Cambridge Cleantech and OXTO Energy have presented the STEPS project at the City-Tech.Tokyo event in Japan! As one of the world’s largest city-tech events, City-Tech.Tokyo aims to realize sustainable cities through open innovation together with start-ups. Participants from all over the world presented various technologies and innovations to overcome urban sustainability issues and create ideal cities. A great opportunity to showcase the STEPS project and promote NWE as hub for energy storage innovation.
Big in Japan
STEPS project partner Cambridge Cleantech and SME OXTO Energy were invited as speakers by the Japanese contracting firm Shimizu Corporations. OXTO Energy, who received support in the STEPS business support programme, was introduced at Shimizu Corporations by Cambridge Cleantech. When Shimizu opened a call for innovators working on solutions for sustainability challenge like Energy Storage, OXTO Energy signed up.
Shimizu Corporations selected OXTO Energy’s modular flywheel for the acceleration programme SHIMNEXT. As part of this acceleration programme, OXTO Energy gets the chance to deploy a commercial pilot of their flywheel solution at the Shimizu headquarters in Tokyo. This also gave them the opportunity to speak at City-Tech.Tokyo, where the accelerator programme was officially launched. Cambridge Cleantech was invited as to present the STEPS project and showcase how the project has helped SMEs like OXTO Energy to get their energy storage innovations to the market.
NWE as energy storage innovation hub
Cambridge Cleantech and OXTO Energy did not only attend the City-Tech.Tokyo event, there were many more fruitful meetings and excursions in Japan. They had meetings with several innovation and technology companies, energy start-ups and funds, participated in roundtables and attended network events. This gave them the opportunity to present STEPS internationally, show success cases and promote NWE as hub for energy storage innovation.
OXTO Energy’s modular flywheel
OXTO Energy is a developer of a modular flywheel energy storage system designed to store and supply energy on demand. Their hardware technology is focused on a completely new generation of flywheel batteries. These batteries have the potential to change energy storage for industries like manufacturing, transportation, and real estate by stabilising electricity from renewable intermittent sources of energy and reducing the cost of power consumption.
OXTO Energy received support in the STEPS project from the University of Twente (Enschede, The Netherlands) and the National University of Ireland Galway (Galway, Ireland). Knowledge support was provided on the flywheel’s inverter from power electronics and electromagnetic compatibility point of view. The provided support was very helpful for OXTO to gain confidence in their current design of the inverter. Additional, coding and connection issues with a current sensor (used for testing purposes) at the output of the inverter were clarified.
Shimizu Corporation
Shimizu Corporation is an architectural, civil engineering and general contracting firm. It has annual sales of approximately US$15 billion and has been widely recognized as one of the top five contractors in Japan and among the top twenty in the world. As part of their open innovation programme, Shimizu opened a call for innovators working sustainable solutions for current urban and global challenges, one of them Energy Storage.
Photo:
Left: Sam Goodall (Cambridge Cleantech) presenting the STEPS Project at during City-Tech.Tokyo
Right: Michael Willemot (OXTO Energy) presenting a mini flywheel model at the Shimizu booth, as part of a networking session at the City-Tech.Tokyo
