Amid the shift to renewable energy, this Market Map looks at the tech providers helping utility companies like National Grid and Dominion Energy decrease costs while stabilizing power supplies on the grid.
The power grid is currently undergoing some of the biggest operational changes since the adoption of AC power more than a century ago.
The old power grid was centered around large, centralized, fossil fuel-based power plants located away from population centers as well as the use of transmission and distribution lines to connect power generators with power consumers.
Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are now challenging the fossil fuel-based nature of conventional power generation, while new distributed energy resources (DERs) like rooftop solar panels are shifting power stations to a more decentralized model. While these changes make the power grid more sustainable, new digitization and automation tech is required to bring these devices onto the grid in a way that is cost-competitive with conventional fossil fuel power generation.
Utility companies like National Grid, Dominion Energy, and Southern Company are actively investing in digitization solutions that can support the shift away from fossil fuels (e.g., grid storage tech, micro-grid/off-grid hardware). They’re also focused on tech-enabled automation solutions that can boost operational efficiency in the process (e.g., remote grid inspection, predictive analytics asset management platforms).
Using CB Insights data, we identified 146 companies addressing 8 technology priorities for utility companies, from distributed energy resources to micro-grid/off-grid.
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