Glasgow’s Smarter Grid bought by Mitsubishi

Smarter Grid executive directors Alan Gooding and Graham Ault

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and its subsidiary Mitsubishi Electric Power Products announced on Monday they agreed to acquire Glasgow‑based Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS), a spin-out from the University of Strathclyde.

SGS, which also has a base in New York, is a global provider of distributed energy resources (DER) management software for power distribution utilities and DER operators.

“Electric grid operators throughout the world are experiencing an increasingly complex mix of new decentralized power generation and clean energy resources,” said Mitsubishi Electric.

“SGS offers highly flexible, scalable controls solutions allowing users to integrate DER for capacity management, flexible interconnection, virtual power plants, microgrids, fleet energy asset operations and energy as a service.”

SGS CEO Brent Marshall said: “We are thrilled to join Mitsubishi Electric and expand the reach of our energy management enterprise software to DER customers around the globe and – in turn – assist those customers to better manage DER assets as they strive to decarbonize their operations.”

Mitsubishi Electric Power Products CEO Brian Heery said “We are very excited to bring SGS into Mitsubishi Electric.

“They are committed to the mission of decarbonizing electric power production and have spent the last decade developing world-class products and processes.

“We look forward to marrying their products with our suite of grid control products to help our customers respond to changes and still get the best performance from their electric grids.”

Noriyuki Takazawa, group president of energy and industrial systems group of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, said: “SGS offers innovative solutions have helped power utilities in Europe and North America install, manage and optimize renewable energy resources, and we look forward to bringing that DER management core competency to new markets around the globe.

“The SGS solutions align with the Mitsubishi Electric Environmental Sustainability Vision to realize a decarbonized society by the year 2050 through reduced greenhouse gas emissions.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the next several weeks.

SGS will maintain operations in Glasgow and will report to Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc.