National Grid Partners commits $100 million to invest in AI startups advancing the future of energy

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companies are strategically engaged with National Grid business units to streamline operations, boost safety and reliability, improve customer service and speed the development of tomorrow's energy networks. Examples include:

AiDASH unites satellite data with proprietary AI to help utilities monitor infrastructure networks in real time. By rapidly identifying potentially hazardous trees near power lines and prioritizing them for removal, National Grid has seen outages drop by 30% since deploying AiDASH in Massachusetts.

Exodigo uses AI and advanced sensors to "see" underground, avoiding costly missteps when expanding energy infrastructure. In New York, National Grid has deployed Exodigo to accelerate electric substation and transmission line expansion by discovering and avoiding buried obstacles.

Luminance develops legal-grade AI to automate and augment every touchpoint a business has with its contracts. National Grid uses its platform to streamline negotiation and analysis of contracts and other legal documents critical to accelerating the deployment of clean energy and smart grid assets.

Sensat uses AI to help owners of critical infrastructure visualize and collaborate via digital twins, resulting in faster project completion and lowered costs. National Grid has deployed Sensat in the UK to speed substation upgrades and connect data centers to the grid; this has resulted in fewer contractor errors, increased worker safety and weeks pared from the traditional surveying process.

Urbint develops an AI-based risk management platform to predict threats to critical infrastructure and worker safety. National Grid has deployed Urbint's solution to reduce costly and dangerous pipeline damage from third-party excavation. Urbint also helped National Grid identify 35% more potential field-worker hazards than manual methods, boosting employee safety across the utility's U.S. service territory.

"AI is helping us improve operations and achieve efficiencies we never could with legacy technologies," said Steve Smith, President of National Grid Partners and Chief Strategy and Regulation Officer at National Grid. "Our AI-powered portfolio is doing everything from accelerating critical construction timelines to boosting transmission line capacity for National Grid. And with more than 120 other global utilities in our NextGrid Alliance, we're speeding these innovations across the industry.

"This $100 million commitment will help National Grid accelerate AI deployments to build a more robust and intelligent grid," Smith added, "while ensuring that AI delivers far more value than the energy it consumes."

About National Grid Partners
National Grid Partners is the venture investment and innovation arm of National Grid plc., one of the world's largest investor-owned energy companies. By providing corporate venture capital, business development counsel and direct integration with National Grid's innovation teams, National Grid Partners is accelerating the energy transition and helping new technologies reach critical scale faster. We also convene the NextGrid Alliance (www.ngalliance.energy), a network of senior innovation executives from more than 120 worldwide utility companies focused on harnessing the industry's latest technologies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, National Grid Partners has offices in Boston, London, and New York. Visit ngpartners.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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