DERMS provider Opus One Solutions has acquired the SEEsuite software business division, including SEEload from TRC Companies to expand Opus One’s GridOS DERMS platform.
SEEload is a Demand Response solution built to optimize load management, for diverse customer segments including several of the largest utilities in the United States, according to the companies, who added that it’s been a tool for handling distributed energy resources (DER) on the grid across multiple utilities for over a decade.
The software allows utilities to unlock localized solutions at the grid edge, with behind the meter assets including smart thermostats, solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations, and battery storage, said Opus One. Access to these assets means that utilities can use them in various programs, which can provide benefits such as managing energy use, decreasing carbon emissions, reducing customers’ energy bills, and participation in wholesale and potential local energy and flexibility markets.
Opus One’s existing platform specializes in grid power flow management, hosting capacity, optimal dispatch, and smart pricing leading to transactive/flexibility markets. With the integration of SEEload, Opus One will now be able to provide utility partners with end-to-end visibility, control and program management, from the substation to the grid edge, across the entire customer spectrum, it said.
“SEEload has successfully served the nation’s top utilities,” says Joshua Wong, CEO of Opus One Solutions. “The acquisition provides Opus One with the opportunity to capitalize on the growth of the market and continue to meet the needs of our clients with advanced innovative solutions for future energy projects.”
In the last few years, Opus One has focused on significant international expansion and plans to further that growth with additional key account partnerships. This acquisition will address the global market to better serve utilities, providing innovative approaches to planning, system and market operations. The global DER management systems market size was valued at US$ 543.4 million in 2020 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 18% to nearly $2.4 billion in 2029, according to some estimates.
The main drivers pushing the demand for DER management systems, globally, are: decrease in cost for DER adoption, government based financial support for projects, the movement of energy networks to an electric future to achieve net zero goals, operational savings which offset the cost for capital grid investments, and more interest from regulators in developing new market frameworks.
“With the continued growth of the renewable energy market globally, DER management is more important than ever,” said Sachin Gupta, TRC’s Vice President of Digital Solutions Sales. The combination of the GridOS platform with the SEESuite software will enable a stronger offering for Opus One. This also allows TRC Digital to advance its goal of remaining vendor-agnostic when working with our customers to architect their cleantech vision and the future-state of their grid.”
