When WePower was founded our ambition was strongly focused on Europe. Europe is our home market, our team has in-depth knowledge on how it operates as well as a strong established network there. It also is one of the greenest and decentralized energy markets in the world with a strong focus to digitize its energy grids by 2020. Europe has got perfect conditions from both infrastructure and legal perspectives for WePower to launch, scale and eventually realize our vision.
However, as you may know, on the 13th of December 2017 WePower was admitted to the StartupBootCamp (SBC) accelerator’s energy program in Australia. This has been a major development, which has opened a fantastic opportunity for us. However, some of you have been left puzzled — why are we now suddenly launching our operations in Australia?
Here is some background:
First of all, Australia has got perfect natural conditions for renewable energy production:
- The sun shines brightly nearly all year around;
- South Australia is great for wind power;
- There is a large amount of land to build renewable energy plants on;
- The public sentiment towards green energy is fantastic;
- The government actively promotes and supports renewables.
These are just a few of many reasons why Australia is well positioned to drive green energy adoption and with an offer from the StartupBootCamp we simply could not leave this opportunity out.
Secondly, SBC is one of the biggest startup accelerators Globally. The SBC team has got a worldwide network as well as support from companies in many of WePower’s target markets. SBC is also a team of very experienced professionals. Together with SBC and their partners we can turn WePower into the l force driving green energy adoption across the Globe.
Last but not least, the Program is supported by some of the largest Australian enterprises. They provide a full range of services from energy production/delivery to IT/HR as well as are part of the Australian energy ecosystem. The SBC program provides access for its participants to the resources, know-how and infrastructure belonging to the the SBC partners.
What’s waiting for us there?
- we will start our operations in Australia together with the SBC program in February 2018;
- we will partner with the main supporting companies of the program, including but not exclusive to Energy Australia, Spotless and Dius;
- This development will give a positive push to WePower as we are going to be running operations and testing our technology in two continents — Europe and Australia — at the same time. This will give us a robust technical and business knowledge on how to scale into new geographies rapidly.
What’s the plan?
Over the last month we have worked with our partners on the launch plan. Here is what we are planning to do:
- We are currently forming a separate team of engineers, which will move and fully work in Australia. This team will be formed from both our current senior engineers and new hires in Australia. Our Australian team will be developing WePower platform to have it tailored to the local needs, testing integrations with the Australian grid and working closely with the Australian energy experts. This will ensure that the progress of WePower platforms development is made 24/7: while its a nighttime in Europe, the Australian team will be working and vice versa. It will also allow to develop WePower platform and make it suitable for different grid systems from day one;
- Nick and Arturas will rotate and spend time in Australia in order to develop a pilot project with the Program’s partners and launch the WePower platform. Founding team will explore two scenarios.
- First WePower launches the WePower platform together with a partner energy company and tap into their structure and customer base.
- Second, WePower starts business as an independent structure.
We actually have already received inquiries from potential clients — renewable energy producers. They are eager to explore cooperation opportunities with us
All in all, it is a fantastic development and win-win situation for everyone of us. As a result, we will develop our platform and expand across the globe faster. We will have very strong partners and supporters in two different continents and connect more green energy projects to the platform. We are extremely excited about this strong boost to the green energy revolution. We could not have it done without you.
P.S. Australian community, we will meet really soon!
