- Distributed Energy Resource (DER) control and aggregation platform company Sunverge recently announced that it closed $11 million in funding
Sunverge — the provider of an industry-leading Distributed Energy Resource (DER) control and aggregation platform — announced it raised $11 million in funding. This round of funding was led by Ecosystem Integrity Fund with participation from Equinor Energy Ventures and Evergy Ventures. And with this funding round, the company will continue to expand and evolve its platform to help utilities to operationalize and integrate DERs into core utility operations.
The global energy landscape is undergoing a rapid transition and transformation and the latest FERC report shows generation from renewables outpacing nuclear and traditional generation methods with additional momentum expected to continue throughout 2022.
“With many investor-owned and municipal utilities committing to drastic carbon emissions reduction and targeting 100% carbon-free energy, combined with clean energy consumer choice trends and proliferation of EVs, we are witnessing an accelerated transformation of the industry and transition to clean energy technologies,” said Sunverge CEO Martin Milani. “This new capital will allow Sunverge to continue ongoing innovation and expand partnerships with utilities to help with this transition and provide the technology required to turn clean DERs into reliable resources that can be integrated into core utility planning and operations. Utilities are no longer contemplating clean distributed energy – they’re actively participating and investing in integration of renewables with grid modernization efforts.”
Due to the changing market landscape, today’s utilities require new mission-critical technologies to enable them to integrate and operate DERs as reliable generation and grid assets in order to modernize their distribution grids and replace traditional fossil fuel peak and base generation with distributed clean energy resources.
“We have been actively looking to invest in this space for a long time and take a highly selective approach to investments. Sunverge stood out to us because of team’s deep knowledge of the utility and smart grid space, along with the platform’s flexibility to meet the needs of the distribution grids of today and tomorrow. We are proud to back Sunverge and its mission,” added Ecosystem Integrity Fund partner Geoff Eisenberg, Partner at Ecosystem Integrity Fund. “We believe the Sunverge platform can play a critical role in transitioning our existing power system from fossil fuel to reliable and clean distributed generation.”
The Sunverge Energy Platform provides utilities with real-time grid-edge visibility and management capabilities for this increasingly distributed and interconnected web of DERs that include solar, energy storage, EVs, and EV chargers along with other smart devices such as smart thermostats, water heaters, etc.
“Energy storage and DERs will grow exponentially in North America over the next decade. As a forward-thinking utility, we want to stay on top of these trends to both guide our investments in these technologies as well as deliver new engaging and innovative energy services to our customers,” explained Evergy chief customer officer Chuck Caisely. “Sunverge is uniquely positioned to help utilities embrace and operationalize these exciting new technologies.”
Sunverge is known for providing the leading open dynamic platform for Virtual Power Plants (VPP), a grid-aware and dynamic power source built from the aggregation of behind-the-meter DERs (distributed energy resources). And the Sunverge VPP platform is unique in providing dynamic co-optimization of services on both sides of the meter, helping customers with intelligent management of their own renewable energy generation and utilities with greater flexibility in managing their infrastructure investments, reducing generation costs, increasing system reliability, and meeting their renewable energy goals. With the Sunverge Infinity edge controller, the Sunverge VPP platform provides intelligent dynamic near real-time control over decentralized energy resources that is efficient, reliable, and responsive to utilities and their customers.
“Right now, customers typically own DERs, but utilities are the ideal owners of these assets due to their lower cost of capital,” commented Equinor Energy Ventures managing director Gareth Burns. “Sunverge’s platform proves the value of the baseload power generated by DERs and will ultimately help utilities convince both public utilities commissions and consumers that assets like solar and energy storage are the right investment for the future of our energy markets.”
