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GridPoint Announces Acquisition of V2Green, Electric Vehicle Grid Integrator

GridPoint Inc., a clean tech company specializing in smart grid technologies, announced at GridWeek 2008 that it has acquired V2Green, a Seattle company that provides plug-in electric vehicle grid integration technology – including on-board vehicle communication devices – to enable utilities to "smart charge" electric vehicles anywhere within a service territory. This is the first step in GridPoint's acquisition strategy, which has been fueled by a recent $120 million equity financing, also announced at the recent conference.

GridPoint's platform applies information technology to the electric grid to provide utilities with an intelligent network of distributed energy resources that controls load, stores energy and produces power. The platform offers utilities a single interface, located in a utility's control room, for managing a variety of distributed energy assets including plug-in electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, advanced storage technologies and household devices such as thermostats, electric water heaters, pool pumps, etc. Benefits include increased efficiency, reliability and adoption of renewable energy, as well as eliminating the need to build new power plants.

In March, GridPoint announced a commercial test of smart charging with Duke Energy, which was conducted via a controlled outlet in a residential garage. According to the company, V2Green's integrated client-server solution and on-board vehicle communication device increase GridPoint's smart charging capabilities by enabling utilities to manage charging of grid-aware vehicles in real time from any outlet within their service territory. Additionally, online interfaces provide data on vehicle performance, charging behavior and status for both the driver and the utility. V2Green has deployed its technology in pilot programs with Xcel Energy, Austin Energy and Seattle City Light.

Xcel Energy has selected the GridPoint Platform for its $100 million SmartGridCity initiative in Boulder, Colorado. Both GridPoint and V2Green are part of the "SmartGridCity Experience" mobile exhibit and featured in the first SmartGridCity home, the University of Colorado's chancellor's residence.