Iberdrola’s global innovation and smart grid center in Bilbao is making strides in enhancing the capabilities of smart grids to electrify the economy, create jobs, and develop the next generation of smart grids.
Through its distributor, i-DE, Iberdrola initiated a technological challenge aimed at innovating smart grids via the PERSEO platform. This initiative seeks to provide access to future technologies and foster a global ecosystem of sustainability-focused start-ups. The challenge’s winner is Plexigrid, an Asturian start-up based in Gijón, Spain, and Stockholm, Sweden.
In partnership with the BAT B Accelerator Tower—Bizkaia International Entrepreneurship Centre—a selection process identified the best global solutions, culminating in the B Acceleration Week, the largest innovation and entrepreneurship event in northern Spain. During this event, i-DE’s technical team explored six of the thirty proposed solutions and engaged in knowledge-sharing with regional innovation companies.
As the selected start-up, Plexigrid will conduct a pilot test with i-DE, join the BAT Community, and participate in a tailored acceleration program designed to enhance its growth in collaboration with Iberdrola and BAT.
The PERSEO challenge focused on creating new electricity grid scenarios that maximize the capacity of digitized grids using data and AI techniques. The aim was to develop digital solutions to model demand scenarios—including consumption, generation, self-consumption, and storage—and predict operational behaviors to plan investments while ensuring grid capacity over a five to ten-year horizon.
Key considerations for these scenarios included:
- Current electricity demand, generation, and self-consumption
- Electrical storage options (domestic, industrial, utility, BESS, etc.)
- Emerging short-term demands (electric mobility, heating, cooling, decarbonization of industrial processes)
- Medium and long-term demands tied to technological advancements (digital electrification, new consumption models, artificial intelligence, e-fuels, green hydrogen, etc.)
The Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub (GSGIH) aims to attract talent and promote emerging technologies that support the energy transition by maximizing renewable energy use, integrating energy storage systems, and optimizing electricity access for mobility and air conditioning.
In collaboration with the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Iberdrola has united over 100 industrial companies, universities, and technology centers, pooling their technological expertise and research experience. Iberdrola’s commitment to sustainable energy is reflected in its PERSEO program, which fosters start-ups and innovative firms in new electrification sectors.
Since its inception in 2008, PERSEO has invested over 200 million euros in companies developing innovative technologies, particularly those enhancing the energy sector’s sustainability through increased electrification and decarbonization. Through the Perseo Venture Builder, new industrial initiatives are launched to create business models that facilitate electrification in hard-to-decarbonize sectors.
