On tuesday 1st March, in Washington, the former Liège spin-off won the "Little Box Challenge" prize, organized by Google and the IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). In addition to the $ 1.000.000 jackpot, CE+T POWER becomes a pioneer in the electric revolution.
As we wrote in October (http://www.wallonia.be/fr/actualites/cet-finaliste-du-concours-innovation-de-google), the results were revealed last week. During the ARPA-E Energy innovation summit in Washington, Liège SME and world specialist in energy conversion, CE+T POWER, was presented the million-dollar prize for the “Little Box Challenge” competition, launched by Google and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). CEO, Robert Eyben said he was happy to be “changing the future of electricity, energy and even smart home technologies”.
Over a year ago in the summer of 2014, Google issued an invitation to engineering companies to take up a size-related challenge: reducing a power inverter to a tenth of its size. Also known as an “electrical inverter”, this machine converts direct electrical current into alternating current, in particular, for using solar power. Reducing its size considerably increases its potential uses, and, according to the competition organisers, “will help revolutionise electricity for the next century”.
Having beaten the French company Schneider in the final, CE+T POWER, (now based in Wandre), set itself apart from the other candidates by presenting a machine of equal power but as small as a cigarette packet. Indeed, despite measuring only 0.225 of a litre, it manages to generate 8848 W of energy per litre, which makes it three times smaller and more powerful than the American giant had anticipated.
