Grace Martin, Head of Marketing, Advanced Infrastructure
Advanced Infrastructure is proud to announce its selection as one of the successful startups for Alliander's 2024 Powered program, an initiative aimed at accelerating the energy system transition in the Netherlands.
Advanced Infrastructure that is headquartered in Cambridge, develops and provides spatial analytics and digital twins for the energy transition and was amongst hundreds of startups from across Europe that competed for a place in the prestigious Powered program. FastTrack events were held in five major cities, and after a rigorous selection process, ten innovative startups were chosen to participate in the Powered program.
Alliander, the Dutch Distribution System Operator (DSO), recognises the critical need for innovative solutions and strong partnerships to address the challenges and opportunities in the energy sector. The Powered program is fundamental to developing new technologies and strategies to enhance the Dutch energy system and meet the evolving demands of society and the environment.
The Powered program emphasises collaboration and comprehensive support for selected startups. Participants will benefit from development of proof of concepts, mentorship from industry experts, and networking opportunities with potential investors.
The ambition is to scale these PoCs into impactful solutions that will shape the future of the energy system in the Netherlands.
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Daan Schut, Chief Transition Officer at Alliander, said:
“Maximising the utilisation of our existing electricity grid requires a fundamentally different approach to our processes and services. We need to innovate, and this is why we’ve established our Powered startup program, where we’ll actively collaborate with startups and scale-ups to drive this forward.”
The program focuses on three key domains to optimise the capacity of existing electricity grids, including the enabling of energy hubs in which Advanced Infrastructure’s poc will focus on.
Advanced Infrastructure aims to take its existing LAEP+ (Local Area Energy Planner Plus) tool and launch a trial version of LAEP+ in the Netherlands. Alliander and selected communities will be able to log on to the LAEP+ software platform and collaboratively plan projects.
The critical success factor of the project will be demonstrating how LAEP+ improves the accuracy of customer energy demand forecasting and reduces business costs.
Over the past 12 months, Advanced Infrastructure's LAEP+ tool has been deployed across 3 Distribution System Operators including UK Power Networks and SSEN to accelerate Local Area Energy Planning. LAEP+ uses digital twins to support decision making by local stakeholders and forecasts network capacity, building retrofits, heat networks, and EV rollouts all in one platform.
Startupbootcamp, the world’s largest industry-focused startup accelerator, has run over 100 programs in more than 22 countries since 2010.
Having invested in over 1,600 startups globally, Startupbootcamp has a proven track record with a survival rate of 76% over four years post-acceleration. Their extensive experience and methodology will support Alliander in engaging with the best startups in the market.
Christopher Jackson, CEO and Co Founder of Advanced Infrastructure said:
"We are thrilled to be selected for Alliander’s 2024 Powered program. This opportunity allows us to bring our LAEP+ tool to the Netherlands, enabling communities and Alliander to collaboratively plan energy projects with greater precision and efficiency.
“By improving the accuracy of energy demand forecasting and reducing business costs, we aim to make a significant impact on the energy transition. Our experience with leading DNOs in the UK has demonstrated the power of digital twins in energy planning, and we are excited to extend this innovation to support the Dutch energy system."
