These two tech companies will make the US power grid smarter

Energy storage tech solutions company Fluence, a Siemens and AES company based in Arlington, Virginia, today announced that it has acquired San Francisco-based Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS), a provider of AI-powered software for utility-scale storage and generation assets.

Fluence’s acquisition will maximize the value of energy storage and renewables and accelerate grid decarbonization.

Green tech innovation

Wind, solar, and energy storage can create a more resilient and reliable grid, but they need to be equipped with the right software.

AMS’ tech (pictured above) uses AI, advanced price forecasting, portfolio optimization, and market bidding to ensure energy storage and flexible generation assets are responding optimally to price signals sent by the market. AMS and Fluence will combine Fluence’s experience operating batteries in the field with AMS’ ability to optimize market participation.

The two companies will help utilities, developers, and commercial and industrial customers optimize energy storage and flexible assets to improve grid reliability and efficiency, deliver additional revenue, and support the global transition to more sustainable and resilient power systems.

Optimizing assets

Fluence CTO Brett Galura told Electrek:

Our century-old power system is stressed. Renewable energy and energy storage are the solution.

The combination of Fluence’s integrated hardware, software, and digital technology with AMS’ AI software will optimize renewable energy and energy storage assets, deliver more value for asset owners, improve reliability and flexibility for grid operators, and help lower carbon emissions.

These innovations will drive the transformation of global electric power systems to ensure
a more sustainable future.

The impact of the combined companies will provide owners with the ability to reduce the payback period of their energy storage assets from more than six years (using manual trading) to as little as three years. This can increase the internal rate of return for energy storage from around 10% (using manual trading) to as much as 25-30%.

The acquisition follows a yearlong partnership between the two companies. Together, AMS and Fluence cover nearly 5GW of existing or awarded assets around the world. Roughly, 1GW powers around 725,000 homes, so that’s around 3.6 million homes’ worth of power.