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Gerard & Anton Award winner Tibo Energy wants a future without grid congestion
Innovation Origins is putting the winners of the Gerard and Anton Awards 2023 in the spotlight. This edition: Tibo Energy.
Manage network congestion, manage contract limits, reduce CO2 emissions, and reduce energy costs: Tibo Energy’s goals are as clear as they are desirable. The company was founded in 2021 by a group of visionary founders with deep technical expertise and a shared mission. Their driving force was the alarming state of grid congestion in the Netherlands and the prospect of similar challenges worldwide in the future. “We were faced with the reality that the energy grid could no longer meet increasing demand, especially from large energy consumers”, co-founder Bram Cappers says.
With their understanding of technical aspects of energy infrastructure, they understood that addressing grid congestion was critical not only to a successful transition to renewable energy but also to driving growth and innovation. “By addressing the bottlenecks in the grid, we aim to not only contribute to the environment but also create favorable circumstances in which energy-intensive companies could flourish and expand without the constraints of congestion.”
Tibo’s mission is “to ensure a sustainable future for generations to come”. This should be done through innovative energy solutions that reduce environmental impact and actively contribute to creating a cleaner and more livable planet. “Our vision is focused on creating space for a more sustainable world by addressing grid congestion. We believe in the importance of optimized and efficient energy networks that seamlessly integrate renewable resources. This is critical to achieving a resilient and sustainable energy infrastructure.”
Within the energy sector, Tibo focuses specifically on the needs of business parks, industrial sites, university campuses, and hospitals. Cappers: “Our focus on these specific sectors is based on the understanding that these locations are often significant energy consumers and, therefore, prone to problems such as grid congestion.”
The Power of Technology
Already experiencing the benefits of Tibo Energy’s solutions in the present world, Cappers only expects these opportunities to grow over the coming years. “In the next five to ten years, we face challenging opportunities and possibilities within the energy sector that will profoundly impact our society and economy. Our energy grid is overloaded, leading to constraints on businesses, industrial parks, and even residential areas. According to grid operators and experts, this lack of capacity will continue for another decade, posing a serious challenge to our industry. However, in these challenges lie opportunities for innovation and change as well. We deeply believe in the power of technological solutions to address these issues and future-proof the energy infrastructure.”
Tibo’s solutions are right there, he adds. “Through the smart deployment of software and strategically placed assets such as energy and thermal storage, we can reclaim some of the capacity and make it available in the short term. This innovative approach allows us to reduce the load on the energy grid and create space for growing businesses and new developments.”
Society needs to get used to the growing complexity of the energy system. In fact, one of the most significant challenges Tibo had to overcome was the perception of simplicity and transparency traditionally associated with the energy market. “While it used to seem like energy generation and delivery simply came down to connecting a generator to a cable, the rise of renewable energy sources and an exponential increase in energy consumption has made our energy infrastructure more complex and challenging.”
Brainport Eindhoven
This complexity is compounded by changing energy markets and the advanced mathematics underlying energy flow management. Developing Tibo’s advanced algorithms and technologies to address these challenges was a massive task. Moreover, it was not just enough to create these complex algorithms; they had to be integrated into a secure and scalable online platform. Cappers: “This challenge helped drive our decision to locate on the TU/e campus. Here we are surrounded by a community of smart and passionate people driven by the possibilities of sustainability. This inspiring environment has helped us refine our innovative technology and translate it into a platform that our customers can actually use.”
And it’s not only the local university that has helped Tibo develop. “The vibrant ecosystem of Brainport Eindhoven has significantly impacted our growth. It has influenced our development in crucial ways. By benefiting from shared knowledge, living labs, and collaborations with established parties, we have strengthened our innovative energy solutions and contributed to the sustainable transformation of the energy industry.”
Tibo Energy can’t solve the grid congestion on its own, though. “Although we are in an enabling environment, greater capacity and infrastructure improvements on the power grid are critical to truly accelerating the energy transition. With these ‘ideal conditions’, we can even better fulfill our role as leaders in the energy transition and create a tangible impact on sustainability and innovation.”
Four former winners
As a winner in the ninth round of the Gerard & Anton Awards, Tibo Energy is part of an already strong tradition. Which of the eighty former winners stands out for Bram Cappers? He hesitates to name just one. “We believe the energy transition can only be accelerated through joint efforts and cooperation between innovative players. While Tibo Energy plays an important role in this process with our software-based solutions, we also recognize the need for innovative hardware in this ecosystem. Therefore, we welcome the opportunities that arise by collaborating with other promising start-ups within the Brainport region. We already have fruitful collaborations with partners such as Cellcius and IBIS Power. We are also very excited about the prospects of collaborations with other inspiring companies such as Rift, known for their innovative approach to energy storage, and ELEO, a fast-growing name in the sector.”