Packetized Energy, a University of Vermont spinoff company, has been working since 2016 to bring to market patented technology for improving the responsiveness and resilience of power systems. Its technology was the result of research initially conducted by electrical engineering professors and company co-founders Paul Hines, Jeff Frolik and Mads Almassalkhi. The company’s success in the quickly growing field of distributed energy resources (DERs) has now led to its acquisition by EnergyHub, one of the nation’s leading providers of distributed energy resource management solutions (DERMS). EnergyHub announced the acquisition today.
The technology, known as packetized energy management, is built on the fundamentals that underpin electrical engineering at UVM: power systems, control systems and automation, and wireless communications. “The acquisition today is proof that academic research matters and is a testament to UVM’s small, but mighty electrical engineering program and to Vermont’s successful ecosystem for clean energy innovation,” said Almassalkhi. “I look forward to seeing EnergyHub bring this technology to scale.”
UVM Electrical Engineering Professors Mads Almassalkhi, Jeff Frolik and Paul Hines recently published a piece in IEEE Spectrum exploring the need to balance supply and demand in electric power grids. "Our technology takes two ideas that make the Internet fundamentally scalable—packetization and randomization—and uses them to create a system that can coordinate distributed energy," the article reads.
In 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program selected UVM for a $2 million award, led by Almassalkhi, to advance their work from academic papers to commercial viability and, to meet this challenge, the three faculty members founded to company shortly thereafter. The company has since received an additional $3 million in federal research funding to continue commercializing innovative solutions for energy flexibility and has deployed its solutions across Vermont and in California, South Carolina, and Canada.
Staying true to its Vermont roots, Packetized Energy has employed numerous UVM interns and the majority of its employees have UVM ties. “We’re proud that our work has not only been recognized internationally in academic and technology circles, but that we will also have a positive and long-term local economic impact,” said Frolik. “The full team of Packetized Energy’s engineers, data scientists, and client success professionals have joined EnergyHub’s team and will continue to work from offices in Burlington, which EnergyHub plans to grow substantially.”
Hines, who served as Packetized Energy’s CEO, has joined EnergyHub as vice president of power systems. “Integrating Packetized Energy’s advanced technology for grid services with EnergyHub’s industry-leading software systems will allow us to make a meaningful contribution to the global transition to renewable energy,” said Hines.
“The acquisition of Packetized Energy by EnergyHub marks an important milestone for technology commercialization at UVM,” said Corine Farewell, director of UVM Innovations. “Packetized Energy is the first UVM startup acquired, underscoring the importance of industry, government and university collaborations to facilitate the transfer of technology from lab to market.”
With grid-edge devices proliferating and utilities committing to aggressive carbon reduction goals, EnergyHub says that the need to flexibly manage DERs has never been greater. The addition of Packetized Energy’s technology to EnergyHub’s Mercury DERMS enables EnergyHub to provide more sophisticated DER control to utilities and power markets and to offer unprecedented visibility into distribution network operations.
Packetized Energy’s Nimble® platform leverages state-of-the-art algorithms to maximize grid service value from DERs while simultaneously ensuring that customers get the energy they need, when they need it. The platform incorporates device-driven algorithms that enable load shaping in response to wholesale market signals, carbon prices, renewable availability, or distribution system needs. This means consumers can take advantage of the cleanest and cheapest energy available, while still knowing that their devices will operate as expected.
“There is a clear trend in DER management toward delivery of grid services requiring more sophisticated load shapes and improved grid integration,” said Seth Frader-Thompson, EnergyHub’s President. “EnergyHub has an unmatched reputation for helping our clients build and manage large virtual power plants, and the acquisition of Packetized Energy accelerates our roadmap in managed charging, multi-DER optimization, and integration with distribution systems. We believe this combination will allow EnergyHub’s clients to be prepared to meet the grid service challenges of tomorrow.”
EnergyHub’s Mercury DERMS platform is the most widely deployed grid-edge DERMS in the industry, with over 60 utilities and power markets that aggregate and manage hundreds of thousands of thermostats, electric vehicles, water heaters, energy storage systems, inverters, and commercial & industrial sites as virtual power plants. EnergyHub is an independent subsidiary of Alarm.com (NASDAQ: ALRM), the leading platform for the intelligently connected property.
Packetized Energy’s success exemplifies the way UVM’s $227 million research enterprise helps drive economic activity, adds to the state’s intellectual and social capital, acts as a magnet for talent moving into Vermont, and spurs the type of innovation that can attract entrepreneurs and other forms of financial investment for the benefit of Vermonters. It also aligns well with UVM’s commitment to solving real-world problems, and long history of innovation to advance sustainability goals.
