Vallaeys chose to do his internship innovative entrepreneurship at Turbulent. The company develops micro-hydropower plants, innovatory small and eco-friendly power plants. Turbulent was selected for Start-up-Chile, a large startup community. This led to Florian accompanying Turbulent to Chile from February until June.
The project
Turbulent is an iMinds startup takes on the issue of energy supply by providing a relatively easy solution. The micro-hydropower plants are inexpensive, easily transportable and have a decreased impact on the surrounding ecosystem.
“We address a complex issue and present a simple solution.”
Advantages
“The first advantage is the fact that we don’t need dams, therefore the cost goes down drastically. It also means we don’t destroy the nature around our installation. Fish can pass through the turbine because it is specially designed to work at low speeds, which increases the chance of survival up to 94%. The vortex that is created by our plant also oxygenates the rivers. This increases the water quality and is positive for the fauna and flora. Another advantage is that you can place different turbines one after another. This can help to increase the capacity of the power plant.” - Florian Vallaeys on his blog.
The award
“Out of 77 projects, 8 were chosen to come and defend their concept in Santiago in front of a jury and an audience, in pitch format. We were one of those. Since Geert (Turbulent founder) was in Belgium, I had to go and defend Turbulent… in Spanish. I still don’t understand how, but even with my faulty Spanish - I was the only foreigner - I could convince the jury of our potential and won. I went home with a check of 60.000 USD and a free office at Engie Factory for 6 months.”