Company Expansions - Smart Grid
Tendril Inc., a smart-grid technology company, announced in October 2011 plans to add 100 workers in 2012 due increased demand for its software that helps utilities and consumers manage energy consumption more efficiently.
Xcel Energy selected Boulder in 2008 to pilot the SmartGridCity project, which allows customers to access real-time information on energy prices and peak use periods. Officials hope the information will help customers modify their usage and limit the burden on the city’s power grid.
Fort ZED (Zero Energy District) launched in Fort Collins in 2006. Fort ZED is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and was created by public-private partnerships that use Smart Grid and cleantech technologies to achieve local power generation and energy demand management. Technologies being tested include advanced mixed-fuel, advanced generator controls, micro-wind turbines, solar photovoltaics, fuel cells, and vehicle-to-grid vehicles.
Spirae, formed in 2007 and based in Fort Collins, provides control and analysis technologies to the utility industry for managing large quantities of distributed energy resources on the power system. In 2009, Spirae participated in the Northwest Regional Smart Grid Demonstration project, one of 16 such projects supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. Spirae also co-owns and operates the InteGrid Test and Development Lab in collaboration with Colorado State University for advanced grid simulation and research.
Tendril Networks expanded in Boulder after securing over $30 million in Series C funding in 2009. The company developed the first integrated software/hardware platform to enable real-time, two-way communications between utilities and their customers on energy supply and consumption. The company is actively engaged with more than 30 utility partners on energy management and demand response projects and was named one of BusinessWeek magazine’s 25 Most Intriguing Energy Innovators.
