ESA’s Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) Energy team had a busy few days at the SET Tech Festival and the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue in Berlin last week, exploring new sustainable energy solutions with innovators from across Europe and beyond. Now in its ninth year, the Set Tech Festival is an important feature on the sustainable energy calendar, with companies coming together to share best practice and discuss how to address the challenges ahead. With maintaining sustainable energy supplies and addressing climate challenges at the top of political and social agendas around the world, space has a key role to play in delivering effective and sustainable innovation in the sector.

Day one saw a series of pitches from the finalists of the prestigious Start-Up Energy Transition (SET) Award, and Asimina Syriou, Energy Lead for ESA BASS, joined the jury judging the 15 finalists in five categories, along with other experts in the field, including BASS Energy Task Force member DENA, which hosted the event in cooperation with the World Energy Council. As well as assessing the companies’ presentations and deciding which projects best align with the Festival’s core themes of sustainability, energy transition and climate innovation, the jury also offered networking and mentoring to startups, connecting them with relevant industry contacts. 

This year’s winners were announced at the Award Ceremony the following day:

•    Clean Energy & Storage: Cowa (Switzerland 🇨🇭)

•    Mobility & Transportation: Nyobolt (UK 🇬🇧 )

•    Industry: Cyclize (Germany 🇩🇪 )

•    Buildings & Construction: Concular (Germany 🇩🇪 )

•    Quality Energy Access & SDG-7: Koolboks (France 🇫🇷 )

ESA BASS had a prominent presence at the event this year, and the team was joined at the booth by three companies which have been supported by BASS to develop their own innovative projects in recent years. Italy’s i-EM who developed the successful MOWGLI project were among them, along with SolarCleano from Luxembourg and Germany’s VISTA.

During the day, Rita Rinaldo, Head of Applications, Projects and Studies Division at ESA, spoke about how space is accelerating the energy transition, joining DLR Start Up Factory, LiveEO, one of the BASS programme’s successful projects and ELIA group, on the stage during the Innovation as a Cross-Fertilizer Between Industries – The Energy x Space Nexus panel discussion.

“We are delighted to see so many BASS alumni at this event and to support the companies on our stand” said Rita Rinaldo. “Events such as these give innovators the chance to showcase their vision and make connections fostering the adoption of the developed product/service, by engaging with potential customers and other companies operating in the energy sector. For us, it is an opportunity to bring forward the unique value that space has in supporting the energy transition and increasing awareness of currently planned initiatives, such as the ones on Green Hydrogen or Digitalisation of the Energy Infrastructure.

Our collaboration with DENA, a key member of the BASS Energy Task Force, is instrumental in bridging the gap between space innovation and the needs of the energy sector, ensuring that satellite technology plays a pivotal role in advancing sustainable energy solutions. ESA BASS continues to support new innovators across Europe to use space technology and data to address the challenges faced by the energy sector.”

Corinna Enders, CEO of DENA, highlighted the role of cross-sector collaboration in accelerating innovation: "Driving the energy transition requires a collective effort from industry, policymakers, and innovators. By fostering partnerships like those at SET Tech Festival, we can unlock groundbreaking solutions that push the boundaries of sustainability and climate action. ESA BASS plays an essential role in this ecosystem, demonstrating how space-based technology and data can be leveraged to support the energy transition and create real impact."

Marking the end of a busy three days in Berlin, representatives from ESA BASS also took part in the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, a major conference running parallel to and in cooperation with the SET Tech Festival. Organised by the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action the conference brought together policymakers, industry leaders, and innovators to discuss energy transition, climate goals, and sustainable development. 

To find out more about how ESA BASS is supporting the energy transition, please visit https://business.esa.int/energy or sign up for our quarterly Energy Bulletin.

Sign up to the Energy Bulletin

A successful Feasibility Study by German company EOMAP has attracted key funding from the Enel Group to progress its digital snow modelling solution to Demonstration Project phase. Developed under ESA’s Business Application and Space Solutions programme, SnowPower uses satellite data to provide the hydropower sector with accurate snow information, even in remote mountainous areas. 

Detailed and precise information about snow depth (SD) and the volume of water the snow stores (snow water equivalent – SWE) is crucial for operations within the hydropower sector, especially during Spring when the snow melts. However, the retrieval of SD and SWE data in mountainous regions by traditional methods, such as in-situ measurements or expensive Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) overflights, is either limited in scope or time consuming and expensive to execute. 

The SnowPower solution pairs existing localised snow information with advanced satellite-based data to cover wider geographical areas in more detail, more efficiently and at lower cost than ever before. EOMAP's project partner Snowcap records SD information using Sentinel-1 Earth Observation data and feeds this into assimilation software to create an accurate snow model. It also seamlessly generates daily SWE data across extensive mountainous areas at a resolution of 500 metres, which can be merged with existing information for non-mountainous regions to provide comprehensive coverage across entire countries. This key data is displayed via EOMAP’s bespoke app, the eoapp Hypos which provides users with visualisation, exporting and analysis functions to support operational processes across the industry.

SnowPower was supported by Enel Global Energy and Commodity Management and Chief Pricing Officer, which has among its functions the management of exposure of hydroelectric production. Such a project is carried out together with Enel Green Power which manages the large cluster of hydro power plants in the Alpine and Apennine regions. Following the pilot, Snowcap subsequently updated the technology, improving performance levels by 20% and offering increased coverage and enhanced data and algorithm processing.

As part of the Demonstration Project phase, the EOMAP team plans to establish a highly reliable near-real time service, making further enhancements to accuracy and carrying out widespread testing of different meteorological data sets. SnowPower will be piloted more widely across Italy, Finland and Chile, showcasing the added value of the service, before the final service concept and business exploitation plan is implemented, leveraging pilot user feedback to ensure successful market entry.

ESA Technical Officer, Beatrice Barresi, says “SnowPower has shown impressive potential through its Feasibility Study and we look forward to working with EOMAP on the Demonstration Project phase. With ESA’s technical expertise and Enel’s backing, it has the power to transform hydropower operations in years to come. We believe that SnowPower service will play an important role in the green transition of the energy sector, as it will ease the management of hydropower.”   

Dr. Fabian von Trentini, innovation manager at EOMAP, said "The collaboration with top experts on snow remote sensing at Snowcap and the Finnish Meteorological Institute is really inspiring and helps us at EOMAP to broaden up our portfolio when it comes to water resource management. The innovative approach developed by Snowcap is a major leap for effective and efficient reservoir management in snow-dominated catchments."

Enel Global Energy and Commodity Management weather teams said, “The knowledge of snowpack and ice thickness is a crucial aspect in Enel business. Enel believes that the latest developments in satellite observations in terms of accuracy and precision could play a key role to enhance the performance of water storage management of hydro power plants. GECM and EGPTG teams are engaged to work with EOMAP to develop new instruments for a more accurate water management as a part of hydro energy transition optimisation.”

Originally developed as part of a consortium with Snowcap and the Finnish Meteorological Institute, SnowPower is poised to transform the management of hydropower plants in mountainous regions, converting satellite data into actionable snow-related information in a simple and effective format for users. The commercial promise shown by EOMAP’s innovative space-based solution is coupled with socioeconomic and sustainability returns: the company’s endeavours will improve the efficiency of hydro energy production, while minimising the impact of floods through improved forecasting, and reducing the carbon footprint through the development of affordable and clean energy.

Find out more about ESA's work in the energy sector

Sign up to our energy bulletin