Innovation can be difficult for regulated utilities that must watch every penny and spend money wisely. But innovation is one of the key tenets of the transforming energy industry, which means identifying and investing in innovative and emerging technologies needs to be prioritized even for regulated utilities.
Four years ago, National Grid, a large, regulated investor-owned utility, launched National Grid Partners (NGP), a venture investment and innovation arm of the utility. Last week, NGP announced investments of $20M across three startups to transform the way utilities and other enterprises manage vast physical infrastructure.
“Utilities have long been known for size and reliability but need access to new solutions to better serve customers and the environment,” said Lisa Lambert, chief technology and innovation officer at National Grid and founder and president of National Grid Partners.
The companies NGP invested in include Exodigo, based in Palo Alto, California and Tel Aviv, Israel. The company uses sensors and artificial intelligence to improve the quality and accuracy of underground maps for design, construction and mineral discovery. National Grid engaged Exodigo to map the underground in two New York sites and revealed previously unidentified lines, avoiding safety risks, costs and project delays.
Sensat, another investment automates how infrastructure is planned, built and managed by creating “digital twins” to enable faster, more effective decision making. National Grid said it worked with Sensat on major infrastructure projects in the U.K., where the startup’s visualization software platform streamlined the planning process and reduced costs.
The third company NGP took a stake in is Visionary.ai, based in Jerusalem, Israel. The company has developed a software image signal processor (ISP) that enables cameras to achieve good image quality even in near-total darkness. The company’s artificial intelligence algorithms improve the quality of images and videos taken from cameras at the edge, in real time, which is important for industries such as road safety, medical imaging and critical infrastructure security.
The funding for Exodigo, Sensat and Visionary.ai was unveiled at the inaugural NextGrid Alliance Summit, an industry meeting of utility and energy leaders to develop and deploy new technology and share strategies for scaling clean energy to reach net-zero faster.
Also at the NGA Summit, portfolio company LineVision announced two new agreements to install Dynamic Line Rating sensors on National Grid transmission lines in western New York and Cumbria, U.K. The sensors, which provide real-time updates on powerline conditions, boost transmission capacity by more than 30%, said National Grid, reducing power curtailments and allowing twice as much renewable power to reach the grid – without building new utility infrastructure. The New York project is expected to add enough capacity to existing transmission lines to power up to 100,000 homes without additional infrastructure.
In addition, portfolio company Copper Labs announced it had teamed with National Grid on a program that helped cut customers’ natural gas use by 18% to help maintain reliable service during a major winter storm. Copper’s technology provides insight into usage without meter upgrades. When the storm hit New York earlier this year, National Grid customers enrolled in the program received targeted smartphone messages encouraging them to modify usage during peak demand periods via simple steps like postponing a hot shower.
”We launched National Grid Partners four years ago to help us ‘look over the hill’ and bring new startup technology into National Grid so we can meet the changing needs of our customers,” said John Pettigrew, Group CEO of National Grid.
“We’re on a mission to fully decarbonize energy, and National Grid is a fantastic platform to deploy startups at scale to benefit utilities – like those in the Alliance – and ultimately combat climate change.”
More than 80% of NGP’s portfolio companies are actively engaged with National Grid’s business units to test, develop and deploy technology across its networks in the U.S. and U.K. Those collaborations not only help National Grid modernize and transform its operations, but also help startups scale their technologies around the globe in months, not years, said NGP.
With today’s investments, NGP has invested $350M and backed a total of 40 startups dedicated to combating climate change across a range of applications, from cybersecurity to customer-focused solutions.
The International Energy Agency estimates governments and the private sector will need to invest $4 trillion annually by the end of this decade to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 – an eightfold increase from 2020 investments. Nearly all U.S. utilities have set net-zero targets to reach by 2050, but most are already falling behind.
With net-zero too great a challenge for any one company, NGP formed the NextGrid Alliance for senior utility executives to share ideas and insights on how technology collaborations can speed the future of clean energy.
“NGP provides much more than just a check,” said LineVision CEO Hudson Gilmer. “They recognize it’s not easy to navigate large utilities, and they’re very helpful in making introductions to the right people who can help deploy our technology at scale. The NextGrid Alliance is an ideal forum for sharing critical insights around decarbonization while making C-suite level connections at leading utilities around the world.”
“Decarbonization is a worldwide challenge,” said Adam Richins, chief operating officer of Idaho Power, who co-chairs the NextGrid Alliance Transmission Working Group. “The problem is, the industry is behind in transforming the grid. Working together toward a more connected, resilient grid will reduce reliance on carbon-heavy sources – and lead to more progress toward a clean-energy future.”
