We Won The Great Propeller Hat Competition

Caruna’s The Great Propeller Hat Competition was an innovation competition that sought after future solutions related to electricity. More than 160 imaginative ideas and solutions took part in the competition. The competition win was shared between two companies: Polar Night Energy and Valaa Technologies.

The Great Propeller Hat competition was used to search for inventions and ideas that make more efficient use of electricity, enable local electricity production or utilize artificial intelligence.

Among the finalists, two competitors won this time: Polar Night Energy, which stores wind and solar power as heat in sand, and Valaa Technologies, which builds software robotics for building automation systems. The winners will split the € 20,000 prize in half.

The competition jury included professor and business influencer Alf Rehn, innovation expert and serial entrepreneur Helene Auramo, as well as analysis manager Lasse Konttinen and Caruna’s development and innovation director Elina Lehtomäki.

“The competition included bold openings, meaningful innovations and inventive solutions that will improve the daily lives of all of us and make the use of electricity more efficient”, Lehtomäki rejoiced.

Polar Night Energy’s idea won over the judges.

“A sand heat storage is an excellent example of how it is possible to take a theoretical idea and refine it into an interesting and meaningful innovation”, Lehtomäki commented.

Caruna distributes electricity and maintains, repairs and builds a weatherproof electricity network for its over 700,000 customers in Finland. Caruna’s electrical network is over 88 thousand kilometres long and they are responsible for about a fifth of Finland’s electricity distribution.