Clean energy megaprojects alone will not define the clean energy transition. To make real progress, it’s essential to activate an ecosystem of ventures with each advancing a different part of the value chain, working in concert to make the transition resilient, equitable, and scalable. When these efforts align, transformation moves from vision to reality.
Innovation across the value chain cannot be overstated. To truly effect change, we need many corresponding “nodes”: researchers to improve energy generation, transportation, and storage, manufacturers to refine and scale components, software to manage energy flows, and service providers to bring innovative technology to homes and businesses. When linked, these nodes reveal the full strength of an ecosystem.
Of course, capital also matters! Over the last few years, there has been an outpouring of investment channeled into building the clean energy economy, but as a sobering recent study shows, “throwing money at the problem” as a strategy is myopic at best, and catastrophically doomed at worst. For capital to be truly catalytic, it must be stage-appropriate, flexible, and strategically distributed throughout the clean energy ecosystem to produce the greatest impact.
The right blend of investments has the power to enable ventures to build teams, prove models, and reach early customers. Flexible funding and community partnerships allow companies to grow in ways that align with the needs of the people they serve.
Where the rubber hits the road (and where RevHub is most invested) is with early-stage ventures who translate innovation into real economic and environmental impact. They create jobs, share valuable data, support suppliers, and help households and businesses leverage new technologies to reduce energy consumption and cost.
When, and only when, the ecosystem works in alignment, scale is possible. We have made it our mission to bring together researchers, founders, investors, utilities, and public sector partners to play an important role in creating conditions where innovation can flourish and progress can be sustained over time. We’re proud to say that RevHub has been successfully achieving this mission for nearly seven years, and has built up enough momentum to go (at least) another seventy.
If this idea of ecosystem development is as exciting to you as it is to us, we want to hear from you. Reach out to us and schedule a call to find out more about how you can play a role in this next wave of innovation.
