Iberdrola seeks solutions to anticipate the resilience of power grids against extreme weather events

BAT B Accelerator Tower in Bilbao, a benchmark centre for corporate innovation and entrepreneurship in Bizkaia, hosted a new edition of B Acceleration Week, an international event designed to create meeting points and collaborations between the local corporate ecosystem and entrepreneurs in the region, as well as startups offering innovative solutions at a global level.

In this context, with the presence of the leading corporations in Bizkaia, the participation of over 100 startups, and more than 300 guests, Iberdrola revealed its new challenge focused on power grids and aimed at startups.

This challenge aims to improve the resilience of the distribution grid by anticipating extreme weather events and minimising their impact on customers through the use of advanced computing techniques. It is part of its PERSEO programme, which seeks to facilitate the Group’s access to future technologies while promoting the development of a global ecosystem of startups in the energy sector with a focus on sustainability. The tool was created with the purpose of introducing innovation into the company through various programmes and facilitating its potential application in tangible business cases that generate significant value for Iberdrola and its stakeholders. Start-up challenge: Power grid resilience - Iberdrola

Interested startups can submit their proposals until 15 September, and the winner will be announced on 20 November. They will then carry out a trial and/or proof of concept to validate the solution in a real environment. The winner will have the opportunity to join the Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub – Iberdrola’s global smart grids centre based in Bilbao – as a collaborator, and PERSEO may consider investing in the participating company and/or in the winning solution of the challenge.

Iberdrola is currently the world’s leading wind producer, the largest European utility by market capitalisation, and one of the two largest in the world. The company is committed to the energy transition with a sustainable business model based on renewable energies, smart grids, large-scale energy storage, and digital transformation to offer the most advanced products and services to its customers.

Today, Iberdrola is the private energy company investing the most in R&D&i globally, with a clear commitment to innovation as a strategic variable for the development and evolution of all its businesses and activities. This strategic vision has been in place for some time and has allowed the company to anticipate the current energy transition by 20 years in order to address the challenges of climate change and the need to offer a cleaner, more reliable, and smarter business model.

Enlit Bilbao 2025

The winner will be announced during the European event Enlit, which will take place in Bilbao from 18 to 20 November.

Enlit is a global forum dedicated to addressing all aspects of the energy transition. Enlit Europe is the main event of the year, with its location rotating within the continent. It was held in Frankfurt in 2022, Paris in 2023, Milan in 2024, and will be in Bilbao in November 2025. The support from Iberdrola and Basque institutions has been key to bringing this event to the Basque capital this year.

PERSEO Iberdrola Ventures, 15 years innovating with startups and industrial businesses

PERSEO is part of Iberdrola’s commitment to a sustainable energy model, and this programme fosters the development of innovative startups and industrial companies working in new areas that accelerate electrification and sustainability in the energy sector.

Since its creation in 2008, PERSEO has invested over 200 million euros in businesses developing innovative technologies, focusing on those that help improve the sustainability of the energy sector through greater electrification and decarbonisation of the economy.

Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub

Located in Bilbao, the Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub, driven by Iberdrola in collaboration with the Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, has become a global reference centre for innovation and knowledge in smart grids, providing solutions to the challenges of the energy transition. It also acts as a platform for driving innovation, combining Iberdrola’s technological capabilities with over 100 collaborating entities and companies integrated into the Hub.

The initiative brings together the innovative potential of more than 200 professionals working on R&D&i projects related to the challenges of future power grids: greater digitalisation, the processing of data generated by these infrastructures and their response, as well as electric mobility and self-consumption, among others.

About BAT B Accelerator Tower

BAT B Accelerator Tower is the spearhead of a national project aimed at putting Bizkaia on the international entrepreneurship map. The support of the main Basque institutions aims to make BAT B Accelerator Tower a unique centre in the world, capable of bringing together public tools for entrepreneurship and innovation with the distinctive services and international network of PwC and partnerships with international collaborators such as Talent Garden and Impact Hub.

With the goal of becoming the most important innovation HUB in southern Europe and the best connected, BAT B Accelerator Tower is a hub for entrepreneurial talent and open innovation, where startups, corporates, investors, and public administration work together.