ABB Technology Ventures, the corporate venturing division of conglomerate ABB Group, has led a $12m series B round for Enbala, a Canada-based smart grid technology.
GE Ventures, the investment unit of conglomerate General Electric, and utility National Grid also took part, as did Chrysalix Venture Capital and Obvious Ventures.
Enbala has developed technology to capture and analyse data on power consumption across a grid which is then used to automatically allocate resources to the areas where they are needed in real-time.
The series B capital will go towards expanding and accelerating Enbala’s market presence, scope and capabilities.
Obvious Ventures previously supplied $3m in September 2015, adding to an $11m funding round in March that same year backed by GE Ventures, electricity provider Edison Energy and state-owned export credit agency Export Development Canada (EDC).
EnerTech Capital Partners, Sorfina Capital and Chrysalix also contributed funds to the March 2015 round.
EDC, Chrysalix, EnerTech and XPV Capital also supplied $7.4m in funding in 2013, as well as $8m in capital in 2010, alongside Walsingham Fund.
Grant Allen, head of ABB Technology Ventures, said: “We are seeing a surge in the number of distributed energy assets and a clear market need for grid edge control and orchestration.
“I am excited to bring together ABB’s deep experience in distribution and energy market operations with Enbala’s best-in-class software to design a solution tailored to the unique needs of our global client base, many of whom are leading the charge in integrating distributed energy resources.”
Mathew Sachs, vice-president of distributed energy development at National Grid, said: “As our industry continues to evolve and customer needs change, we are preparing for a more distributed future.
“Aggregating distributed energy resources so they function as a virtual power plant is an important part of this evolution. Enbala’s technology and expertise position it well to scale the deployment of virtual power plants and generate value for customers, distributed resource providers and the grid as a whole.”