Germany-based utility RWE Innogy’s corporate venturing unit has partnered with corporate-backed High-Tech Gründerfonds to invest €2.25m ($2.8m) in energy foecaster Enercast.
Crispin Leick, managing director of Innogy Venture Capital, said: “Enercast addresses a fundamental problem of renewable energies. Fluctuations in the feed in of wind and solar electricity lead to a burden on the grids and ultimately to a level of insecurity with regard to the supply of electricity. The more reliable forecast data is available, the better renewables can be integrated into existing grids and thus into the electricity market. enercast provides an important building block here for the success of the turnaround in the energy policy and, in doing so, it goes hand in hand with the investment focus of Innogy Venture Capital.”
Working with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology, enercast developed a forecast algorithm which integrates renewable energies into the electricity supply.
Markus Kreßmann, Senior Investment Manager from High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH, said: “The energy forecast from enercast technology is based on a unique combination of highly precise input data and the utilisation of neural networks. In addition to this innovative and up until now non-commercially applied approach, the team convinced us with its in-depth know-how and entrepreneurial experience. This is also what convinced first renowned clients who now enjoy a new level of forecasting quality as a result of the enercast forecasting.”