democratize

“Empowering Solar Power in Spain: SolarMente, with Support from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Backing”

Solarmente Co Founders Wouter Draijer And Victor Gardrinier
Draijer said the company started off as an installer of solar panels in Spain, but after the pandemic, it decided it should offer a solar energy management system. “Solar is not a product,” Draijer said, explaining why most Spaniards can’t or just don’t want to pay upfront for solar panels. That’s why SolarMente offers subscription-based energy management services, which include installing solar panels without upfront costs. “We’re using this round to really power our super app for home energy,” Gardrinier said. But first, SolarMente wants to further expand across Spain, where its subscription solar offer just became available nationwide, Draijer told TechCrunch.

AALTO’s Mission: Democratizing High-Speed Internet with Solar-Powered Drones

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Where Loon relied on balloons, however, the newer project utilizes Zephyr solar-powered drones. “[Loon] got really good customer engagement,” AALTO CEO Samer Halawi told TechCrunch in a sit-down interview last week at Mobile World Congress. Airbus acquired the technology for the fixed-wing drones from U.K. Ministry of Defence and Space spinoff QinetiQ in 2022. Every six months or so, the system will land for a battery swap, as these still have a limited shelf life. Like Loon before it, the company is also exploring temporary deployment for downed cell towers following natural disasters.