The tragic events in Ukraine are taking a volatile and explosive global energy predicament and throwing them into the fire. Governments around the world have agreed to move at unimaginable speed to achieve a previously unassailable goal of reaching a zero-emission electricity mix.
The events in Ukraine have shown that dependency on foreign energy sources makes any country and their economies, vulnerable to geopolitical risk and fossil fuel price changes – as well as climate risk.
The answer to this energy crisis, not only in the long term but also in the short term, has to be a dramatic and rapid transformation of our electricity generation to renewable energy.
The benefits of technologies such as solar and wind farms are well understood. What is more challenging for operators of increasingly complex, diverse and disparate renewable energy projects, is operating them over a long period, in increasingly inhospitable conditions.
For example, in the recent ScotsWind offshore auction, a record number of leases were successful for floating offshore wind farms. Floating wind farms are installed in much deeper seas and have yet to be deployed at scale. Operating wind farms in these much more distant and inhospitable locations will be a major challenge for renewable energy operators.
To help unlock these challenges, and to hasten our migration to clean, sustainable and renewable energy, Vala has invested in Sennen Technologies – a remarkable software and data optimisation platform for the renewable energy market based out of Bristol. Sennen enables renewable energy investors and operators to better monitor, manage and optimise their assets using sophisticated data and workflow management capabilities.
Whether it is wind farms in Taiwan, or solar farms in the UK, Sennen’s technology is used globally by some of the largest operators of renewable energy assets in the world including global operators such as EDF.
Clients who use Sennen’s cloud-edge technology can get more granular, real-time data insights, make more informed decisions, improve safety and enhance project efficiency and outputs.
All in all, it’s a win-win. More clean energy from more efficient renewable energy projects at a lower price and fewer emissions.
Team: Co-founders, Gaby Amiel and Paul Grimshaw are industry experts who met each other whilst working for London Array (which at the time was the world’s largest wind farm). We believe their industry expertise, developed by working right at the forefront of some of the world’s leading renewable energy arrays, as well as their product vision and reputation in the industry, provides Sennen with huge potential in an industry that is forecast to transform the way we generate and store electricity – and that will have a huge impact on the fight against climate change.
Impact: Sennen’s technology lowers the cost, improves efficiency and increases the uptime of renewable generation assets. So, not only does more renewable energy make its way into the grid, but the cost of operating these assets reduces, incentivising more operators to invest more and lowering the cost, indirectly, for consumers.
Not only that, but as the world moves to renewable energy assets in increasingly complex and daunting environments, like deep-sea floating wind farms, Sennen’s technology will come into its own, enabling operators to manage and maintain assets in these extreme environments. This not only improves the efficiency of the assets but also supports operators to move into the increasingly distant locations we need to access if we’re to reach our Net-Zero targets.
Be sure to watch this space for further updates on mission-driven teams building great businesses – we’re going to be backing quite a few. 🚀
