Qualcomm, Gridspertise Partner to Transform the Electric Grid

A few months after Gridspertise launched the QEd – Quantum Edge® device, which leverages the innovative Qualcomm Technologies’ IoT solutions, today the two companies announced a further collaboration to accelerate the digital transformation of the power grids, targeting especially the needs of the US electric utilities industry.

Qualcomm Technologies and Gridspertise have come together to explore opportunities for the joint development of new solutions to help electric utilities manage the increasing complexity of the grid. The collaboration provides a framework that could lead to the creation of new solutions for energy asset monitoring and advanced applications for grid management based on the QEd – Quantum Edge® device. The aim is to foster technological innovation, improve quality of service, health and safety compliance and enable the transition to a low-carbon economy through reliable electrification.

The collaboration between the two companies intends to help electric utilities address prominent challenges experienced across the industry, that include accelerated decarbonization, electrification and climate change. Utilizing its one technology roadmap and expertise across IoT with the growing number of devices at the connected intelligent edge, Qualcomm Technologies will bring its leadership of developing innovative and leading-edge solutions for 5G, edge computing, security and cloud-based services, to build industrial-grade solutions for Utilities applications.

Gridspertise will leverage the many years of operational know-how from Enel Group - one of the world’s largest privately-owned utilities - bringing expertise in electronic design and solutions development, industrialization, first-hand experience of running advanced grids in various countries. Moreover, the company will provide data analytics models specialized for grid operations, predictive maintenance, design of software solutions in platform, early alerting services based on AI algorithms, as well as a unique environment for grid and data access on large scale field-testing.

The smart grid solutions and services that could be created through this collaboration will be commercialized globally by Gridspertise to utilities and energy service providers looking for scalable solutions that can be easily deployed with efficient return on investment. Reaping the benefits of digital power grids gives the opportunity to monitor grid assets remotely, with an enhanced visibility and availability of real-time data to perform asset management and maintenance. With this transformative evolution, electric utilities are empowered to take action faster and more strategically than ever before, reducing equipment failures, avoiding unplanned outages and much more. Ultimately, a smart connected grid can deliver higher resiliency and quality of service to customers, while improving efficiency for the operator and making the accessibility to clean energy a reality.

“Strategic collaborations, such as the one with Qualcomm Technologies, enable us to promote a leap forward in network infrastructure digitalization for utilities all around the world, combining the most advanced technologies designed by Gridspertise with those developed by its ecosystem of partners,” said Robert Denda, CEO of Gridspertise

“Qualcomm Technologies is excited to collaborate with Gridspertise to unleash the next generation of utilities. As Qualcomm Technologies diversifies with new opportunities powering the connected intelligent edge – Gridspertise represents the type of strategic partners we will collaborate with across IoT to continue to build a transformative ecosystem that addresses non-linear changes now and in the future,” says Jeffery Torrance, senior vice president, product management, Connected Smart Systems, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“We are delighted to be supporting Gridspertise, headquartered in Europe” said Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president and president Europe/MEA, Qualcomm Europe, Inc. “EMEA is an epicenter for innovation and we are proud to support the digitization of industry, including utilities.”