Swedish marine and industrial engine manufacturer Volvo Penta has announced a follow-up investment in UtilityInnovation Group (UIG), an US and Irish company specializing in utility systems and decentralized energy solutions.
The initial investment occurred in April 2023, when Volvo acquired a minority stake in the business. The follow-up investment aims to scale expertise in UIG to meet the demand for more sustainable grid infrastructure driven by the exponential demand for data center power.
Following the investment, UIG aims to combine Volvo’s battery energy storage solution (BESS) with UIG’s expertise in grid integration to deliver energy developments for utilities, data centers, and large energy users.
The investment will drive the development and market launch of UIG’s Energy Storage for Resiliency (ESR) platform. ESR aims to boost power stability to ease the strain on energy-demanding AI and machine learning data centers while optimizing large-scale microgrids.
In addition, the investment will support the deployment of UIG’s integrated controls and asset management platform, GridSure, to manage grid capacity, improve overall system resilience, and monitor infrastructure.
“The investment in UtilityInnovation Group highlights the potential we see in our BESS subsystems for high energy demand sectors,” said Hannes Norrgren, president of Volvo Penta’s Industrial Business.
Sidney Hinton, CEO of UIG, added: “We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with Volvo Penta. Their global reach and commitment to sustainability make them an ideal partner as we work to address the critical challenges facing the energy sector today.”
The transaction does not impact the Volvo Group’s earnings or financial position.
Over recent years, BESS has gained increasing interest from data center operators seeking a replacement for back up diesel generation. Several hyperscalers have invested in the technology in pilot projects to determine their effectiveness.
Most recently, in October, Amazon partnered with Unbound Potential, a Swiss battery startup, to trial its battery energy storage (BESS) technology in a pilot project at Amazon's European logistics centers.
Earlier in the month, Microsoft reported using a BESS at a Swedish data center after its use of diesel backup generators in the country previously faced criticism.
