Case · LV Energy

Testing an energy innovation seriously before serious money goes in.

LV Energy was researching energy generation from sound waves. Within a Topsector Energie scheme, James led the feasibility study: make the assumptions explicit, test them small, and decide on evidence.

Energy Innovation management

The question

Is this idea ready for the next step?

The energy transition calls for new ways of generating power. There is room for ideas that still sound unlikely today. That same room makes it tempting to believe rather than to test.

LV Energy was working on generating energy from sound waves. A technology with potential, and with open questions. Before serious money, time and reputation go into it, you want to know where you stand. What has been demonstrated, what is assumption, and what has to be proven first?

That test became the heart of a feasibility study within a Topsector Energie scheme. James led the research as innovation manager.

Client
LV Energy
Sector
Energy
Framework
Feasibility study within a Topsector Energie scheme
Subject
Generating energy from sound waves
Role
James, innovation manager: hypotheses, team coaching, route to talent and funding

The approach

Hypothesis-driven: prove it small, and only then go on.

A feasibility study is a series of questions you want an honest answer to, even when that answer disappoints. It is never a plea for your own idea.

1

Assumptions made explicit

Every assumption went on the table: about the technology, the application and the market. As a work list rather than as criticism. What you write down, you can test.

2

Experiments kept small

For every assumption, the smallest experiment that proves something. Quick and sharply worded, so the outcome genuinely says something.

3

Deciding on evidence

Onwards on results, not on enthusiasm. What holds up gets room, what falls over goes back to the drawing board.

Coaching the team

James worked with the team rather than alongside it. Formulating hypotheses, setting up experiments, weighing results: the way of working had to stick, also after the study.

Route to talent and funding

A technology does not grow on evidence alone. Part of the work was mapping out the route to the people and the funding that make the next step possible.

Innovation in the energy sector calls for level-headed testing, rather than belief.

What this says about working with us

The energy transition needs new solutions, and so it needs an honest way to weigh them. Enthusiasm is the starting point, evidence is the basis for the next step.

The same discipline sits in every Bravio Blueprint: assumptions made explicit, small proof before anything big gets built, and deciding on facts in place of hope. That way you know beforehand what building gets you, and you build only what has proven itself.

Do you work in the energy sector yourself? The sector page sets out how we look at the daily work there, and the blog explains why the sector jams on admin sooner than on technology.