GridPoint cements leadership position in Plug-In vehicle sector

GridPoint Inc. announced at GridWeek that it has acquired V2Green, a Seattle company that provides plug-in electric vehicle grid integration technology – including on-board vehicle communication devices – to enable utilities to “smart charge” electric vehicles anywhere within a service territory.

This is the first step in GridPointÂ’s acquisition strategy, which has been fueled by a recent $120 million equity financing.

“V2Green is a leading innovator in plug-in electric vehicle management and has been instrumental in defining standards for interfacing electric vehicles with the power grid,” said Peter L. Corsell, President and CEO, GridPoint. “V2Green’s best-in-breed software for electric vehicle management enhances our software platform and its corresponding benefits to utilities.”

GridPointÂ’s platform applies information technology to the electric grid to provide utilities with an intelligent network of distributed energy resources that controls load, stores energy and produces power.

The platform offers utilities a single interface, located in a utilityÂ’s control room, for managing a variety of distributed energy assets including plug-in electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, advanced storage technologies and household devices such as thermostats, electric water heaters, pool pumps, etc. Benefits include increased efficiency, reliability and adoption of renewable energy, as well as eliminating the need to build new power plants.

In March, GridPoint announced a commercial test of smart charging with Duke Energy, which was conducted via a controlled outlet in a residential garage. V2GreenÂ’s integrated client-server solution and on-board vehicle communication device increase GridPointÂ’s smart charging capabilities by enabling utilities to manage charging of grid-aware vehicles in real time from any outlet within their service territory.

Additionally, online interfaces provide data on vehicle performance, charging behavior and status for both the driver and the utility. V2Green has deployed its technology in pilot programs with Xcel Energy, Austin Energy and Seattle City Light.

“GM’s recent announcement on the availability of the Chevy Volt marks the beginning of a wave of plug-in electric vehicles to come,” said David Kaplan, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer. “GridPoint clearly understands how to provide electric utilities with an infrastructure that prepares the grid for their arrival.”

Plug-in electric vehicle management is essential to meeting a surge in demand for these vehicles, while at the same time alleviating stress on the grid. It will also allow utilities to optimize generation resources to reduce consumer costs and minimize the environmental impact of charging the millions of electric vehicles that are expected to come online in the years ahead.

An Oak Ridge National Laboratory study found that 160 new power plants would be needed to handle additional load if all electric vehicles were plugged in at 5 p.m., however, if charging times were shifted to off-peak hours – known as smart charging – only zero to eight new power plants would be required.

“We have a great deal of synergy with GridPoint including our software-based approach to modernizing the grid,” said John Clark, President and CEO, V2Green. “Our combined capabilities will enable utilities to mitigate the impact of plug-in electric vehicles on the grid while reducing carbon emissions and providing their customers with reduced rates for off-peak charging.”

Xcel Energy has selected the GridPoint Platform for its $100 million SmartGridCity initiative in Boulder, Colorado. Both GridPoint and V2Green are part of the “SmartGridCity Experience” mobile exhibit and featured in the first SmartGridCity home, the University of Colorado’s chancellor’s residence.

A 2008 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, GridPoint was also named the overall winner by AlwaysOn GoingGreen 100 Top Private Companies 2007 and winner of the 2007 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Green Excellence.

GridPoint has been featured in several books including the newly released Perfect Power: How the Microgrid Revolution Will Unleash Cleaner, Greener, More Abundant Energy, by Robert Galvin and Kurt Yeager, as well as Earth: The Sequel and The Clean Tech Revolution. Corsell is profiled in a recent issue of MITÂ’s Technology Review magazine as one of the worldÂ’s top innovators under the age of 35. He also serves as chairman of the World Economic ForumÂ’s Global Agenda Council on Alternative Energies.