E.ON increases digital solutions for energy transition with new acquisition

German multinational energy company E.ON has acquired smart grid intelligence provider gridX to expand its portfolio of digital solutions capable of delivering energy transition.

Thomas Birr, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at E.ON, said: “The acquisition of a majority stake in gridX is another step on our path toward the decentralised and, above all, digital energy world of the next decades.”

gridX, an Aachen-based startup founded in 2016, uses its technology to optimise the connection, control, and management of decentralised energy resources including electric vehicles (EVs).

The acquisition will enable E.ON to provide digital energy management solutions for smart homes and advanced energy management including managed EV charging.

E.ON will leverage gridX’s Xenon digital smart grid platform to take advantage of the prosumer business model for grid reliability and the decarbonisation of the energy sector.

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Birr, added: “In this way, we are also enabling our customers to achieve their own sustainability goals and contribute to the success of the energy transition.”

E.ON and gridX have been working together since 2017 on projects including the installation of an intelligent load management system at the utility’s Essen headquarters. The project is enabling dynamic charging for EVs, optimisation of building’s load management and decreased energy consumption, according to the statement.

David Balensiefen and Andreas Booke, founders and managing directors of gridX, added: “Since the founding of gridX, our primary goal has always been to generate maximum positive impact through our technology platform. Through the strong strategic partnership with E.ON, we can now support our customers even better on their way to a sustainable and decarbonised energy future.”

Optimised management of distributed resources is a key focus for E.ON with the company becoming the first utility in Europe to partner with IBM Quantum to manage decentralised energy systems using quantum computing. Victoria Ossadnik, chief digital officer at E.ON, said: “For E.ON, the innovative use of quantum computing offers an opportunity to solve complex and cross-system optimization tasks in the energy transition in an innovative way.” {Read more…}

In late August, the utility announced a partnership with Wipro and Microsoft for its digital transformation initiatives to accelerate its green energy transition in Europe.