LIFE CLEANAIRMM: How did LIFE help Instagrid power clean, off-grid energy?

Wondering just what heights LIFE beneficiaries can reach? At an early stage, Instagrid received funding through the LIFE CLEANAIRMM project. Today, they are worth more than €350 million, have shipped around 30 000 units of their product and are working on expanding to the US market. We spoke to Sarah Fichtner, Head of ESG Strategy & Sustainability at Instagrid, to learn more about their journey as LIFE beneficiaries.

What problem or gap in the market is Instagrid addressing and how is it linked to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

Sarah Fichtner: You have to imagine that millions of people worldwide work mobile in sectors like construction, events, film and media and these people need access to off-grid energy. 

What they usually use is a combustion generator, and these small combustion generators are far from ideal when it comes to their environmental, but also their economic impact. They emit a huge amount of CO2e emissions, but also local air pollutants like NOx that impacts the health and safety of workers and bystanders. 

If you run a generator for approximately one hour, you are breathing in the emissions equivalent to driving a typical passenger vehicle for around 250 km, so that's quite intense.

Instagrid ONE, our flagship product, is challenging the status quo by replacing combustion generators and giving people the freedom to work mobile at the same time having grid-like energy supply.

This contributes to enhancing SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) 7 “affordable and clean energy” and also SDG 13, “climate action”. Some of the SDGs are also impacted indirectly: for instance, SDG 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, when it comes to reducing urban air pollution.

At what point did you join the LIFE programme?

Sarah Fichtner: We joined the LIFE programme at quite an early stage of the company. The programme allowed us to conduct intense studies on the environmental, social and economic impact of our product.

How has the LIFE programme helped Instagrid on its journey?

Sarah Fichtner: For us, at an early stage in Instagrid’s journey of replacing combustion generators with a cleaner battery solution, the LIFE programme gave us a strong network of partners and resources and supported us on this journey.

Besides, it was very helpful to conduct in-depth assessments not only of the technology that we were inventing, but also of the economic environment and social impact of the product. That helped us to ramp up the company, and to back all of this with the solid data that we were able to collect during field studies with our partners.

Would you say that the LIFE programme’s contribution was key to Instagrid’s main achievements?

Sarah Fichtner: It was significant to our achievements because, under the LIFE programme, we were able to pilot 90 portable batteries in 12 different companies in seven EU countries and replace combustion generators there. And we were doing that for 12 months, under different conditions, conducting performance measurements on all devices, collecting significant usage data and conducting supplementary interviews with users. That helped us to build credibility for the impact of our product.

Could you share some of Instagrid’s main achievements to date?

Sarah Fichtner: By the end of 2023, we have shipped close to 30 000 of our Instagrid ONE units worldwide. We are working on extending our product portfolio. Earlier this year, we launched our Instagrid LINK. With our partners, we have saved around 104 kilotons of CO2 emissions until the end of 2023, which is a great achievement, to see how we, with our customers and partners, can really help to reduce emissions globally.

What are the next steps for the upcoming years?

Sarah Fichtner: For the upcoming years, we are driving our expansion into the US market. We have set up a legal entity there, created a team and we are setting everything up to get into the market. We are also extending our product portfolio, looking into new solutions. And, we want to deliver our customers, not only our product, but also solid and robust data to help them calculate their emission savings and flows into their emission reduction targets.

Would you recommend other startups to apply for LIFE? What would you say to them?

Sarah Fichtner: For us, it was helpful during an early stage of the company, to get support and resources. We would recommend joining, for fundamental studies on the impact of new products and concepts on the environmental, climate and social side.

The recommendations that we would have for companies is to allow yourself to calculate or to include three to six months to prepare, to have a solid and comprehensive application. Then, allowing a further two months for formal processes, for example. 

Also, from a project management perspective, we have concluded that there should be someone exclusively overseeing and managing the project. 

Interview with Sarah Fichtner, Head of ESG Strategy & Sustainability at Instagrid.

How LIFE helps close-to-market projects

Instagrid is one of the companies supported under LIFE’s close-to-market (C2M) activities.

C2M helps LIFE beneficiaries bring their innovative solutions into the market. A dedicated team with extensive business and financial experience supports close-to-market projects with business coaching, advisory on business plan development, presentation guidance and expert connection, among other activities.

Looking for support to develop your cleantech solution and bring it to the market? Check out our LIFE Close-to-market page.