The energy transition in Valencia is not being driven solely by targets, but by applied technology, execution, and verification. At the European level, the challenge is simultaneous: decarbonising generation, electrifying demand, and digitalising the system to operate with more renewables without losing stability. The issue is no longer simply installing capacity, but integrating it into grids that are not expanding at the same pace, reducing permitting and grid connection times, adding flexibility through storage and demand management, and supporting the entire process with solid metrics that separate real impact from narrative.
Global data helps illustrate this tension. In 2024, 585 GW of new renewable capacity were added worldwide, accounting for more than 90% of all annual electricity expansion, according to IRENA. At the same time, energy-related emissions continued to rise: the IEA estimates that energy-related CO₂ reached 37.8 Gt in 2024, with annual growth of 0.8%, partly driven by record temperatures that increased cooling demand. In Europe, the roadmap is defined by a dual mandate: reducing net emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and raising the renewable share to a minimum of 42.5% by 2030, with an ambition of reaching 45%.
In this context, startups occupy a critical space: turning available technologies into deployable solutions, with auditable metrics and adoption models that reduce friction. From the Valencian tech ecosystem, startups such as Devera, Aldea Energy and Enerlind, among many others, illustrate three complementary levers of change: rigorous environmental impact measurement, collective self-consumption and distributed energy, and renewable generation integrated into residential buildings. Three different vectors, one common objective: accelerating the transition with solutions that work in the real world, with manageable costs, timelines and operations.
What Is Holding Back the Energy Transition Today: Grid, Permits, Connection and Flexibility
In public discourse, “energy transition” is often translated into new megawatts. In practice, the bottleneck usually lies in what happens after the announcement: permits, available grid capacity, effective connection, daily operation, and the ability to respond to variability. When discussing acceleration, the critical variable is not only technology, but the full set of processes that convert a project into real energy delivered to consumers.
The electricity grid, especially distribution networks, is becoming a limiting factor in many territories. Without available capacity and grid reinforcements, generation cannot be connected on time and deployment slows down. And as variable renewable generation increases, flexibility ceases to be an “extra” and becomes a condition for stability. Flexibility means storage, demand response, aggregation, and above all, the ability to operate the system with signals and data that enable renewables to be integrated without increasing systemic costs or transferring complexity to end users.
Measuring Properly to Truly Decarbonise: From Claim to Verifiable Evidence
One of the main shortcomings in corporate sustainability has historically been the lack of precise, comparable and accessible metrics. Many organisations have advanced in measuring direct emissions but face greater difficulty rigorously estimating impacts associated with materials, suppliers, logistics, use and end-of-life. When analysis moves down to the product level, the challenge increases: assessing environmental impact from a life-cycle perspective requires defining boundaries, assumptions and scenarios, and relying on emission factors and environmental databases. The difference between measuring quickly and measuring well is not a minor nuance; it determines which decisions are made, which investments are justified and which reductions are truly attributable.
Sébastien Borreani, founder of Devera, summarises it clearly: “Calculating the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire life cycle has traditionally been a slow, expensive process accessible only to large corporations. We are democratising that access. Because you cannot improve what you do not measure.”
His proposal aims to resolve the scale bottleneck by combining automation and artificial intelligence with reference environmental data, making it easier for more companies to measure, compare alternatives and prioritise reduction actions more efficiently. This approach becomes particularly relevant in a context where sustainability is shifting from narrative to verification and where evidence is becoming a competitive asset. Even at a macro level, the IEA highlights that the adoption of clean technologies is limiting emissions growth, avoiding an additional 2.6 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually.
Collective Self-Consumption and Distributed Energy: Access to Renewables Without Friction
While rigorous measurement is key to reducing emissions effectively, another major front involves transforming the energy model to make it more distributed, resilient and participatory. In Spain, self-consumption and its collective modalities are opening pathways for citizens and SMEs to access renewable energy even without their own rooftops or upfront investment capacity.
Aldea Energy addresses two structural challenges: limited access to renewables for users unable to install generation on their own rooftops, and dependence on a centralised model characterised by inefficiencies and exposure to price volatility. Its proposal is based on distributed generation and collective self-consumption, connecting users to nearby solar plants without requiring initial investment or their own infrastructure. The differentiating factor lies not only in the technology, but in turning a complex reality—full of technical, administrative and contractual variables—into a simple experience for the end user.
For Roberto Rubio, founder of Aldea Energy, the greatest challenge today is accelerating the transition towards a more distributed and participatory model, overcoming administrative, regulatory and cultural barriers. “Today the technology is available, citizens are aware, and companies are seeking sustainable alternatives; however, grid connection processes are slow, regulation evolves more slowly than demand, and there is still a lack of knowledge about how to access renewable energy without investment,” he explains.
He concludes that the challenge is not technical, “it is about making it agile, accessible and understandable for everyone.” In other words, the transition is slowed less by a lack of solutions and more by friction: time, coordination, uncertainty and lack of clarity. Reducing that friction is often what determines real adoption. At the European level, the objective of raising renewables to at least 42.5% by 2030 depends as much on integration and effective deployment as on new capacity.
Solar Energy Integrated into Housing: Energy Transition in Buildings Without Additional Cost
A complementary approach is provided by Enerlind, which works to ensure that the transition reaches the core of households without generating additional costs or construction complexity. Guillermo López, CEO and founder of Enerlind, explains: “At Enerlind, we work on an increasingly relevant challenge: how to advance the energy transition within the building sector without it resulting in additional costs for the buyer or added complexity in the construction model.”
Enerlind’s innovation consists of integrating photovoltaic technology into monoblock shutters, a common façade element, turning it into a distributed energy generator for each dwelling. This approach responds to a specific logic: in construction, adding independent systems often increases coordination, time and budget. Integrating generation into an already planned component reduces adoption barriers and facilitates deployment, particularly in residential projects where buyers penalise added complexity.
This enables energy to be produced locally and allows homeowners to perceive direct economic benefits. Enerlind estimates reductions in electricity bills between 10% and up to 60%, depending on variables such as orientation, irradiation, shading and consumption profile. “We do not add an independent system to the building; we transform a common element into a productive one. Installation is comparable to that of a conventional motorised shutter, enabling renewable generation to be incorporated without significantly altering construction budgets,” he notes.
Beyond the device itself, the underlying message is clear: if the transition is integrated into standard construction processes and delivers measurable benefits to users, it ceases to be an extra layer and becomes a natural part of the housing product.
Startups as Catalysts for Change in Valencia
The energy transition requires speed, but also rigour. This means challenging inertia and solving specific problems where the system becomes stuck: impact measurement and verification, adoption experience, technical integration in buildings, and reducing friction in grid connection and operation.
In this sense, startups provide distinctive value through rapid implementation capacity, technological specialisation, and the ability to connect traditionally separate sectors. Their contribution is not to replace major system actors, but to accelerate the step between what is possible and what is deployable, through models that enable mass adoption.
In Valencia, this dynamic is reinforced by the convergence of industry, technical talent, applied research and an entrepreneurial community oriented toward impact-driven solutions. Aldea Energy highlights that the Valencian ecosystem is consolidating itself as one of Spain’s most dynamic poles of energy innovation. “For us, Valencia is the place where it is best understood that the energy transition must be local, distributed and participatory,” they note.
Enerlind similarly emphasises the opportunity for collaboration between construction, energy and technology to make sustainability profitable and accessible in residential housing, while Devera underscores the need for rigorous tools to measure and reduce environmental footprint with credibility.
Key Indicators: Where the Energy Transition Is Decided in Practice
From this point forward, the transition is determined less by slogans and more by five indicators that separate intention from deployment. The first is electrification, as the pace of replacing fossil fuels with electricity in mobility, industry and buildings multiplies demand and determines how much new renewable generation and grid capacity will be required. The second is installed renewable capacity versus effectively connected and operational capacity, because announcements do not decarbonise assets that enter operation on time do. The third is grid capacity and congestion, especially in distribution, where available capacity, connection timelines and grid reinforcements become the most frequent bottlenecks as renewable penetration accelerates. The fourth is system flexibility, including storage, demand response and aggregation, because without flexibility renewable integration becomes more expensive and system operation more fragile. The fifth is measurement and verification, because without traceable and auditable metrics capital cannot be allocated wisely and sustainability risks dissolving into reputational noise.
This framework helps explain a frequent reality: renewable growth alone does not automatically guarantee immediate emissions reductions if grid constraints, connection capacity and flexibility are not addressed. When system operation does not keep pace, inefficiencies and costs emerge, and part of the potential is lost. Accelerating therefore means treating the transition as a complete system, not as a sum of isolated projects.
What Comes Next
In the coming years, the focus will shift from installing renewables to making the system operable at scale. This means accelerating permitting and grid connection processes through clearer, more standardised and faster procedures. It also requires investing in grid expansion and digitalisation, as networks will be the limiting factor in many territories. It demands scaling flexibility with storage in front of and behind the meter, demand response and aggregation to integrate renewables without increasing systemic costs. It requires making sustainability verifiable, with clear methodologies and defensible data, especially as Europe raises its targets and requirements for 2030. Finally, it requires integrating the transition into housing and SMEs without friction, with solutions that do not complicate construction, reduce upfront investment and deliver measurable savings.
Within this framework, cases such as Devera, Aldea Energy and Enerlind illustrate where acceleration happens when technical rigour meets adoption focus: measuring better, deploying more easily, and generating energy closer to consumption.
