AI's potential for locating hidden electrical grid capacity
Gridcare Technologies, a company co-founded by Amit Narayan, has stepped out of the shadows with an oversubscribed $13.5 million seed round. The company aims to revolutionise the data center sector by helping developers find available power and avoid long interconnection queues.
Gridcare's platform uses artificial intelligence to find underutilised capacity in the grid, acting as a bridge between developers and utilities. This innovative approach could save valuable time, reducing the time-to-power from five to seven years to as little as six months.
Global grid congestion has emerged as a main headwind to the growth of the data center sector. Approximately 20% of planned data center projects risk significant delays due to waits for interconnection that can stretch as long as a decade in key regions. Gridcare's 'power-first' approach could be a game-changer, sparing developers from having to start interconnection processes with multiple power providers at the same time, a practice that has become almost an industry standard for large-load customers and is causing power providers to be flooded with speculative or "phantom" load requests.
Amit Narayan, the CEO and founder of Gridcare, previously founded Berkeley Design Automation, now part of Siemens. He also co-founded AutoGrid, which was acquired by Uplight in December 2023. The name of the company co-founded by Amit Narayan with Gridcare in June 2024 is Gridcare Technologies.
Gridcare's revenue model is based on "megawatts unlocked," which is earned when developers and utilities enter into a contract. The company validates its model and assumptions directly with utilities, partnering with companies like Portland General Electric and Pacific Gas & Electric.
The round was led by Xora, a deep technology venture capital firm backed by Singapore's Temasek. Gridcare is currently working with nearly all the major hyperscalers and over 15 data center developers.
The platform collects billions of data points across various parameters, including grid network models, operational data, utility planning models, forecasts, interconnection queues, permits, rates, and extreme weather data.
In December 2024, Google signed a strategic partnership with Intersect Power and TPG Rise Climate specifically to pursue "energy-first" development, a shift similar to Gridcare's 'power-first' approach. This partnership could signal a trend in the industry towards more efficient and sustainable energy practices.
The International Energy Agency found that the grid has vast amounts of underutilised capacity. Gridcare's platform is designed to help data center developers find available power, ideally before traditional site selection, changing the approach from a 'land-first' model to a 'power-first' approach.
As Gridcare Technologies moves forward, it promises to help developers navigate the complex world of grid congestion and interconnection queues, paving the way for a more efficient and sustainable data center sector.
