An unknown number of employees at the virtual power plant and smart grid software company Uplight have been impacted by layoffs following the integration of AutoGrid, which the company acquired last year.
Uplight CEO Luis D’Acosta said the layoffs occurred on Nov. 21, nearly 11 months after Uplight announced its acquisition of AutoGrid, a distributed energy resource management system provider. D’Acosta called the reorganization “necessary” to meet client needs.
“I wholeheartedly recommend any of our former teammates for roles in our small, close knit industry,” D’Acosta said on social media. “We need to support each other and climate tech needs this type of talent and networking to continue imagining and building the new energy landscape.”
It wasn’t immediately clear how many Uplight employees were impacted, though one manager posted on LinkedIn that “a large amount” were affected. One laid-off employee suggested the number could be around a hundred. POWERGRID reached out to Uplight for additional details and is awaiting a response. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment did not list a WARN letter from Boulder-based Uplight, which would have been required to issue a 60-day warning for a mass layoff impacting 50 or more employees under federal law.
“With the integration of Uplight and AutoGrid’s businesses and platforms complete, Uplight is now focusing on areas of our business where we have substantial opportunity to enable North American energy providers to leverage customers as a key resource for decarbonization, grid flexibility, and resiliency,” Uplight said in a statement on Nov. 22. “While this refocus is necessary for our business, it unfortunately has an impact on staffing. We have reduced our headcount this week and are taking action to support impacted employees.”
POWERGRID will update this developing story.
