Edison Electric Institute: Utilities Are Eager for New Partnerships With Startups
Dozens of startup companies from all around the world met in Washington, D.C. last week to compete for funding as part of the startup incubator 1776’s second annual Challenge Festival.
Sixteen energy-specific companies took part in the competition, pitching efficiency applications, analytics solutions and distributed energy technologies. There were also a handful of companies working on drones, electric-vehicle charging and weather-related applications that could serve the energy industry.
The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the association of U.S. investor-owned utilities, was a top sponsor of the event.
At a time of tremendous industry transformation — which some believe is threatening the very existence of century-old utilities — EEI used the event to showcase its desire to deal with that change.
In his address to the conference, Anthony Earley, president and CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric and former EEI chairman, said that non-traditional players will be equally important as utilities in modernizing the grid.
