Endesa S A : and Enel open their first innovation hub in Barcelona to boost catalan start ups

• The aim of the Hub is to boost the Catalan innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Activities will be undertaken that promote interaction between entrepreneurs and the Group's innovation teams. Additionally, the Hub will have the capacity to host start-ups offering solutions aimed at the energy transition and the electrification of demand
• The Barcelona Hub is the tenth Enel group hub worldwide and forms part of the Barcelona Innovation Coast, a public-private initiative led by the City Council.
• The Hub was opened today in the presence of the Enel Group's Chief Innovability® Officer, Ernesto Ciorra; Endesa CEO, Jose Bogas; the City Promotion Commissioner of Barcelona City Council, Pablo Ángel Solanilla, and the commissioner of the 2030 Agenda, Bàrbara Pons.

The Enel Group, to which Endesa belongs, today opened its tenth Innovation Hub in the world, in the city of Barcelona. The aim of this centre is to invigorate and strengthen the relationship with the Catalan entrepreneurship ecosystem.

This Hub is the result of the desire shared between the Enel Group, Endesa and Barcelona City Council to collaborate with one another. The initiative will form part of the Barcelona Innovation Coast (BIC), a public-private platform that aims to promote and consolidate the innovative role of the city and which has set itself the objective of contributing to the generation of 40,000 jobs in the Catalan capital this decade.

The opening of this Hub pays testament to the aim of the Enel Group and Endesa to strengthening relations and collaboration opportunitieswith the innovation ecosystem, start-ups and innovative SMEs in Catalonia. It is an initiative aimed at finding solutions throughout the energy value chain, from the reduction of greenhouse gases, to the impact of electricity infrastructures on the environment or energy storage systems. Catalonia represents a benchmark and testing ground for Endesa and the Enel Group in relation to distribution and hydraulic production infrastructures. Therefore, and given the importance of Barcelona's entrepreneurship ecosystem, the Enel Group has chosen Barcelona to continue growing and strengthening its network of hubs around the world: San Francisco, Boston, Tel Aviv, São Paulo, Santiago de Chile, Catania, Pisa, Milan, Madrid, and now, Barcelona.

In attendance at the opening ceremony were the Enel Group's Chief Innovability® Officer, Ernesto Ciorra; Endesa CEO, José Bogas; the General Manager of Endesa for Catalonia, Isabel Buesa; and the Manager of the Enel Innovation Hub Europe, Fernando Sandoval. Representing Barcelona City Council were the City Promotion Commissioner, Pablo Ángel Solanilla, and the commissioner of the 2030 Agenda, Bàrbara Pons. Finally, the CTO of Bamboo Energy, Cristina Colchero, and the technical director of Dinnteco, Javier Maldonado, shared their Open Innovation experience with the Enel Group.

The Barcelona Hub is located at Endesa's headquarters in Catalonia, at Avenida Vilanova, 12 and plays host to a space where activities can be performed that promote interaction between entrepreneurs and the Group's innovation teams, as well as the development of the Company's culture of innovation. It will also be capable of hosting start-ups offering solutions aimed at the energy transition and the electrification of demand. Furthermore, the modernist room at the building, known as Espai Endesa, will host Innovation events.

Hubs are a way of invigorating innovation in the ecosystems in which Enel operates to resolve technological challenges oriented towards innovation in the energy sector. They serve as a way of collectively moving towards the fair and sustainable energy transition. The energy sector is one of the sectors currently facing the biggest challenges when it comes to being more efficient in the development of renewable energies, reducing the environmental and visual impact of facilities and speeding up decarbonisation.

Open innovation

The company employs an open innovation model to address the challenges of the different areas of the business, distribution, generation or customer relations; this collaborative, innovative model brings together suppliers, technology and research centres, universities and emerging companies in the territory, to name just a few.

Open innovation at the Enel Group offers innovative start-ups and SMEs a model for developing specific innovation projects or concept tests that allow their solutions to be incorporated into the business. To this end, they make their infrastructures and network of laboratories available to entrepreneurial companies to test their developments, as well as the knowledge and experience of experts and access to the markets in which the Enel Group boasts a presence, with more than 70 million customers, in addition to contact with the entrepreneurship network developed by the Group worldwide.

Ultimately, the aim is for the start up or SME to become an Enel Group supplier if all goes well with the project.

At present, the Enel Group has launched and has ongoing worldwide challenges such as the design of sustainable substations integrated into rural and urban environments or technological improvements for the generation of renewable energy. Any start up can apply to participate in these programmes. All these challenges are connected to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and come with remuneration of up to €40,000.

To date, the Enel Group's innovation programme has analysed solutions proposed by 13,650 start-ups and SMEs from around the world and has developed projects with 545 of these companies, with some 125 having become Group suppliers. Furthermore, any emerging company interested in submitting a project can do so via the openinnovability.com platform.

Innovation Projects undertaken by the Enel Group and Endesa in Catalonia

Distribution

The Innovation Area at Enel Grids develops, tests and validates the application of new technologies to service and improve the grid. Specifically, the area of the Garraf Natural Park serves as a laboratory for technologies applied to our high voltage network. This allows us to test solutions in real operating conditions aimed at bringing about our net-zero objectives, that is, reducing the carbon footprint of network components and with a focus on digitalisation.

• Tests have also been performed on the use of robots and drones to inspect substations and service tunnels. For example, a Boston Dynamics robot dog named SPOT, which makes it safer to inspect demanding environments such as underground tunnels or substations in service.
• Research is also being performed on the use of new, more sustainable materials to mitigate the environmental impact of electricity infrastructures. An example of this can be seen in the installation of soundproofing panels at the Sants substation in Barcelona. These panels, manufactured from steel and polypropylene, are the result of a more efficient manufacturing process, considerably reducing the carbon footprint and are 100% recyclable at the end of their useful life.
• Tests have been performed on solutions for the structural monitoring of overhead power lines using sensors. These sensors help to digitise the grid and monitor environmental variables, improving resilience to adverse weather events and optimising the use of assets.
• Use of 5G connectivity to support field operations, contribute to security and facilitate the increasing digitalisation of the grid. This technology is being tested as part of a European project at one of Endesa's substations in the Garraf region. Harnessing 5G connectivity, different reference zones are marked out to warn operators in the field of how close they are to live elements. This communication technology offers very high speed in relation to data transmission as well as a very high capacity. This means a higher number of elements can be connected and lower energy consumption in the active nodes.

Generation

The Generation Area is performing concept tests on the different production technologies.

• At the Les Illes hydroelectric plant, an innovative variable speed generation system has been set up to harness smaller generation flows, increasing production using the same available hydraulic resources and improving the river level with the resulting environmental improvements this entails.
• In terms of wind power, a new lightning protection system for wind turbines developed by Dintecco is in the process of undergoing validation at the Montargull wind farm.
• As regards gas, different digital solutions are being validated at the Besòs Combined Cycle plant. From the different activities being undertaken, particular mention must be made of the design and installation of a system to assist operations in relation to the monitoring and implementation of faster plant start-ups, reducing the acoustic impact and improving the quality of supply. Special mention must also be made of the different digital tools used to support operators in the field, as well as the digital systems to improve worker safety.
• In relation to energy storage and electric mobility, the collaboration with the EURECAT research centre for the development of new recycling techniques for electric vehicle batteries within as part of the RECIBIL R&D&i project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation is particularly noteworthy. This project is analysing new techniques for the automatic dismantling of battery modules as well as new techniques for the reuse and separation of different recycled materials. The performance of these batteries in second-life uses is also being analysed.

About Endesa

Endesa is the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. The company is also the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. Endesa operates an end-to-end generation, distribution and marketing business. Through Endesa X it also offers value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy usage in homes, companies, industries and Public Administrations. A new business line has also been created, Endesa X Way, fully dedicated to electric mobility. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribution and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR-related matters. Our workforce numbers around 9,260 employees. Endesa is a division of Enel, Europe's largest electricity group.

About Enel

Enel, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global power and renewables markets. At global level, it is the largest renewable private player, the foremost network operator by number of end users and the biggest retail operator by customer base. The Group is the worldwide demand response leader and the largest European utility by ordinary EBITDA [1] . Enel is present in 31 countries worldwide, producing energy with around 93 GW of total capacity. Enel Grids, the Group's global business line dedicated to the management of the electricity distribution service worldwide, delivers electricity through a network of around 2.3 million kilometers to approximately 76 million end users. The Group brings energy to more than 70 million homes and businesses. Enel's renewables arm Enel Green Power has a total capacity of more than 56 GW and a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power, as well as energy storage facilities, installed in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Enel X Global Retail, Enel's global advanced energy services business line, has a total capacity of around 8.2 GW of demand response managed globally and has installed 65 MW of behind-the-meter storage capacity. In addition, Enel X Way is the Group's new global business line fully dedicated to electric mobility, managing nearly 430,000 public and private EV charging points worldwide, both directly and through interoperability agreements. [1] Enel's leadership in the different categories is defined by comparison with competitors' FY 2021 data. Publicly owned operators are not included.