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A subsidiary of Dominion, one of the largest energy producers in the US, has invested US$1m in Power Assure, a developer of data center energy management software.

The subsidiary, Dominion Energy Technologies, provides smart-grid solutions that aim to increase efficiency of the power grid. The way data centers use power they contract for and smart technology inside them makes them a good fit for integration into smart grid, Power Assure said.

Mary Doswell, senior VP of the Alternative Energy Solutions group at Dominion, said Power Assure’s software created valuable opportunities for load-management for energy companies.

“Power Assure provides advanced functionality in managing data center loads,” she said. “The ability to manage energy consumption by either shifting demand between geographic regions or reducing demand locally creates opportunities for energy companies to manage load and provide value to customers.”

Power Assure’s software EM/4 provides real-time and historical power-utilization data for data center components and tools to analyse that data and use the analysis results to optimize for energy efficiency with required service levels in mind. The company says EM/4 can also enable data center operators to shift load within and across sites.

Some of the solution’s other functions are visualizations of power use and identification of inefficiencies, uncovering hidden capacity or stranded power and automating responses to expected and unexpected events.

Dominion joins a group of existing investors in Power Assure, which includes ABB Technology Ventures, Good Energies, Point Judith Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Including Dominion’s recent investment, Power Assure has to date raised $14.5m