Energy Hack 2017 Winners xsSPACE
Read all about the Energy Hack 2017 winners.
On the weekend of 20-22 October, over 100 engineers, economists, social scientists and renewable energy professionals attended the second annual Energy Hack at The University of Melbourne promoting entrepreneurship and developing innovative solutions for our energy industry.
The Melbourne Energy Institute is grateful to Energy Hack founding partner Powershop Australia, and event partners The State Government of Victoria, City of Melbourne, CitiPower PowerCor, Deloitte Digital, DB Results, Allens, Zen Energy, Clean Energy Council and Intelligent Energy Systems, whose contributions made the event an outstanding success.
At the heart of the hack were the participants, whose innovations were developed together with the expertise of some incredible mentors from across the energy sector. One participant said, ‘It was great to meet others with similar interests and to work with those with a variety of experience and skills.’ This diversity of experience enriched the teams and assisted them in generating new approaches to old (and new) problems.
A total of 17 teams presented to a panel of expert judges:
- Michelle Groves - CEO, Australian Energy Regulator
- Jo Witters - Executive General Manager, Office of Innovation, Australian Energy Market Operator
- Simon Holmes à Court - Energy Entrepreneur
- Melissa O'Neill - General Manager Corporate Affairs, Citipower/Powercor
- Michael Brear - Director, Melbourne Energy Institute
- Sabiene Heindl - Director, Strategic Engagement & Corporate Counsel, Energy Consumers Australia
- Michael Benveniste - Head of Commercial & Strategy, Powershop
- Lauren Solomon - CEO, Consumer Policy Research Centre
The winning teams presented ideas that delivered benefits to energy consumers through effectively utilizing new business models and digital technologies. This reflected the Hack lightning talks’ focus on innovation in fin-tech and how this can be developed and employed by the energy sector. Our top 3 teams were:
- xsSPACE – an ‘airbnb model’ for solar where a marketplace connects consumers that do not have access to rooftop for a PV installation to roofs that are currently free of solar panels.
- Rentaray – a business model that delivers access to the energy price benefits of solar panels to renters by incentivising landlords to install solar system solutions for their tenants.
- PowerTwitch – automated bill analysis and switching platform that finds the customer the best available deal.
If you couldn't make it over the weekend, you can check out all the action in the video below: