British startup Piclo operates a marketplace that helps electricity system operators, which balance supply and demand on local electricity grids, buy power from clean energy providers. Portuguese electric utility Energias de Portugal, a Piclo customer, made a strategic investment in the company via its venture arm, EDP Ventures.
Clean Growth Fund and Future Energy Ventures also invested in Piclo’s latest equity round. The amount of the investments was not disclosed.
Grid flexibility
Piclo’s software enables greater usage of renewable energy by helping grid operators improve “energy flexibility” and balance variable renewable energy sources, like rooftop solar and EV batteries.
About 20% of energy in the EU comes from renewable sources. Digital technologies that support the use of variable clean energy supplies are key to reaching the EU’s goal of 40% renewable power by 2030.
Software like Piclo’s will also play a role in quickly delivering new renewables capacity funded by the Inflation Reduction Act into US grid systems, argues Piclo’s John Greene.
Piclo’s software is available in the UK, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Australia and the US. It facilitates energy trading from more than 300,000 flexible energy assets with a total capacity of 22 gigawatts. The company is focused on expansion to Asia and in the US.
