AutoGrid announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Schneider Electric. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q3 2022. The acquisition will provide AutoGrid with the resources and global reach to accelerate its growth and pace of product innovation.
“Schneider Electric and AutoGrid have a shared vision for a more sustainable world through electrification, digitization and decarbonization. With AutoGrid, we can deliver significant value to energy companies by delivering cutting-edge technologies to drive adoption of smart grids and reduction of carbon emissions,” said Nadège Petit, chief innovation officer at Schneider Electric. “We are excited to create maximum impact with our customers by accelerating the reach and scale of AutoGrid.”
Schneider Electric and AutoGrid have been working together as partners since 2015 and announced a fully integrated Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) and Distributed Energy Resources Management System (DERMS) two years ago.
“Joining forces with AutoGrid will give customers the most advanced platform to integrate and orchestrate distributed energy resources for the benefit of all grid stakeholders,” said Luis D’Acosta, executive VP of digital energy at Schneider Electric. “These new capabilities will accelerate prosumer engagement for a more sustainable and efficient grid.”
AutoGrid’s AI-powered Virtual Power Plant (VPP) and Distributed Energy Resources Management (DERMS) Platform offers a sustainable alternative to dirty and expensive fossil-fuel dependent backup power plants by managing and deploying additional untapped capacity from batteries, electric vehicles and flexible load. AutoGrid has transformed the century-old, one-way, electricity grid architecture into a two-way flow of electrons that gives consumers the freedom and economic incentive to combat climate change with their energy decisions
“We started AutoGrid with the singular mission of accelerating the world’s access to sustainable energy,” said Amit Narayan, founder and CEO of AutoGrid. “I am grateful for the help we have received from Schneider Electric as an ardent supporter throughout this journey. I can say with confidence that we couldn’t have found a better partner who is more aligned in terms of our values and commitment to the mission to decarbonize our planet. I am now looking forward to the next chapter to scale our technology even faster to solve this urgent climate crisis facing us.”
News item from AutoGrid
Solarman says
So many energy management platforms from so many providers. TESLA has been polishing its system in Australia for almost 5 years now. One (must) remember any middleman in energy generation, storage, transmission and dispatch costs you more in the long run.
One must also remember the rote electric utility may be forced to morph into a EaaS entity, there will always be a push for residential solar PV adopters to be forced into the wholesale energy market while being billed at the ridiculous retail electricity rate for any “after hours” electricity use from the grid.
At one time the well-known Xantrex now Schneider CONEXT solar PV components have been creating powerful grid tied, grid tied with battery backup, off grid and now grid interactive for over 20 years. Schneider home microgrids should be the next product offering allowing the solar PV adopter to become grid agnostic and have nominal resiliency using solar PV and energy storage every day. There are many people who can afford large solar PV arrays on their roofs or on ground mounted racking on their properties. 15kWp to 50kWp systems are in reach of many folks now and the regurgitated half-truth by the electric utility of ROI is not the main consideration to many folks now. The reality using (today’s) retail electricity rates to calculate ROI of a solar PV system is a moving target and often one will find a system installed today with a simple ROI of 20 years will actually pay for itself in 15 years or less on electricity savings alone. Depending on region, California and Hawaii for instance large solar PV arrays and smart ESS are paying for themselves in energy savings in 5 to 7 years. Wyoming might calculate out to 20 years, yet so many other variables are now involved, such as smart ESS with arbitrage, getting an electric vehicle and charging it at home the majority of the time saves money each month on gasoline costs. It then becomes (energy cost savings) of several thousand dollars per year and a system ROI of 10 years or less. As the mandates stack up in State after State and across the U.S.A. energy costs just for electricity will be in the average $0.20/kWh somewhere between 2025 and 2035. IF BEVs catch on like the cheerleaders are proffering, then on average $0.35/kWh could become the new normal on electric bills.