Accenture has made a strategic investment, through Accenture Ventures, and formed a strategic alliance with Reactive Technologies, a London-based provider of power and grid technology, to help utilities accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy.
According to a new report from the International Energy Agency, renewable energy will become the largest source of electricity generation worldwide in 2025, and data and digital technology will be key enablers for this shift. To effectively integrate the surge in renewables, power grids will need more visibility over network conditions to accurately balance the grid and manage inertia, or system strength. Reactive Technologies offers measurement, real-time analytics and data services that can help grid operators and other energy market players address these challenges.
“As electricity production from wind and solar continues to grow, the share of variable renewables in the production mix is likely to present stability challenges for utilities to balance their grids,” said Stephanie Jamison, a senior managing director who leads Accenture’s utilities business. “We believe Reactive Technologies’ innovative technology solutions can help improve critical decision making by moving from models to measurement. Coupled with Accenture’s experience in the utilities business, our Industry X business’ focus on grid-balancing expertise and our global reach, these services can accelerate the creation of the utility of the future. This type of collaboration is key to helping our clients achieve their sustainability and business goals.”
Maikel van Verseveld, managing director, Accenture Industry X, added, “Reactive Technologies’ patented measurement solutions and scalable cloud platform, combined with high-resolution edge computing devices, enable a digital network twin for simulating operations. This allows network operators to measure grid inertia and system stability in real-time. This convergence of communications, information and operating technology embeds new levels of intelligence in the operations of utilities, offering clients untapped potential for making the grid more stable, safe and efficient.”
Reactive is now part of Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight, a deeply immersive engagement and investment program that targets emerging technology software businesses to help the Global 2000 embrace the power of change and fill strategic innovation gaps. Project Spotlight offers extensive access to Accenture’s deep domain expertise and its enterprise clients, to harness human creativity and deliver on the promise of new technology. Through the program, Reactive Technologies will co-innovate with Accenture and its clients at its Innovation Hubs, Labs and Liquid Studios, working with subject matter experts to bring solutions to market more quickly and more effectively.
“Through unique measurement technologies, the fundamental challenges of managing grid stability with ever increasing amounts of renewable energy being deployed can now be solved,” said Marc Borrett, CEO of Reactive Technologies. “Through GridMetrix®, critical grid parameters can be captured accurately and continuously for grid operators, transmission or distribution, national or regional. This will enable them to be properly equipped to better manage grid stability risks, save money, invest smarter, and integrate more renewable energy in the power system. Working with Accenture helps us to operate on a global basis with a local presence and support our offering with their full suite of technical and commercial delivery capabilities.”
Tom Lounibos, managing director, Accenture Ventures, added, “Our investment and alliance with Reactive Technologies brings to life Accenture Ventures’ commitment to cultivating the latest technologies, enhanced by human ingenuity. Reactive Technologies’ solutions solve some of the most critical business needs of our utilities clients, which will only become more complex in the future."
Reactive Technologies is the latest addition to the investment portfolio of Accenture Ventures, which is focused on investing in companies that create or apply disruptive enterprise technologies.
Terms of the investment were not disclosed.