When the power grid starts chatting

A technology developed in Upper Austria enables intelligent coordination of all components in the power grid

When devices that generate or consume electricity and the power grid communicate with each other, it sounds like science fiction. But a company from Engerwitzdorf has developed a technology for this. With "gridoo," ATB Automatisierungstechnik GmbH & Co KG aims to accelerate the energy transition. The Upper Austrian location agency Business Upper Austria acted as an advisor on the project and enabled the company to receive funding. "gridoo ensures the intelligent coordination of all components in the power grid, regardless of the manufacturer," explains ATB Managing Director Wolfgang Bernhard. The technology enables electrical devices to communicate with each other. This makes the power grid more efficient and saves energy costs. The production-ready devices look like an internet router. They incorporate the algorithm that was developed in the research project with funding from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). The basis of the gridoo technology is internationally patented. The system can be easily integrated into existing devices and networks. gridoo is already being used in initial projects at large energy companies.

"If we want to achieve the energy transition to renewable energies, we need a future-proof power grid. Energy from wind, sun, and water makes the grid volatile, as electricity is not always generated and consumed at the same time or at the same time," says Bernhard. Therefore, all components involved must coordinate with each other. Examples of components include charging stations for e-mobility, heat pumps, battery storage systems, and photovoltaic systems. "It's about every single consumer and producer with significant electrical connection capacity and flexibility," says the ATB Managing Director. Target groups include not only end users, but also grid operators, energy suppliers, mobility providers, garage and building operators, as well as private households, energy communities, and providers of building and home automation systems.

Self-learning algorithm

"The control units of these components are relevant," explains Bernhard. "The goal is to make these smart with gridoo. In the future, these devices will have corresponding solutions implemented, or at least they will communicate with them."

With gridoo, information exchange takes place automatically in the background. User intervention is possible via the application, but not required. The self-learning algorithm plans energy production and demand in advance and reacts in real time to unplanned deviations and events such as weather changes, user behavior, dynamic tariffs, or grid congestion.

While there are already solutions on the market that allow, for example, the PV system to communicate with the charging station and storage system, gridoo can do much more, making it unique. "Our USP is the complete combination of live monitoring, load management, and energy management in a single unit, regardless of the number of components involved," says Bernhard. A key point is that gridoo doesn't rely on cloud computing power, but also relies on local, self-learning algorithms. This is relevant from a data protection perspective: With gridoo, no data needs to leave the premises.

It will be exciting to see what happens next with the patented innovation. ATB has been in existence for more than 25 years and now plans to spin off gridoo into its own new company to make it easier for investors to get involved. "We can only realize our full potential if we grow quickly now. Our decades of experience are viewed very positively here, and there is no major player in this market worldwide yet," says the entrepreneur.

Upper Austrian News