Software firm wins $10m funding for flexibility platform

Energy simulation software firm Gridcog has announced $10m in new investment that will support the expansion of its flexibility software platform as demand for more sophisticated planning tools increases across the renewable energy sector.

The Series A funding round was led by ABB, with participation from Axpo, DNV Ventures and Verbund X Ventures. Existing investors AlbionVC and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation also continued their support.

Originally founded in Australia but now with offices in London, Berlin, Madrid, Perth and Melbourne, Gridcog was created to help developers and utilities evaluate increasingly complex energy projects.

The company provides simulation software used to model combinations of renewable energy generation, battery storage, flexible electrical loads and hybrid energy systems.

The platform is designed to support project planning from the earliest feasibility studies through to final investment decisions.

Gridcog says its software has now been used to assess more than 16,000 energy projects across 40 different countries. Its customer base includes the likes of Octopus, Shell, Greenvolt, NextEnergy Capital, European Energy, Vestas and PwC.

Multiple choice

The latest funding comes as energy developers face growing pressure to optimise projects that combine multiple technologies rather than relying on standalone renewable generation. As electricity networks incorporate increasing levels of wind and solar power, developers are placing greater emphasis on battery storage, flexible demand, hybrid assets and participation in ancillary services markets.

Fabian Le Gay Brereton, chief executive and co-founder of Gridcog, noted: “The strategic significance of this round lies as much in who is investing as in the capital itself. ABB, Axpo, DNV and Verbund span industrial electrification, energy consulting and large-scale generation and trading: the parts of the industry whose own projects depend on getting project decisions right. 

"Their collective backing is a signal that transparent, rigorous modelling is becoming foundational for the energy transition, not a nice-to-have.”

Model behaviour

Summarising the importance of modelling in the energy transition, Le Gay Brereton said: “Renewables completely dominate new power additions worldwide, but renewables-dominant power systems need an enormous amount of flexibility. This is where the energy transition will be won or lost, and right now flexibility is the hardest thing to model well.”

And Pete Tickler, chief product officer and co-founder, observed that Gridcog is well placed to meet the needs of this new, flex-focused landscape. “The demand we’re seeing is global, from developers, utilities and energy majors who have outgrown the tools and processes that they started with and need something that works and is trusted across all their projects and markets. 

"The backing of our new investors validates the scale of the problem that we are solving, and the role Gridcog can play, as flexibility becomes central to the energy transition.”