HELIUP: European Solar Startup Award 2025 Winner
Winning this award is a real honour and a strong signal of validation for the work HELIUP has accomplished over the past three years. What makes it truly special is that the final vote came from a live audience of industry professionals — experts who deeply understand the technical, industrial and policy challenges of solar in Europe.
This award reflects a growing momentum: there is a clear desire across the sector to see more European-based solar manufacturing scale up, despite intense global competition. At HELIUP, we share this conviction — that Europe must not only deploy solar, but also produce it locally, with innovation, resilience, and sustainability at the core. I also want to pay tribute to all the players — manufacturers, policymakers, innovators — who work every day to rebuild a sovereign, local solar PV industry in Europe.
At HELIUP, we’re on a mission to unlock the solar potential of buildings that were previously left out of the energy transition — especially large rooftops with limited structural load capacity. Our advanced lightweight solar PV solutions make it possible to install solar where traditional panels simply can't go.
This segment is a game-changer: Europe has hundreds of millions of square metres of unused rooftop space. By making these surfaces solar-ready, we’re enabling rapid, socially acceptable, and decentralised deployment of renewable energy — right where it’s consumed. What’s more, rooftop solar is inherently compatible with the future of energy: it aligns perfectly with self-consumption, vehicle electrification, and flexible grid integration. HELIUP’s technology isn't just solving a niche problem — it's scaling the next frontier of solar in Europe.
Because innovation is — and has always been — the backbone of solar’s rise to become one of the world’s leading energy sources. But innovation must be anchored in industrial reality. Startups bring fresh ideas, speed, and agility, but for true impact, they need to build bridges with manufacturing, supply chains, and energy systems. That’s exactly what we’ve done at HELIUP by launching our first production facility in France, combining European research and development, industrial know-how, and market deployment under one roof. Celebrating innovative startups means celebrating the future of European energy sovereignty.
Because visibility matters. The European Solar Startup Award, powered by SolarPower Europe, does more than recognise good ideas — it gives a platform to the entrepreneurs and technologies that can transform the sector. Every year, we see bold, promising projects emerge — but to succeed, they need support, funding, and policy alignment. This award shines a light on those efforts and connects them to the right ecosystem — from investors to policymakers to industrial partners. It’s not just about recognition. It’s about building a stronger, more innovative, and more resilient European solar industry — together.
