or engage with as mentors.

”There are still informal and social myths and constraints that women face which can stem from lack of strong women role models in energy entrepreneurship to societal expectations that women are less likely to bear harsh working conditions’’ – Brenda Valerio, NEX Philippines Program Manager 

In Uganda, some of the main challenges faced by female entrepreneurs are related to access to training. Most women entrepreneurs hesitate to start clean energy enterprises due to beliefs that they should have expertise in manufacturing and repairing clean energy products. They are unsure of the requirements by financial institutions and ways in which they can access financing for energy related businesses. This has resulted in the under-representation of women at all levels in the energy sector. 

‘’Financial structural impediments to gender equality translate into barriers to access investment capital. Most financial institutions require assets for one to access credit, yet in the past women were denied property ownership rights to their father’s assets which limits their access to credit’’ – Mackline Banaga, Program Analyst at ENVenture (powered by New Energy Nexus)

Heather Hochrein, Founder and CEO of EVmatch, said “This Rapid Response grant will immediately strengthen EVmatch’s ability to sustain our community-based EV charging network and grow our network at multi-family residential properties throughout California.”

How does NEX support women entrepreneurs?

A 100% clean energy economy for 100% of people requires us to rebalance the scales of power and money: shifting resources to support innovation where it’s needed most, empowering those traditionally excluded from the start-up ecosystem, and focusing on clean energy adoption as much as clean energy innovation. That’s why striving for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion is fundamental to our mission.

The New Energy Nexus California Programs, CalSEED and CalTestBed, support women and entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities, via an “equity in – equity out” framework. Both programs are committed to ensuring diverse communities across California have the opportunity to participate in the development and implementation of their clean energy solutions. To achieve this goal, the teams actively conduct targeted outreach to ensure that the applicant pool is representative of all Californians. Entrepreneurs are also encouraged to explore innovative ways to bring equitable and impactful clean energy solutions and opportunities to California’s most disadvantaged populations.

NEX California was also awarded a Wells Fargo/National Renewable Energy Lab IN2 Rapid Response grant to support underrepresented entrepreneurs affected by the covid-19 pandemic who contribute significant social impact. The awardees for these grants were female founders who each received US$15,000 non-dilutive grants, networking, and professional development that helped them survive the challenges posed by the pandemic. ‘

In the Philippines, NEX events are designed to incorporate safe spaces where everyone can voice their opinions and insights. The team constantly seeks feedback from the participants on how they can be better supported and create more impact. 

Saikrishna Mohanty of Solar Infra, a startup supported by NEX India in partnership with Climate Collective

NEX India supports aspiring women graduates and university students to take up entrepreneurship in clean energy and energy access through a unique startup simulation approach. NEX India also runs early stage accelerator programs for women-led startups in clean energy and energy access to bridge knowledge gaps, build business literacy, build networks and increase confidence to scale up.

‘’NEX India has built an integrated approach to run programs that support a higher number of women to take up entrepreneurship in clean energy and energy access. They support women-led startups in early stages to build capacity and ensure diverse pipelines’’ – Jui Joshi, NEX India Program Lead, Women in Energy Entrepreneurship

ENVenture, powered by New Energy Nexus offers women entrepreneurs business management training, mentorship and coaching programs aimed at improving their business acumen skills and giving them practical experience to run sustainable energy enterprises in the last mile. An effective a loan product has also been designed with women in mind, to address traditional impediments of access to capital. 

‘’We prioritize women and create an environment for them to start sustainable businesses by providing them renewable energy stock loans, cash to boost, accelerate, and grow their clean energy businesses. For instance, 70% of our enterprises in our program are women-led’’ – Robert Birungi, Head of Credit at ENVenture, powered by New Energy Nexus

What advice do you have for women entrepreneurs with a clean energy idea or want to create a startup?

Rose Juliet Tabu, a clean energy entrepreneur selling cookstoves and solar supported by NEX in the Bidi refugee settlement in West Nile.

The three pieces of advice were repeated by experts from across New Energy Nexus:

• Build your network: join professional organizations that are focused on your field, participate in webinars, networking events, make contacts, and follow up.
• Nurture a team of mentors and champions: It is important to build these relationships through authentic interactions, rather than transactional requests. Make sure you bring something to the table instead of only asking for help.
• Know your stuff: Make sure that you understand what problem your innovation is solving, the stakeholders involved, your product-market fit, the details of your technology, impact goals, technology readiness level and next steps toward commercialization.

According to the World Bank Gender performance indicator report (2013), women perform better in loan repayment as compared to their male counterparts. They should believe in themselves and be confident enough to acquire credit to start clean energy businesses. Also, one doesn’t necessarily need the technical expertise in manufacturing and repairing clean energy products to run a successful clean energy business, just basic business literacy and understanding of business models is essential. Thus women should step up and start up clean energy businesses being at the forefront of increasing energy access. 

If you’re a woman entrepreneur with a clean energy or climate  innovation waiting to take off, get in touch and check out our programs around the world!

by Nivisha Shah, Global Impact Manager at New Energy Nexus

“By combining technology and social engineering, our goal is to make electricity access as easy as buying milk in a corner store” Olugbenga Olubanjo, CEO of Reeddi, a startup supported by NEX.

A 100% clean energy economy for 100% of people requires us to rebalance the scales of power and money: shifting resources to support innovation where it’s needed most, empowering those traditionally excluded from the start-up ecosystem, and focusing on clean energy adoption as much as clean energy innovation.

That’s why striving for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (or “JEDI” for short) is fundamental to our mission. It’s also close to my heart since before I started working at NEX three months ago as the global impact manager.

To find and support diverse entrepreneurs around the world, we need to get savvier about our own blindspots and our own assumptions. So, we started in 2022 by organizing our first JEDI week, where we invited JEDI experts and brainstormed our strategy to achieve JEDI goals. 

Here are five major insights that I’ve observed and we’ve committed to acting on:

1. Committing to looking inwards

Every journey starts from within. To see the change in the world, we will first need to build a solid foundation by looking within and digging deeper to find our own “Why?” It was rather a humbling experience to see my colleagues reflect on their privileges and share their experiences dealing with systematic barriers. Although this process required them to be vulnerable, their commitment to the work was evident as they looked within to find their “WHY”.

2. Adopting a global perspective 

Being a global organization and committing to supporting underrepresented communities in their entrepreneurial journey will require a lot of intentional work to understand each geography’s JEDI needs. New Energy Nexus has committed to using a global perspective in its JEDI work by ensuring global representation on its JEDI council; however, there is still a lot more work to be done to ensure the process is equitable and that it is not driven purely from the Western perspective.

3. Using a JEDI lens for decision making

JEDI decision-making must be part of our DNA. We have committed to start our journey by defining what JEDI means to us both at the country and the global level. For us to empower entrepreneurs from underrepresented and underserved communities, we need to continue to build trust with our stakeholders. We start by preparing our leadership and teams with tools and coaching to build their emotional intelligence (EQ), practice empathy, recognize and manage their biases, and lead with curiosity. Only then will we be able to provide space for entrepreneurs to be their authentic selves and trust us to have their best interests in mind.

NEX has started this already. We’ve adopted an “Equity In Equity Out” model in our CalSEED and CalTestBed programs in California, which aims to ensure that traditionally excluded communities across California fully participate in the development and implementation of clean energy solutions and we encourage entrepreneurs to explore innovative ways to bring equitable, clean energy solutions and opportunities to our most vulnerable populations. To that end, we have partnered with the Greenlining Institute and other social and environmental justice organizations to ensure our programs champion equitable outcomes and opportunities for a diverse range of entrepreneurs.

NEX has also joined as a signatory to the international Equal by 30 initiative for gender equality, joining 13 countries and more than 100 organizations in supporting equal pay, equal leadership, and equal opportunities for all.

We absolutely recognise that we need to do more to scale this even further across our organization. 

4. Cultivating a culture of viewing challenges as opportunities

Mistakes are inevitable but what is essential is that we commit to learning from our mistakes. 

Our JEDI journey will have challenges varying from defining what JEDI means to us to figuring out ways to be authentic to our values while working with systems and organizations that might not align with our JEDI goals. We won’t know how to overcome these challenges until we try without the fear of failing. I know that this work will be a learning experience – it won’t be a straight path towards a goal. This requires introspection and consistently revisiting our “WHYs”. 

The sessions during the JEDI week brought to my mind a quote from meditation teacher and practitioner, Barry Gillespie: 

“The path isn’t a straight line, it’s a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths”. 

We will aim to put learning as the focus through this journey.

5. Measuring success 

Last but not least is where my heart truly belongs, as Impact Manager at NEX: measuring success. 

I was excited to see that we are going beyond planning our JEDI journey and committing to measuring our success. I consider this a step further because we also commit to holding ourselves accountable by committing to measure. This reminds me of what David, our appreciative inquiry workshop facilitator said:

“What we ask determines what we find, what we find determines how we talk, how we talk determines how we see our future and how we see our future determines what we create”. 

To create an equitable, inclusive and diverse space for our entrepreneurs and the communities they serve, we will need to ask the right questions and hold ourselves accountable throughout our journey. 

We are committing ourselves to funding, resourcing, and holding ourselves accountable so that JEDI isn’t just an afterthought, but continues to be a critical part of the way we operate. 

We know that doing so will mean we are building a better place to work, but also better equipping ourselves to deliver on our mission to support even more climate entrepreneurs.

Women-founded and led startups are receiving more attention in Southeast Asia, but they still represent a very small fraction. This is the focus of a webinar bringing together entrepreneurs and experts at “Women Empowerment in Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Economy” virtual meetup on 9 March, one day after International Women’s Day.

The situation in Southeast Asia reflects a global trend: only 20% of global startups are led by women (2019), while women represent only 32% of the workforce in the renewable energy sector. Exploring the barriers to women-led climate entrepreneurship, as well as the support up-and-coming women entrepreneurs can tap into will be crucial to ensure the benefits of clean energy and climate solutions are distributed more equitably and sustainably.

Hosted by New Energy Nexus, the panel of speakers includes representatives from startups, supporting organizations, and venture capital: 

• Chi Trinh is the Vietnam Country Manager of Clime Capital. Clime Capital identifies and creates investment opportunities founded on long-term, stable cash flow assets that contribute towards reducing climate change impacts, alleviating infrastructure gaps, and building sustainable economies.
• Laurie B. Navarro is the President of CSi Energy Solutions International. CSi is a consulting company on energy and environment based in the Philippines and providing services in the region. 
• Maaike Doyer is founder of Epic Angels – a network of female executives and operators who have built and expanded multiple companies in all parts of the world. Epic Angels has the ambition to become the largest female-only angel network in Asia. 
• Mada Ayu Habsari is Managing Director of PT. Enertec Mitra Solusi – a women-led startup based in Indonesia that is focusing on energy service, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Enertec started its journey as an energy services company with the focus of providing energy efficiency solutions on existing buildings and retrofit public facilities.
• Phattanan Supasatian, Chief Executive Officer, Godung Faifaa – a new online market that collects complete solar system equipment.
• Stanley Ng is the Southeast Asia Program Director at New Energy Nexus – an international nonprofit that supports diverse clean energy entrepreneurs with funds, accelerators, and networks.

Topics covered in the virtual meet up:

1. Opportunities and challenges for women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
2. Perspective on the performance of women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
3. Supports available from the community for clean energy and climate female founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators

​Register at: https://bit.ly/WomenEmpowerment22 

About New Energy Nexus:

New Energy Nexus (NEX) is an international nonprofit supporting diverse climate entrepreneurs to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy for 100% of the population. New Energy Nexus provides funds, accelerators and networks, with initiatives in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda and the USA.

Media contact: Tristan Tremschnig, Global Communications Director, New Energy Nexus, tristan.tremschnig@newenergynexus.com (based in Hong Kong)

Women-founded and led startups are receiving more attention in Southeast Asia, but they still represent a very small fraction. This is the focus of a webinar bringing together entrepreneurs and experts at “Women Empowerment in Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Economy” virtual meetup on 9 March, one day after International Women’s Day.

The situation in Southeast Asia reflects a global trend: only 20% of global startups are led by women (2019), while women represent only 32% of the workforce in the renewable energy sector. Exploring the barriers to women-led climate entrepreneurship, as well as the support up-and-coming women entrepreneurs can tap into will be crucial to ensure the benefits of clean energy and climate solutions are distributed more equitably and sustainably.

Hosted by New Energy Nexus, the panel of speakers includes representatives from startups, supporting organizations, and venture capital: 

• Chi Trinh is the Vietnam Country Manager of Clime Capital. Clime Capital identifies and creates investment opportunities founded on long-term, stable cash flow assets that contribute towards reducing climate change impacts, alleviating infrastructure gaps, and building sustainable economies.
• Laurie B. Navarro is the President of CSi Energy Solutions International. CSi is a consulting company on energy and environment based in the Philippines and providing services in the region. 
• Maaike Doyer is founder of Epic Angels – a network of female executives and operators who have built and expanded multiple companies in all parts of the world. Epic Angels has the ambition to become the largest female-only angel network in Asia. 
• Mada Ayu Habsari is Managing Director of PT. Enertec Mitra Solusi – a women-led startup based in Indonesia that is focusing on energy service, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Enertec started its journey as an energy services company with the focus of providing energy efficiency solutions on existing buildings and retrofit public facilities.
• Phattanan Supasatian, Chief Executive Officer, Godung Faifaa – a new online market that collects complete solar system equipment.
• Stanley Ng is the Southeast Asia Program Director at New Energy Nexus – an international nonprofit that supports diverse clean energy entrepreneurs with funds, accelerators, and networks.

Topics covered in the virtual meet up:

1. Opportunities and challenges for women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
2. Perspective on the performance of women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
3. Supports available from the community for clean energy and climate female founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators

​Register at: https://bit.ly/WomenEmpowerment22 

About New Energy Nexus:

New Energy Nexus (NEX) is an international nonprofit supporting diverse climate entrepreneurs to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy for 100% of the population. New Energy Nexus provides funds, accelerators and networks, with initiatives in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda and the USA.

Media contact: Tristan Tremschnig, Global Communications Director, New Energy Nexus, tristan.tremschnig@newenergynexus.com (based in Hong Kong)

Women-founded and led startups are receiving more attention in Southeast Asia, but they still represent a very small fraction. This is the focus of a webinar bringing together entrepreneurs and experts at “Women Empowerment in Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Economy” virtual meetup on 9 March, one day after International Women’s Day.

The situation in Southeast Asia reflects a global trend: only 20% of global startups are led by women (2019), while women represent only 32% of the workforce in the renewable energy sector. Exploring the barriers to women-led climate entrepreneurship, as well as the support up-and-coming women entrepreneurs can tap into will be crucial to ensure the benefits of clean energy and climate solutions are distributed more equitably and sustainably.

Hosted by New Energy Nexus, the panel of speakers includes representatives from startups, supporting organizations, and venture capital: 

• Chi Trinh is the Vietnam Country Manager of Clime Capital. Clime Capital identifies and creates investment opportunities founded on long-term, stable cash flow assets that contribute towards reducing climate change impacts, alleviating infrastructure gaps, and building sustainable economies.
• Laurie B. Navarro is the President of CSi Energy Solutions International. CSi is a consulting company on energy and environment based in the Philippines and providing services in the region. 
• Maaike Doyer is founder of Epic Angels – a network of female executives and operators who have built and expanded multiple companies in all parts of the world. Epic Angels has the ambition to become the largest female-only angel network in Asia. 
• Mada Ayu Habsari is Managing Director of PT. Enertec Mitra Solusi – a women-led startup based in Indonesia that is focusing on energy service, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Enertec started its journey as an energy services company with the focus of providing energy efficiency solutions on existing buildings and retrofit public facilities.
• Phattanan Supasatian, Chief Executive Officer, Godung Faifaa – a new online market that collects complete solar system equipment.
• Stanley Ng is the Southeast Asia Program Director at New Energy Nexus – an international nonprofit that supports diverse clean energy entrepreneurs with funds, accelerators, and networks.

Topics covered in the virtual meet up:

1. Opportunities and challenges for women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
2. Perspective on the performance of women-led clean energy and climate startups and enterprises
3. Supports available from the community for clean energy and climate female founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators

​Register at: https://bit.ly/WomenEmpowerment22 

About New Energy Nexus:

New Energy Nexus (NEX) is an international nonprofit supporting diverse climate entrepreneurs to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy for 100% of the population. New Energy Nexus provides funds, accelerators and networks, with initiatives in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda and the USA.

Media contact: Tristan Tremschnig, Global Communications Director, New Energy Nexus, tristan.tremschnig@newenergynexus.com (based in Hong Kong)

Rambu Yati Radandima, a finance manager in Indonesian start-up Sumba Sustainable Solutions (3S), is giving back to her community. A start-up with a focus on inclusive and sustainable innovations in Sumba Island, 3S provides local schools, villages and community health centres with access to solar power.

Rambu Yati’s work has personal meaning. She knows what it’s like to live without reliable access to electricity. Sumba, an island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province of Indonesia, has a unique geographical character that makes tapping into the national electricity grid difficult. In the past, over 500,000 families living there—roughly 38% of the island’s population—struggled with little or no electricity.

Rambu Yati says: “Life in the village was very different. Back in the 90s, my family relied on kerosene lamps to light up our home when we cooked or when we wove palm mats. We had to manually pound rice and corns because we had no access to milling machines.”

While the Indonesian government committed to electrifying the entire country by 2020 (RUEN 2017)[1], only 62% of the East Nusa Tenggara population has access to electricity, the lowest energy access level in Indonesia (IESR, 2019).

Stepping stones

In 2000, Rambu Yati enrolled in the Warmadewa University in Bali. She successfully graduated with an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Science. Today, as finance manager at 3S, Rambu Yati is involved in solving energy access issues in her community by providing solar-powered technologies to local institutions. An ethical, profitable business, 3S’s work focuses on bridging the energy gap in rural communities.

The distribution of solar-powered lighting solutions has significantly improved Rambu Yati’s community. Today, Sumba’s children can finally do their homework and study at night. Power has also improved people’s livelihoods, allowing more hours for local artisans to weave tenun ikat, a traditional handwoven fabric. Unique to Sumba, tenun ikat is part of Indonesia’s artistic heritage.

Mission for productivity

3S also provides solar systems for people’s homes and solar-powered productivity centres, which are energy hubs for the community. These solutions are powering livelihoods in Sumba by enabling villagers to mill crops and process bamboo. They are not only making people’s livelihoods more sustainable but are also improving the quality of life for many women in Sumba.

Before, women had to spend several hours a day pounding corn and were left with just half a day free. The solar-powered productivity centres enable villagers to make better use of their time. The men take corn to the mill while the women shell candlenut, which they can later sell at a higher price.

Renewable energy is also saving money and improving people’s health. According to the Indonesian Central Agency of Statistics, villagers typically spend 10% of their monthly living costs on expensive fossil-fuel-based lighting, like kerosene lamps, which emit harmful fumes that can damage the lungs.

With solar-power solutions, Sumba’s villagers now have a greatly reduced electricity bill. Rambu Ina is one of 3S’s local customers. She says: “In the past, we only used the kerosene candle for one hour because it was too expensive. In the evenings, now I have light for four or more hours. At night, often we sit around and talk to our neighbours while shelling our candlenuts or working on woven palm mats to be sold at the market.”

Work in progress

Rambu Yati aspires to keep helping Sumba’s local communities to access renewable energy, so they can increase their incomes and afford a better education for their children. Ensuring 3S has operational and financial sustainability is crucial so they can maintain the solar home systems and solar-powered productivity centres that the villagers depend on.

Like many other start-up employees, Rambu Yati struggled with data collection and creating a balance sheet that was fundamental to 3S’s growth. That’s where New Energy Nexus stepped in.

New Energy Nexus connected Rambu Yati and her colleagues to experts in HR, marketing communications and finance, through a programme called Mentor-in-Residence. Thanks to this programme, Rambu Yati now has the essential resources and skills to move forward. She can confidently draft financial forecasts to determine what the start-up needs to scale up, and ultimately, empower more villages with renewable energy.

3S is no longer a start-up struggling to survive but a sustainable business instilled with a healthy company culture that upholds transparency and communications between team members and stakeholders. And the skills Rambu Yati has learned in areas like communications are helping her nurture a new generation of skilled workers on the island.

She says: “Before we started with the New Energy Nexus accelerator, we were just dealing with problems as they came up, feeling like there must a better way. With New Energy Nexus’ guidance, we now have a clear plan for all parts of the business and our whole team is committed to achieving the goals that we have set together.

“I feel that we now have a shared responsibility to make our company vision and mission—to empower rural communities through access to energy and appliances for productive use—a success.”

[1] Indonesia’s National Energy Plan (Rencana Umum Energi Nasional (RUEN)).