Splight, an AI-based company at the forefront of grid operations technologies, announced the completion of its seed funding round. The $12M round was led by noa (formerly A/O) and joined by EDP Ventures, Elewit, Draper Cygnus, Draper B1, Ascent Energy Ventures, Fen Ventures, Reaction Global, Barn Investments, and the UC Berkeley Foundation, and others.
This funding round will support the company’s mission to address the multi-generational challenge of clean energy at scale, expanding its North America and EU presence and continuing to grow its development, implementation, and leadership teams to keep up with growing demand.
Grid congestion – also known as grid bottlenecks – is a shortage of transmission capacity caused by the grid’s reliance on outdated contingency management methods that leave up to half of grid transmission capacity unutilized. And these bottlenecks lead to up to 40% of renewable energy generation being wasted and thousands of gigawatts of renewable energy projects waiting in queues to be connected to the grid.
Splight developed new AI-based technology for advanced grid operations that tackles congestion using inverter-based resources (IBRs) as a source of reliability. And it significantly reduces curtailment, and accelerates the connection of utility-scale renewable power plants and the deployment of DERs and batteries. Its technology takes a novel approach, using real-time data and algorithms to use IBRs as grid-friendly assets.
By utilizing Splight technology to tackle contingencies in real-time, up to 2 times extra transmission capacity is unlocked, enabling terawatts of clean energy to be injected into the grid while simultaneously adding reliability. And the no-tradeoff solution is transformative for grid operations: Splight’s technology is the key to prevent clean energy being wasted and facilitate the deployment and connection of renewable energy, DERs, and batteries at the pace needed and with the existing transmission infrastructure.
This funding round attracted diverse investors, including climate tech and energy specialized venture capital firms, industry leaders, and university endowments. And the investors have a global footprint covering the UK, the US, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Argentina.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our technology is proven and commercially viable: we are solving grid congestion while adding reliability. It can be deployed fast enough to inject more than 3,000 GWs of clean energy within months. This round is a huge vote of confidence and will be used to expand our business globally.”
– Fernando Llaver, CEO of Splight
“This investment is a significant milestone on our journey and will accelerate our growth, enhance our product offerings, and deliver huge value to our customers.”
– Thomas Vadora, CTO of Splight
“Energy curtailment is perhaps the most pressing issue for the transition to a sustainable energy system. Splight’s technology is a far more practical approach for modernizing the energy grid to meet current demands. We are excited to support Splight as they lead the implementation of scalable grid software, with an established presence amongst industry-leading customers in Europe, the US, and Latin America.”
– Kia Nejad, Investor at noa
