Space Economy and Energy Transition: the case of Wegaw

The Space Economy represents a rapidly growing sector that leverages activities in space and space technologies to create new economic opportunities. Furthermore, it is increasingly evident that the Space Economy is playing a crucial role in the transition towards a green and sustainable economy. In this article we find out how startup Wegaws is using satellite data to foster energy transition processes, through an interview conducted by the Space Economy Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano.

Space technologies are essential for monitoring climate change, collecting crucial environmental data, and developing innovative solutions to address environmental challenges. Satellites, for instance, enable the collection of accurate data on temperature, levels of atmospheric pollutants, deforestation, and much more, thereby contributing to the monitoring and mitigation of climate change. Additionally, space resources, such as solar energy captured in space, can help reduce dependence on polluting energy sources. The Space Economy thus presents a unique opportunity to combine technological innovation with the goal of a green transition, helping to create a more sustainable future for our planet.

To this extent, leveraging the proliferation and diffusion of satellite data, the Swiss startup Wegaw is now scaling its business. Co-founded in 2016 by the software developer Ion Padilla, Wegaw today relies on a team of ten people and several successful projects with large organizations, including multiple projects supported by the European Space Agency.

“Our customer segment is primarily represented by renewable energy companies, with a focus on hydro generators and solar, and where snow is one of the key inputs,” says Matt Elgin (Head of Business Development). “We offer a forecasting platform that assesses the availability of snow in the future and most importantly the water stored within the snow. Leveraging satellite data and different sources of terrestrial data, we are able to support energy companies in trading the amount and the prices of the input they intend to acquire and act more sustainably”, adds Daria Luedtke (Chief Operating Officer).

Wegaw integrates extensive satellite data coverage with frequent local updates and in-situ information to achieve the highest level of precision at the local level. Wegaw's approach begins with the fundamental belief that local expertise is invaluable. As a result, a close collaboration with our clients enables Wegaw to pinpoint the most suitable data sources for every project, facilitating a personalized fine-tuning of our proprietary algorithm and, consequently, delivering optimal results.

Several stakeholders within customer’s organizations interact with the solution provided by Wegaw. As Elgin highlights: “Even if the final end-user are traders, other organizational roles directly touch our product: hydrologists, ESG office, and the risk management department, just to mention a few”. The impact of such a solution is indeed horizontal. “Having access to information about the inflow that the hydropower can expect in the long term allows energy companies to increase profitability and reduce the risk” says Luedtke. Insights provided by Wegaw can prevent customers from sending people into the field for inspection under potentially dangerous conditions, thus operating with safer protocols, reducing the carbon footprint of transport for field trips (particularly helicopters), and realizing relevant savings in the process.

From the projects that Wegaw carried out with large energy companies in the past years, the reduction in the forecasting error reached 15-40%, leading to an up to 20% trade volume decrease and increasing the annual revenues of their customers.

Based on these performances and customer benefits, one may wonder why this solution has not scaled yet. “When coming to introducing innovative solutions in contexts characterized by high regulation relying on decades of established processes, organizational culture can represent an important barrier”, explains Elgin. However, the current climate emergency is increasingly showing extreme events that go beyond human experience, intuition, and most importantly, observed climate trends in the past. Therefore, embracing innovation by including new technology to future-proof our energy security is timelier than ever.

The Alpine region represents a fertile context to support innovative businesses, including space-derived data and technologies like Wegaw’s. For example, in Switzerland, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy recently merged two departments: geoinformation and digital innovation. “This decision makes clear how much geospatial data (including space-based satellite data) is more and more considered a primary source of innovation, enabled by the processing power of digital technologies”, concludes Luedtke.

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