Europe is generating more renewable energy than ever, but it is still difficult to know exactly how much power a solar farm will produce and when. This uncertainty matters for energy companies that trade electricity and need to balance supply and demand.

Naomi Jaguttis, co-founder of Nuno Labs, believes the main issue is a lack of information. Her Munich-based startup uses sensors at solar farms and AI-powered forecasting. They combine local sky and weather data with past and real-time production data to predict solar output for the next few hours.

With better forecasts, energy companies can trade more effectively, cut down on waste, and add renewable power to the grid more easily.

Keep reading to find out why Naomi thinks better data can help bolster Europe’s supply of renewable energy, why Nuno Labs chose to build both hardware and software, and what she learned from her first startup.

About Nuno Labs

Nuno Labs develops AI-powered forecasting technology for renewable energy. The company installs its own sensors at solar farms to collect sky images and weather data, which it combines with production data. Their AI models then predict PV output so that energy providers can make better decisions. Nuno Labs works with customers in Germany and Austria and is looking to expand into other European countries.

Solar energy has an information problem

Energy markets have many different players, each with their own roles, goals, and data sources. Renewable energy also makes the system more variable, so production and consumption needs to be balanced all the time.

When reliable real-time information is missing, it is harder to make good decisions.

For example, grid congestion happens when one part of the grid produces too much electricity, so production has to slow down. Without accurate information about how much energy each plant is producing, it is harder to know where and when to step in.

Nuno Labs aims to help by giving energy companies more accurate short-term information about solar generation.

Instead of relying on existing weather models, Nuno Labs collects data directly from the solar farm. Their sensors gather local sky and weather details, which are combined with the plant's production data. Even the smallest pieces of information can make a big difference for energy companies.

“We have data nobody has seen before, and best case, not even your competitor.”

Forecasting the next few hours

Nuno Labs is focused on short-term forecasts. The company installs its hardware at solar farms where sensors collect sky and weather data. It combines this information with the farm’s production and historical data and sends it to Nuno Labs' AI models.

This process creates a forecast for the next few hours. For energy providers, this extra insight helps them better understand what a solar farm is likely to produce.

This is a game changer because a solar farm's output can change quickly. While weather forecasts show the broader regional picture, the conditions right above a solar farm determine how much sunlight its panels get. By focusing on the site itself, Nuno Labs aims to make these predictions more accurate.

Naomi sees forecasting as part of a bigger effort to improve how information flows in the energy system. If everyone has a clearer idea of what energy will be produced, they can make better decisions about trading, balancing, and managing supply.

In the end, better forecasting should make it easier for us all to use renewable energy, even when the supply varies.

“You can see better what kind of production your solar farm can bring to the table.”

Why Nuno Labs chose the harder route

Starting an AI company is tough. Adding hardware makes it even more complicated. Naomi knew investors would ask about this choice.

But for Nuno Labs, the hardware is not just something they sell, it is how the team collects the data that sets their models apart.

It makes sense then, that Nuno Labs had to control the data collection process right from the start. The team builds its sensor systems in Munich, combining different weather sensors and keeping the product affordable. They research which signals improve solar forecasting and turn those findings into a sellable product. The result is a unique dataset that Naomi calls “data treasure.”

By owning the hardware, Nuno Labs can choose what to measure, where to measure, and how often to collect the data. Instead of using the same datasets as competitors, they can build their own information advantage over time.

But Naomi doesn’t expect the company to make everything in-house for long. As the product grows and demand increases, they can outsource production. For now, keeping hardware close to the team helps them learn faster.

“We can only make the best models if we have our own data and we want to own the data.”

Learning on the solar farm

Nuno Labs has also placed a big focus on visiting customer sites in person, which Naomi admits is not the easiest way to grow a software company. 

But rapid growth isn’t their only goal. Right now, Naomi wants the team to learn how customers work, how solar farms run, and what the product needs to do in real life. This means installing hardware, shipping packages, and sometimes building things by hand in the workshop. Right now, she enjoys the energy this brings to the process.

Nuno Labs brings together people with different skills: hardware engineers who like building things and AI specialists who focus on models and data. For Naomi, this mix is a strength that gives the company a unique culture.

This approach also keeps everyone close to the product. In the future, as their dataset grows and hardware becomes more standard, Naomi expects outside companies to handle more of the manufacturing. Then, Nuno Labs can focus more on software and intelligence.

But first, the team needs to keep learning.

“We want to learn with the customer; we want to get to know them better and improve our product.”

Three founders, three very different strengths

Nuno Labs started at university. Naomi met her co-founders through an entrepreneurship program at UnternehmerTUM, which is part of the Technical University of Munich. Near the end of their master's studies, they became friends before deciding to work on a startup together.

What convinced Naomi was that the three founders had different outlooks and ways of doing things. David Dietz, for example, has a mathematical background and developed a passion for sales while working independently and speaking directly with customers. That combination stood out to Naomi. It’s rare to find someone technically capable of understanding highly quantitative customers who also genuinely enjoys selling.

Her other co-founder, Benjamin Obermeier, brings strong technical skills. He has experience in engineering, AI, and autonomous driving, where he worked with image analysis and machine learning. This experience fits well with Nuno Labs' work on analyzing visual data from solar farms.

Naomi sees herself as the one who keeps everything moving. She handles sales, hiring, financing, and other tasks needed to grow the company. She enjoys juggling many projects at once.

These differences sometimes lead to debates, but Naomi sees that as a good thing. With three founders, the group usually settles disagreements by majority. What matters most, she says, is radical candor: disagreeing openly while still working toward the same goal.

“We are a great match, but especially because we're so different.”

Building faster the second time around

Nuno Labs is not Naomi's first startup. Her earlier company, Bill.less, taught her important lessons that she has used the second time around. The biggest lesson was changing how she thinks about validation.

Startup communities offer many ways for founders to feel like they are making progress, such as awards, competitions, media coverage, and events. Naomi learned not to mistake these signs for real business success.

She believes real validation is simple, it comes when someone pays you. This idea shaped how she approached Nuno Labs from the start. Before building a product, the founders needed to know whether customers really had the problem that Naomi and her team had identified and would actually pay to solve it.

Naomi made that expectation clear when the founding team came together. If they were going to build a company, she wanted them to move quickly and start selling immediately.

“Confirmation is not about awards or about startup contests or about press releases or whatever it is. It's about customers paying you for something.”

Renewable energy still has to make economic sense

Renewable energy is central to Europe's energy transition, but Naomi knows that adoption depends on the business case making sense.

Political support for renewables can change, subsidies can be debated, and technologies can increase or decrease in popularity among lawmakers and the public alike. Naomi hears this uncertainty from customers, who sometimes wonder if solar or wind will be more profitable in the future.

But one thing will not change: Europe will always need energy. Germany and nearby countries will continue to need electricity, and Naomi believes renewables will be key to providing it. The challenge is to make renewable energy as cost-effective and efficient as possible.

This is where Nuno Labs comes in. Better forecasting can’t fix every problem in the energy transition, but, access to more accurate information helps energy companies cut losses, make better trades, and use renewables more efficiently, which increases the value of their assets.

Naomi says Nuno Labs is just one part of a much bigger puzzle. The company is focused on Europe for now, with customers in Germany and Austria and early talks in other European countriesIf they can demonstrate that better forecasting creates measurable economic value, their European footprint could expand very quickly.

“With our solution, integration of renewable energies is being made easier, and in the end, it's one small puzzle that brings us to a cleaner energy future.”

Selling innovation into critical infrastructure

As part of critical infrastructure, you might think that renewable energy providers are quite conservative customers for a young startup. However, Naomi has found the picture more nuanced. Visiting customers made the importance of the infrastructure very real.

Some facilities have tightly controlled areas and large operational screens that only authorized people can access. The consequences of mistakes are real.

But that does not mean the companies running them are resistant to new technology. Many already understand AI forecasting. More importantly, they understand data's value.

For Nuno Labs, the bigger challenge is common to most B2B startups: large organizations take a long time to buy, and each customer moves at their own pace. Some are open to trying new.

It has been important for them to learn how their customers talk about their work. When Naomi and her co-founders joined the energy industry, much of what their customers did was new to them. The team didn’t just have to learn the technical problems; they also had to learn how customers described them, which questions mattered to them, and what would build trust.

Over time, this knowledge became a sales advantage. The next step is to turn these lessons into a repeatable sales process.

“They know that data is key, and to access good data they need providers like us.”

From hardware company to AI company

Nuno Labs builds its own sensors in its Munich workshop, but Naomi doesn’t think this will always be the case. The hardware's main purpose is to create the unique data needed for better forecasting models.

Once enough systems are in place and the data advantage grows, the company will focus more on AI. This shift is already clear in their hiring. Nuno Labs they’re looking for AI researchers, and Naomi especially wants people interested in physical AI, not just software agents.

This is what makes Nuno Labs' work unique. Their models are tied to the real world, which means that they have to understand what is happening above a solar farm, combine sensor data with production information, and turn that into a forecast that is valuable for business.

The hardware connects AI directly to physical infrastructure. For Naomi, building it internally now creates the knowledge, dataset, and customer understanding that can support a more scalable software business later.

“At some point, we will switch and become more of an AI software company than a hardware and software company.”

Quickfire round

A tool you can't live without?

“For me it's Notion. I manage my life and our whole company over Notion. That's also representative of my personality too because I’m really into organizing things.”

A founder you admire?

“I recently saw Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak speak in San Francisco and was struck less by his status than by the way he talked about building. I really admire him because he's so humble and he's so passionate.”

How do you recharge?

“I deliberately maintain friendships outside the startup ecosystem. Some of my friends work in education and other social fields. We can be girls, we get together to make things together or just talk about random topics like house renovation because one of my friends is building a house. It brings me down to earth to get out of this entrepreneurship bubble that I’m in all the time at work.”

Advice that has stuck with you?

“Working at my first startup taught me to constantly question where I am spending my time. Every time you wake up, you have to ask yourself: which task will contribute most to my company goal? Once you ask that question, almost 50% of your tasks on your to-do list become irrelevant.”

Turning better information into cleaner energy

Nuno Labs is tackling one specific problem within a much bigger energy transition: making the generation of solar power easier to predict.

Right now, this means building sensors in Munich, working closely with customers, and creating a unique dataset to improve their AI models. Over time, Naomi expects the company will focus more on the software and intelligence behind the forecasts.

But the main idea will remain the same. The team wants to gather better information, predict what will happen next, and turn that knowledge into real value. As renewable energy grows and Europe comes to rely on it even more, predicting what comes next will become even more important.

To learn more about how Nuno Labs uses AI and local data to improve renewable energy forecasting, visit the Nuno Labs website.