Technology Companies Unlock Grid-Edge Solutions Across North America

Source: Streetwise Reports 04/09/2025

A blackout at London’s Heathrow Airport recently threw a spotlight on the world’s aging electrical systems. Here are some companies working to improve the grid so your lights don’t go out when you need them.

Last month, the explosion of an electrical transformer sent Europe’s busiest airport into darkness, affecting nearly 300,000 passengers, diverting or canceling more than 1,400 flights, and costing airlines an estimated 100 million pounds in lost revenue and passenger care expenses.

Flights at London’s Heathrow Airport were able to resume the next day. While the cause was ruled either human error or equipment malfunction, the incident is drawing attention to aging electrical grids: a U.S. government report from 2024 found that more than 70% of the country’s electrical grid is more than 25 years old.

“The electrical grid is the world’s biggest machine, and it’s remarkable that it rarely breaks down,” Walter Frick wrote for Bloomberg on March 30. “When it does, it can have spectacular impacts, as the shutdown of London’s Heathrow airport last week clearly showed.”

Electricity demand in western countries “has been flat or falling for decades, which has led the industry to delay capital spending on new equipment and push existing equipment to sweat harder and run for longer,” Frick wrote. “Now that calculus is changing. Utilities are seeing a rapid rise in electricity demand spurred by electric cars and heat pumps, along with massive buildout of data centers for artificial intelligence. That’s on top of extreme weather impacts causing more outages, and flukes like Heathrow highlighting how quickly an equipment failure can become catastrophic.”

Helping to drive the demand for the energy are an explosion of power-hungry artificial intelligence (AI) bots and computer data centers.

An October report from McKinsey & Co. said demand for AI-ready energy is offering opportunities for companies and investors across the value chain, and projects that global data center demand could grow 19-22% annually from 2023 to 2030, reaching 171-219 gigawatts (GW). In a less likely scenario, demand could surge 27% to 298 GW — far exceeding today’s 60 GW.

Global investment in U.S. data centers is surging. On January 7, 2025, Dubai-based DAMAC Properties announced plans to invest an initial US$20 billion into data centers tailored for AI and cloud computing, with the first phase of the project planned to take place in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana.

It’s not just AI and data centers. Now that the stock market itself is losing so much value, utilities, like precious metals, are becoming a safer place to put your investments.

According to the email newsletter Investing Whisperer on April 7, “only a few pockets (of the market) are outperforming right now.”

“The first is utilities,” the newsletter said. “But a bull market in utilities is anything but bullish overall. Utilities aren’t outperforming because of datacenter demand growth. Utilities are outperforming as a flight to safety.”

Breaking the Bottleneck of the Old Grid

To upgrade traditional feeders, utilities must plan years in advance and commit large amounts of capital to upgrading the system. The challenge is how to get the most out of current equipment while adequately planning for newer technologies tomorrow.

In a report called “Innovative Grid Deployment” put out by the U.S. Department of Energy this month, there’s a “need for greater deployment of available solutions that can quickly respond to accelerating grid pressures, including the need to cost-effectively expand transmission and distribution capacity to support demand growth, enhance system reliability and resilience, and support integration of utility-scale and distributed clean energy resources.”

The report discussed many options, such as virtual power plants (VPPs) and improved energy storage, distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS), and advanced electricity transmission technologies and data management systems. Virtual power plants can use energy stored at the grid’s edge in people’s homes and businesses to virtually deliver power to where it’s most needed at any given time. DERMS are the systems that help manage a grid and make that possible.

“Recognizing the imperative to expand and advance grid modernization in the near term, DOE has dozens of initiatives and funding programs to support the electric industry across grid research, development, demonstration, and deployment, including technology, regulatory, policy, and commercialization support,” the report said.

The report’s authors said the existing transmission and distribution system has untapped potential to help meet these challenges, which can be unlocked with a set of available technologies that are “dramatically under-deployed relative to their potential value.”

These technologies can help serve as a bridge to address near-term capacity needs as critically needed new transmission, distribution, and generation is built, while supporting grid reliability, resilience, and affordability, according to the report.

“The grid is becoming a bottleneck to greater economic development, decarbonization, and equity priorities,” the DOE said. “Customers are demanding more grid capacity as regional electricity demand grows substantially for the first time in decades to serve a rapid uptick in data center and manufacturing needs and broader end-use electrification.”

Schneider Electric SE

Schneider Electric SE (SBGSY:OTCMKTS) is a French multinational corporation that provides world-leading expertise in electrification, automation, and digitalization to enhance smart industries, resilient infrastructure, future-ready data centers, intelligent buildings, and intuitive homes, the company said on its website.[OWNERSHIP_CHART-11267]

In March, it announced it is planning to invest more than US$700 million in its U.S. operations through 2027 “to support growing U.S. digitalization, automation, and manufacturing demand,” pushing its U.S. investment total for the decade past US$1 billion and creating more than 1,000 jobs.

The investment is the largest planned single capital expenditure commitment by Schneider Electric in its’ 135+ year history in the U.S. It includes manufacturing expansions and job growth, reflecting the company’s robust customer demand for solutions to increase energy efficiency, scale industrial automation, and deliver a more reliable grid.

“We stand at an inflection point for the technology and industrial sectors in the U.S., driven by incredible AI growth and unprecedented energy demand,” President of North America Operations Aamir Paul said. “To lead the transformation ahead, we must be agile and act now to advance ambitious digitalization and efficiency goals to make an impact for generations to come.”

On its website, Schneider said it offers services to homeowners, businesses, and utilities, including everything from circuit breakers and buses, home control systems, rapid EV charging stations, and scalable automation and management solutions for buildings of all sizes.

A March 28 research report by the Italian firm Finlabo Research noted that in the last years, Schneider Electric ‘s revenues increased at an average growth rate of 13% and its net operating margin improved from 15% to 17%. The company’s profitability remains at very satisfactory levels, with a return on common equity of 16% above the cost of capital, estimated at 11%.

“Schneider Electric, on the basis of the Finlabo Evaluation Model, gets a Rating of 3/5 which implies a six-month expected positive total return between 0% and 5%,” the firm wrote. “The rating assigned reflects a neutral fundamental and technical View. The risk grade of the security is higher than the market average.”

According to Bloomberg, analysts Simon Toennessen of Jefferies, James Moore of Redburn Atlantic, Eric Lemarie of CIC Market Solutions, Daniela Costa of Goldman Sachs, Robert Czerwensky of DZ Bank AG Research, and Antoine Lebourgeois of Bryan Garnier and Co. all have Buy recommendations on the stock. Jonathan R. Mounsey of BNP Paribas , Mark Fielding of RBC Capital, and Delphine Brault of Oddo BHF all rate the stock Outperform. Gael D-Bray of Deutsche Bank, Jeffrey T. Sprague of Vertical Research, Martin Wilkie of Citi, Jonathan Day of HSBC, and Matthew Donen of Morningstar all rate the stock Hold or Neutral.According to Refinitiv, 0.13% of the company is held by institutions and the rest is retail.

Top shareholders include Hemenway & Barnes LLP with 0.04%, Hemenway Trust Co. LLC with 0.02%, Aegon Asset Management Ltd. with 0.01%, AllianceBernestein LP with 0.01%, and Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC with 0.01%.

Its market cap is US$117.47 billion with 2.8 billion shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of US$43.07 and US$56.98

GE Vernova Inc.

Another company that said it is helping to drive electrification by delivering products and services that generate, transfer, orchestrate, convert, and store electricity is GE Vernova Inc. (GEV:NYSE) [OWNERSHIP_CHART-11268]

About 25% of the world’s electricity is generated by its customers using its technologies, it said on its website. It said it has the largest fleet of gas turbines installed on a megawatt basis, including about 7,000 turbines, some capable running on hydrogen blends. It also said it has an installed base of about 57,000 wind turbines totaling more than 120 GW in the U.S.

On April 2, the one-year anniversary of the company’s spin-off from General Electric, GE Vernova launched its global brand campaign, “The Energy of Change,” focusing on how relentless optimism is essential to innovation and delivering the critical energy technologies the world needs right now.

The campaign features three GE Vernova teammates from around the world representing each of its three business segments and a range of its technologies from its portfolio. At the heart of the campaign is a bold, fast-paced film that symbolizes forward progress and showcases the technologies that are shaping the future of energy across each of GE Vernova’s three business segments: power, wind, and electrification.

The company said its entrepreneurial edge is embedded in its name. GE Vernova retained its treasured legacy “GE” in the name as an enduring and hard-earned badge of quality and ingenuity. The second word, vernova, is made up of “ver” or “verde” signal Earth’s verdant and lush ecosystems, and “nova,” from the Latin “novus,” nodding to a new, innovative era of energy.

According to report by Stock Traders Daily on March 4, the company long-term outlook is “Strong.” The firm set a target price of US$360.30.

According to Bloomberg, Alex Kania of Marathon Capital, John M. Eade of Argus Research, and Joseph Ritchie of Goldman Sachs rate the stock a Buy. Ameet Thakkar of BMO Capital Markets, Nigel Edward Coe of Wolfe Research, Lin Wang of CICC, Jonathan E. Doorsheim of William Blair, Dennis Ip of Daiwa Securies, and Bin Yang of Haitong International all rate it Outperform. Sean D. McLoughlin of HSBC, Ben Uglow of Oxcap Analytics, Spin-Off Research, Rob Wertheimer of Melius Research, Simon Toyne of Redburn Atlantic, and Colin W. Rusch of Oppenheimer all rate the stock Hold, Market Perform, or Equalweight.

About 0.11% of the company is owned by insiders and management, according to Refinitiv. About 80.19% is with institutions, and the rest is retail.

Top shareholders include The Vanguard Group Inc. with 8.72%, Fidelity Management & Research Co. with 8.06%, Capital International Investors with 5.43%, BlackRock Institutional Trust Co. with 4.67%, and State Street Global Advisors (US) with 3.95%, Refinitiv reported.

Its market cap is US$81.36 billion with 273.35 million shares outstanding. Its 52-week range is US$119 and US$447.50.

Eguana Technologies Inc.

New to the scene but already making waves is Canada-based Eguana Technologies Inc. (EGT:TSX.V; EGTYF:OTCQB), a leading provider of high-performance energy systems.[OWNERSHIP_CHART-9069]

On March 24, the company announced it was collaborating with Itron Inc. “to deliver advanced utility control functionality through a standards-based integration of its energy storage systems with Itron’s IntelliFLEX grid-edge DERMS solution.”

Eguana and Itron will jointly, and independently, market the combined solution to respective utility customers, with a focus on utilities that are interested in ramping up distributed energy storage procurement but prefer to use a grid-edge dispatch and monitoring network that is already well established and integrated into their operations, the company said in the release announcing the partnership.

“This integrated solution marks a major milestone for the industry,” Eguana Chief Executive Officer Justin Holland said. “No longer will residential energy storage systems be consigned to simply supplying backup power with the occasional optional dispatch for demand response. The integrated IntelliFLEX with Evolve opens the door to deploying energy storage assets as an essential contributor to grid capacity and infrastructure.”

Eguana’s Evolve and Edge systems give utilities flexibility to increase feeder growth incrementally, instead of having to construct expensive transformers.

“Grid interactive battery energy storage is one of the most flexible assets we have available on the grid today,” Itron Senior Vice President of Outcomes Don Reeves said. “Through this collaboration with Eguana, we are demonstrating how to take advantage of IntelliFLEX, an advanced AMI-enabled grid edge DERMS, as a pathway toward local customer resource management and quantified distribution network value.”

Eguana said it will reveal further details of the partnership in the coming weeks.

Its Evolve VPP uses smart batteries at the edge of the grid (the homes and businesses that use the energy) tied to software that helps distribute and store energy in the batteries when it’s not needed and makes it available to the grid at peak times.

*”The rickety traditional centralized grid structure is at or close to its limits and requires transformation,” wrote Technical Analyst Clive Maund about the company on March 24. “The advantages of this transformation will be huge — a massive increase in capacity, vastly more efficient utilization of power generated, decreased demand on centralized power generation, and protection of the end user, corporate or private, from power outages.”

Maund said he viewed the stock as having an “exceptionally positive risk/reward ratio” and rated it a Strong Buy for all time horizons, with targets of CA$0.20; CA$0.60, CA$0.70, CA$1, or CA$2.

According to the company, about 0.5% is owned by management and insiders.

24.6% is held by the Japanese ITOCHU Corp., the company said.

The company’s market cap of CA$4.48 million, according to Refinitiv. Its 52-week range is CA$0.05 and CA$0.20.

Itron Inc.

Another company innovating new ways for utilities to manage their energy is Eguana’s collaborator, Washington-based Itron Inc. (ITRI:NASDAQ), which has developed a grid-edge DERMS solution integrating distributed energy resources (DER) called IntelliFLEX.[OWNERSHIP_CHART-3343]

“IntelliFLEX facilitates real-time visibility, control and optimization of behind-the-meter DERs,” the company said in a March release on the technology. “Utilities are experiencing a rapid increase in DERs, and Itron’s modular, scalable solution reduces the need for costly infrastructure upgrades.”

IntelliFLEX is a validated and trusted end-to-end solution built for more responsive, near real-time DER optimization, Itron said. It enables DER aggregation, forecasting and AI-driven load balancing across various technologies, including AMI (advanced metering infrastructure, which enables nodes on the network to communicate with the central utility), DER aggregators, and a wide variety of consumer energy assets.

IntelliFLEX’s key capabilities include orchestrating utility-wide programs to support aggregated capacity and low-voltage distribution level grid services, peak demand management, and flexible interconnection strategies. The solution can be deployed with all of Itron’s AMI networks, third-party AMI networks or as a standalone solution.

“Itron’s IntelliFLEX solution addresses rising electrification, renewables integration and DER adoption, ensuring cost-effective, scalable grid modernization,” Itron Senior Vice President of Outcomes Don Reeves said. “This unique, DI-enabled DERMS solution unlocks unprecedented real-time, operational capabilities for utilities experiencing rapid DER growth.”

IntelliFLEX “reduces operating expenses for utilities but also helps their customers save money and provides equal access to services for all utility customers,” he said.

Analysts Jeffrey D. Osborne of TD Cowen, John M. Eade of Argus Research, Joseph A. Osha of Guggenheim, Sean Milligan of Janney Montgomery, Chip Moore of Roth Capital Partners, Martin W. Malloy of Johnson Rice, Austin Moeller of Canaccord Genuity, and Scott Graham of Seaport Global all rate the stock a Buy, according to Bloomberg. Moses Sutto of BNP Paribas, Noah Kaye of Oppenheimer, and Ben J. Kallo of Baird all rate Itron Outperform. Mark Strouse of JP Morgan and Kashy Harrison of Piper Sandler & Co. rate the stock Neutral. Tommy Moll of Stephens rates it Equalweight.

About 1.3% of the company is owned by insiders and management, according to TipRanks, and about 77.4% is owned by institutions. The rest is retail.

Top shareholders include BlackRock Institutional Trust Co. with 14.56%, The Vanguard Group Inc. with 12.91%, State Street Global Advisers with 3.98%, Invesco Advisers Inc. with 3.26%, and Dimensional Fund Advisers LP with 2.76%, according to Refinitiv.

Its market cap is US$4.6 billion with 45.57 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of US$88.87 and US$124.90.

Sign up for our FREE newsletter at: www.streetwisereports.com/get-news

Important Disclosures:

1. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Eguana Technologies Inc.
2. Steve Sobek wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
3. This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports’ terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company.

For additional disclosures, please click here.

* Disclosure for the quote from Clive Maund

1. For the quoted (received on March 24,2025), the Company has paid Street Smart, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, US$3,000.
2. Author Certification and Compensation: [Clive Maund of clivemaund.com] is being compensated as an independent contractor by Street Smart, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, for writing the article quoted. Maund received his UK Technical Analysts’ Diploma in 1989. The recommendations and opinions expressed in the article accurately reflect the personal, independent, and objective views of the author regarding any and all of the designated securities discussed. No part of the compensation received by the author was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed

Clivemaund.com Disclosures

The quoted article represents the opinion and analysis of Mr. Maund, based on data available to him, at the time of writing. Mr. Maund’s opinions are his own, and are not a recommendation or an offer to buy or sell securities. As trading and investing in any financial markets may involve serious risk of loss, Mr. Maund recommends that you consult with a qualified investment advisor, one licensed by appropriate regulatory agencies in your legal jurisdiction and do your own due diligence and research when making any kind of a transaction with financial ramifications. Although a qualified and experienced stock market analyst, Clive Maund is not a Registered Securities Advisor. Therefore Mr. Maund’s opinions on the market and stocks cannot be only be construed as a recommendation or solicitation to buy and sell securities.

( Companies Mentioned: EGT:TSX.V; EGTYF:OTCQB, GEV:NYSE, ITRI:NASDAQ, SBGSY:OTCMKTS, )

Source: https://www.streetwisereports.com/article/2025/04/04/technology-companies-unlock-grid-edge-solutions-across-north-america.html