3 Sep 2024
Sweetch Energy is a deep-tech venture developing and deploying a new renewable energy source with osmotic power. This pioneering French startup is a part of EIC Scaling Club’s Renewable Energies cohort.
Nicolas Heuzé, CEO and one of the company’s three co-founders, highlighted the potential of this natural, weather-independent source of energy found in river deltas worldwide: “Estimates show that 15% of global electricity needs could be covered with osmotic power, making it a major pillar of the energy transition.”
Making osmotic power competitive
Osmotic energy is generated by harnessing the difference in salinity between fresh river water and seawater. This principle has been around for 75 years, but researchers and industry specialists have struggled to find a way to make this technology efficient and competitive.
The well-known concept of using membranes for generating osmotic energy has been underperforming and expensive. Sweetch Energy has changed this by applying a recent breakthrough in nanofluidics to develop a completely new membrane.
In simple terms, this innovative membrane has nano-sized pores that can be selective to classify the ions (negative ions on one side, positive on the other side, just like a battery). The new membrane’s pores are significantly larger, allowing a much faster circulation of ions and improving the membrane's performance.
Furthermore, Sweetch Energy’s patented membrane is based on lower-cost biomaterials, making the whole technology more efficient and cost-effective. Nicolas Heuzé pointed out:
“Our technology is a closed-loop system using only freshwater and seawater, with zero emissions (no noise, smoke, or smell). Its modular design minimizes its footprint and eliminates the need for large structures. This approach stands in stark contrast to technologies with significant visual and environmental impact, like wind farms, which are also more difficult for society to accept”.
Ahead of the competition – but racing against the clock
Sweetch Energy is based in Brittany, the West of France. Nicolas Heuzé credits his most valuable asset – a team of 50 R&D and process engineers, project developers, and other committed individuals bringing their creativity and dedication to every challenge – which have not been scarce.
After designing the core membrane, Sweetch Energy’s biggest hurdle was building the entire osmotic system around it. Scaling this R&D project to industrial size meant a complete system redesign and securing patents for the technology.
Now, the company focuses on mass production and automation to achieve competitive pricing. It also works with partners like French utility EDF and other stakeholders to identify and prepare deployment sites for rapid rollout. The first demonstrator on the Rhône River in Southern France is nearing completion, with generator installation planned for this summer. “When this first period is completed, then it's about deploying at a very large scale,” Nicolas Heuzé told us.
Finally, financing this hardware-heavy endeavor is a challenge in itself. Unlike software with lower upfront costs, hardware deployment requires significant capital investment. While the company has secured €40 million from French and European VCs, they are looking for €150-200 million in the next three years.
According to Nicolas Heuzé, Sweetch Energy is three to four years ahead of any type of competition. At the same time, the team is racing against the clock:
“It's a really massive industry that we're pushing here with a new science. However, there are many people working on this principle in other regions of the world. If we want to stay at the forefront of this industry, we need to move faster. My commitment is clear: I'm here to make us the European champions in osmotic power."
EIC Scaling Club presents strategic partnerships
Since joining the EIC Scaling Club, the founders of Sweetch Energy have already noticed its practical value – it’s a resourceful community that offers more than just social gatherings. Nicolas Heuzé says:
“We've met with key members and are actively identifying others with potential support. Our exciting but challenging project demands strong partnerships. That’s why the Club's network is invaluable in helping us find the right collaborators to push forward”.
"Sweetch Energy has the potential to be a major success story, driving clean energy solutions for the European industry. The question is, how can Europe foster innovation like ours? By working together with the EIC Scaling Club, we can ensure Europe becomes the hub for deploying and developing this technology," Nicolas says.
About the EIC Scaling Club
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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