Splight AI Inc. Secures $12 Million Seed Funding to Expand Access to Clean Energy Globally
Grid Operations Startup Aims to Unlock Transmission Capacity and Accelerate Distributed Energy Integration
Splight AI Inc., a grid operations startup, announced today that it has completed a $12 million seed funding round to support its goal of expanding access to clean energy globally.
Numerous other venture capital firms, including Elewit, EDP Ventures, Draper Cygnus, Draper B1, Ascent Energy Ventures, Fen Ventures, Reaction Global, Barn Investments, and the UC Berkeley Foundation, participated in the round that was led by Noa, formerly A/O.
Addressing Grid Congestion and Renewable Energy Losses
Splight ai wants to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into the management of electrical grid operations, with an emphasis on addressing grid congestion, or supply-side bottlenecks in the energy supply. According to the startup, the energy industry’s reliance on antiquated contingency management techniques, which can result in up to half of the grid’s transmission capacity being unused, is typically the cause of grid bottlenecks, which are defined as a shortage of transmission capacity. Sadly, up to 40% of all renewable energy production may be lost as a result of these bottlenecks, keeping thousands of gigawatts in line and preventing them from connecting to the grid.
The increasing emphasis on sustainability among governments and organizations worldwide necessitates more efficient grid operations in order to fully utilize clean energy sources. Distributed energy sources, like rooftop solar and batteries, are becoming more significant components of electricity grids, according to Splight, but energy providers find it difficult to manage these resources.
Splight’s AI-Driven Grid Operations Platform
Splight has created a grid operations management platform driven by artificial intelligence that is specifically designed to address grid congestion in order to assist energy providers in better managing these renewable energy resources. It accomplishes this by utilizing “inverter-based resources,” or IBRs, as a dependable source. Additionally, the platform speeds up the implementation of distributed energy sources.
The startup asserts that by utilizing AI algorithms to address grid congestion, its platform can unlock twice as much transmission capacity, allowing terawatts of clean energy to be added to the grid while increasing reliability. It can aid in accelerating the rate at which new distributed energy sources and batteries are connected to the grid, in addition to preventing the waste of clean energy.
Expanding into North America and Europe
The funding round announced today, according to Splight AI CEO Fernando Llaver, is a significant endorsement of the company’s “proven and commercially viable” artificial intelligence platform. “It can be implemented quickly enough to add over 3,000 gigawatts of clean energy in a matter of months,” he declared.
The startup plans to expand its platform into North America and the European Union with the money from today’s round. It will also expand its leadership teams and quicken the development of its technology.
One of the biggest obstacles to the switch to more sustainable energy systems, according to investor Kia Nejad of Noa, is energy curtailment. He claimed that Splight’s technology was a far more workable plan for updating the energy infrastructure to satisfy present needs.
