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FOR THE UNINITIATED, it can be tough to follow what exactly is going across the many screens that adorn GridBeyond’s Citywest office. Lines rise and fall across a dizzying array of screens at varying pace.
“It’s a very fast metering system that’s capable of capturing things like power levels, voltage and current in milliseconds,” Michael Phelan, chief executive of the company, explains.
GridBeyond’s machine learning tech reacts to ‘faults’ that happen on the energy grid and switches to a different power source – but that’s just scratching the surface. The company works with grid operators in Ireland and the UK to help them manage their energy consumption, including Irish Water.
Sitting down in a boardroom that overlooks the pond on the CityWest Business Campus, Phelan opens up about his plans just a couple of weeks after the company announced it secured €10.5 million in series B funding.
Led by the Portuguese electric utility company Energias de Portugal, the company’s backers also include Act Venture Capital, ESB and Total Group’s venture capital arm Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures.
With the fresh capital, GridBeyond intends to spread its wings. It has already set up an office in Texas and is in talks with some of the more “advanced players” there, Phelan says. Expanding to service SMEs in Ireland and the UK is also on the cards.
GridBeyond, which employs more than 60 people, is also considering an entry into the residential market and could perhaps call one of its backers for some advice, Michael Stanley, chief executive of Cairn Homes.
“There are some challenges when you look at the electrification of transport and building an apartment block, you need to figure out how people will charge electric cars,” he says.
“Michael is a person who is interested in ‘greening buildings’. He is actually interested in it, instead of paying lip service. He is asking ‘what can I do in those instances to allow cars to be charged and to allow my electricity to be greener’.”
Bright idea
The spark for what would become GridBeyond came when Phelan was working for various power stations in Europe.
“There was an opportunity to provide the services into the grid market independently of the utility. So I saw there was a chance to bring about some change,” he tells Fora.
Born in Kilkenny, after university Phelan spent a few years in Holland working for multinational Philips on embedded electronics and its connected software.
“I went on to work for a number of power companies, automating power stations and substations,” he says.
Under the original guise of Endecco – which would later become GridBeyond – he set up the company in 2007 and operated as a consultancy before becoming a product-based company three years later.
“The grid was a place that didn’t see much change for about 100 years. It was always the same, the power plants generated the power… then the customer didn’t have to do anything other than turn on the lights,” he explains.
That all began to change about 20 years ago when renewables came on the scene. The sun doesn’t always shine nor does the wind always blow and this intermittent behaviour is one of the main challenges with renewable energy.
Phelan explains that the electricity grid has an issue with balancing itself when it relies on renewable sources. “In an ideal world, you have flexibility and storage to store that energy and give it back to the grid when it’s needed,” Phelan says.
The company set about building its hybrid battery and demand network to provide the above service. Right now he describes the company as “fairly well established”. “We will be the strongest of the aggregators here and in the UK.”
Phelan says another issue with incorporating renewables into the electricity grid is that they don’t naturally generate 50 hertz – which is the power needed for the grid to work effectively.
“We have various technologies to help us by using embedded loaded generators rather than dirty coal plants,” he says.
Economically driven
With temperatures rising, natural disasters increasing and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg spear-heading a global campaign for change, Phelan’s company is more relevant than ever.
The business world seems to be listening too with former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney’s warnings that companies who don’t invest in protecting themselves from climate risk will suffer financially and major banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are taking heed.
While Phelan says people have become more concerned about climate change, a lot of the change he sees coming has been economically driven.
“I suppose the US is a case in point. Like Texas, you wouldn’t have picked it as one of the markets for renewables at all – but it is. It’s purely economics, it’s not climate-driven at all,” he says.
Companies are plugged in and Phelan points out that renewable energy is an increasingly cost-effective option.
“I suppose what’s happening now is that you’re getting a lot more renewables on the grid and the cost of those renewables is going down,” he says
“It’s almost hitting a tipping point at the moment where it’s cheaper to put a solar panel on top of the ground rather than fracking to get gas out,” he explains.
GridBeyond is also eager to save its clients money by tracking energy prices and help work them into its future scheduling. The business is currently trialling a product for a UK electricity provider that tracks the cost of energy at any given time of the day and through an app notifies the providers’ client of when to make savings.
Ireland’s opportunity
Ireland is currently seen as something of a laggard when it comes to carbon emissions. A recent United Nations report says it is on track to exceed its 2030 target by 208%.
Last year, the government put its national climate action plan in place, and renewable energy looks to be on the mind, with some multinationals here signing power purchase agreements to feed their data centres. It looks like Ireland’s finance sector is thinking green too.
So will the country blow the fuse or rise to the challenge? Phelan thinks it could go either way.
“It depends on whether somebody grabs the opportunity (renewable energy brings),” he says, adding that there needs to be other renewable sources attached to the grid.
“There’s a lot of wind going onto the grid at the moment. Maybe they should look at other sources as well – like solar or biomass that is recyclable.”
For Phelan, Ireland could reach the top if it did so. “If we had a few sources of renewable energy Ireland could be one of the leading players.”
Get our Daily Briefing with the morning’s most important headlines for innovative Irish businesses.
Written by Laura Roddy and posted on Fora.ie
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Or a wife kicking her husband Claire, how sexist!
Where’s Mary Lou now with her ‘guardian of equality’ act? This really p1sses me off – equate the big evil bully corporation with a man and the downtrodden beaten worker with the woman and nobody bats an eylid. It’s thinking like this that sees separated fathers treated like second class citizens. Clare Daly, you should apologise for a poorly thought out analogy. Equality goes both ways.
Imagine if a male TD had used the same analogy there’d be war.
Exactly Truth!
Oh no! Politicians really need to engage their brains, before their mouths. So, a woman or man living in absolute terror and fear of their partner is how the staff at Aer Lingus feel about their perks having been taken away. Yeh, right!
Exactly. Complete misandry from Claire Daly.
Totally agree very sexiest
What’s wrong with being sexy? – Nigel Tufnel.
Oh shut f***ing up. Ye are gone so far with ye’re imbecilic notion of what equality is that we now have to pretend that both men and women are on equal terms physically as well… The world really can’t be getting this delusional about itself. I feel sorry for my kids having to grow up listening to the utter sh*** talk that comes out of people’s mouths these days.
Calm down
Neil, 40% of domestic abuse is committed against men. You don’t have to match your partner’s strength to be an abuser. You’re a trilobite!
She is really saying that the withdrawal of reduced price flying perks are the same as an aggravated assault ? What a fcuking idiot
Well said.
Give all their perks back.
Let’s see how long the airline lasts when it has to bump its price up and become completely non competitive.
Then they can have permanent time off.
She should make a public apology to all victims of domestic violence both male and female for what she said . it’s disgraceful and an insult to all victims of abuse !
God !!! But isn’t she very melodramatic !! I’m sure no battered wife would agree with her . What a terrible analogy. She had really insulted abused women and should not get away with it
Her comment actually compares the board of management to wife beaters.
Perhaps she got “tired and emotional” before she entered the Dail chamber. I’m sure she didn’t deliberately denigrate and trivialise every battered wife/partner in the country…….did she?
She did. It is the usual rationality from the far left… Any reduction in a perceived right is seen as a total attack upon a perceived entitlement… These workers were given a privilege which has now been withdrawn… So. This is nothing like the trauma and fear suffered by a spouse under abusive circumstances. But it was by a woman against men so it will be let pass, and she will still spout her mysandry and get away with it, as the media are afraid she will acuse them off misogyny.
Yes, it is perfectly fine for the staff to bully the company and hold it to ransom over a bank holiday doing huge damage to the commercial viability of the airline which customers and other staff rely on. How dare the company withhold perks from those who seek to damage it, it should just take it lying down.
Very poor choice of analogy Claire. I’d been a big fan of you until now.
Even the threat of a strike by the staff is enough to cause cancelled bookings and lost revenue. I have little sympathy for them (nor does Michael O’Leary).
Thick. A stupid analogy. she must take a Valium before work
*needs
And a hot tod at lunch
She is already hot enough
Are you cracked ??
Flash Gordon…grow up will you please, please flash
So you think I should grow up because I think you must be blind if you think Scare Daly is hot ??? Jaysus!
No Flash Gordon, I think you must grow up based on your name, your anonymity, your lack of comprehension of the word ‘Hot’….& because you still dye your hair blonde! definitive enough for you. Go save the world in fantasy land you idiot and steer away from real political matters..good man Flash; go vanish in an instant!!!
go live in Sweden Flash
Great comeback there Sunshine!!
Flash, just to give you the heads up & to save you any future virtual embarrassment, you need to be intelligent to be a Super Hero…One cannot simply call themselves Flash Gordon and then expect that they are positioned to save the world.
please do me favor and keep your Irish voice local, for the English would have no end of entertainment with your kind..
Now must go walk the hounds.. chat soon blondie xx
Another stunning comeback ! You should get out more and meet some real people cupcake!
Flash, he must be ‘on crack’ to make a comment like that!
He’s smokin something !
I’m smokin something…..& you with the name Flash Gordon…
besides, back to the thread. I actually thought Clara Daly was the best of the independents,!!!!…just goes to show though, if is she is the bench mark, god only knows what type of a holy show of us that Ming Flanagan is going to make of us all…
Joan, go away from your computer screen, your toilet is seeping your waste all over your mustard colored carpet floor
She has some neck trivialising domestic violence. Comparing a poor woman being kicked around a kitchen to the loss of a cheap flights……How far removed from the real Irish people is Deputy Daly!
She’s also comparing the board of management to wife beaters. Not on.
Every year Aer Lingus staff are responsible for thousands of people missing holidays and business trips. They couldn’t care less for people flying in at Christmas or Paddy’s day to see relatives they haven’t seen for years. Now Claire Daly wants us to feel sorry for them because they have to pay full whack like the rest of us. I’m all for workers rights but when it comes to that lot they deserve all they get.
Can you explain that further john Michael ? Don’t know of one Christmas or paddies day where the STAFF caused people to not come home.
A bit over the top there. But the threat of strikes is enough to do damage. That must be remembered. Calling a strike off 24 hours before isn’t a lot better in that game.
Claire — it’s insulting to both sexes to compare the behaviour of the airline Board to a man kicking his wife. Please apologise to the people of Ireland for this abuse of the platform you use to preach. Shame on you. This is a resigning matter, you have no integrity.
They have these outrageous dail privileges where they can say what they want, no more than the clown Wallace saying that guards are actively dealing drugs within the force, it’s a joke that these crowd are representing us!
Imagine such a statement in the House of Commons. or in any work p;ace for that matter. absolutely ridiculous thing to say. sheer stupidity.
A disgraceful remark that should be withdrawn immediately. You can’t blame anyone but yourself for this one Clare. Let’s see if you can put your hand up on this one. Somehow I very much doubt it.
Good on Aer Lingus, the cabin crew deserve to lose more.
I wonder Clare if there are perks for ex-employees, for example parking in a staff car park for a long-haired TD friend?
And why is she wasting national parliament time when they only own 25%. This is a private thing. And I doubt many of the well looked after AL staff would vote for her. The status quo plus a 5:3 roster is their goal.
……or what about Mary’s 30k + pay off from the hard pressed taxpayer for “giving up” her council seat to take up the more lucrative TD ‘s seat???? Champaign socialist!!!!
As an ex Aer Lingus worker she’s dying to get Government involved in this one. The sooner O’ Leary gets his hands on Aer Lingus the better.
Not just an ex Aer Lingus worker, but also ex Shop Stewart, if I remember correctly.
Yes she was SS.
If that happens, expect your money to be gone before you even leave the country. Plus you’ll have to pay for a seatbelt.
Lol excellent !
@NOSullivan
Your very wrong on o Leary, as a company big profits but pays his staff the basic. Go work for him if ya respect him so much.
“It’s like a fella agreeing to go to relationship counselling and then kicking his wife around the kitchen the night before.”
Put down the mescaline, love.
I emailed her about a half hour ago expressing disappointment in her comment. In fairness she responded to me and gave her view. Which in itself, is a hell of a lot than most other TD’s I’ve contacted do.
“I was trying to think of the worst, most horrible example of behaviour in order to compare management’s tactics, I certainly didn’t intend to trivialise.
All the best,
Clare”
Claire – if Aer Lingus staff wanted to make a point they could have ‘downed tools’ for a couple of hours on a tuesday or a wednesday to demonstrate to management the impact of a strike. Instead they chose a bank holiday friday which impacted the public (myself included) more than management. Tens of thousands of hard working people lost hard earned money on hotels and other items booked – Aer Lingus may reimburse the cost of flights, re-book people etc but there is more to travel than simply the flight, deposits were lost of hotels, car hire and other items. If interested in the welfare of workers it would be worth looking at botrh sides of this coin and whether Aerlingus cabin crew set out to demonstrate to management or actually chose the bank holiday friday as they would have done years ago when semi-state with the aim of attacking the public – this tactic has backfired..
She needs a good kicking
Isn’t it hilarious to hear a better red than dead socialist complaining about the removal of untaxed perks from employees of a private company… But omg has she poked the hornets nest with her analogy. Stupid bovine.
Sexist remark Claire.
In fairness, you have to have a snappy soundbite for these things. You can’t go “It’s like a spouse of indeterminate gender kicking another spouse of equally indeterminate gender in the organ or gland of indeterminate gender”.
what a horrible analogy, she is an ex employee of aer lingus and had a nice pay off with her shares this is probably her pathetic attempt to garner votes from her former work buddies. what an ar**hole along with the other fools wallace and co
Yeah complete a holes much rather the politicians who destroyed the country and introduced USC, property tax & water charges ! Her comparison to a beaten wife might not of been a great one but at least she is standing up for the Aer lingus staff.
What are doing that’s wrong ? Standing up for themselves. There standing up for themselves. We have taken so much crap of people in this country with taxes etc and this group of workers are saying no. Christoph muller jnr just got another rise to what already is a ridiculously high salary but yet his staff are not behind him. That raises a question mark to me.
i am all for people standing up for themselves Rob but i have an issue with people that hold the general public to ransom to prove a point. there are other ways of doing this without pitting the travelling public against you and pushing them to other airlines because they are unsure weather not not the airline they have booked with will be able to offer a service because the cabin crew decide they want more days holidays i for one will not be flying Aer lingus again and there are many others like me.
have a look at this @rob stafford http://www.thejournal.ie/irish-rail-workers-1500242-Jun2014/
there are many different types of industrial action looks like Iarnród Éireann employees know which side their bread is buttered on.
It’s just unfortunate the industry they work in that in such events the general public suffer. Couldn’t agree more would hate to have my holiday taken away from me but I do know that people rang up Aer lingus and changed their flights to the day before or after. A bit of hassle but still at least there was a solution. C muller jnr is on a fortune in a company that the government own 25 percent. His staff are not behind him !
The staff are following their union. I doubt they are to happy within themselves. Things are tight for most family’s so the possibility of loosing your job is not easy to have hanging over your head. That saying you can’t just lay down and except conditions your not happy with. Hence you pay union subscriptions to protect yourself. The company has turned things around and is in profit but it’s not filtering down to the staff whilst management are getting raises.
Rob,
I posted a link down below where, after a series of strikes back in 2011, a set of rosters were agreed and everyone was happy. What’s changed since then? If Aer Lingus have decided to break / alter that agreement then that’s what the unions / staff should be talking about. But all I’m hearing is that the unions / staff now want to move to a new rostering system. If that’s the case, then it’s not the staff lying down and accepting conditions they’re not happy with, it’s them agreeing to something and then changing their mind down the line. That’s not how agreements or employment contracts work. I’m more than happy to be corrected on any of the above but, like I say, the union / staff grievances seem a little fuzzy beyond “we don’t like the roster we agreed to anymore.” If it really is a case of Aer Lingus changing the previously agreed rosters / breaking the 2011 agreement, rather than the staff deciding that they don’t want to work them anymore, then their unions really need to work on their PR as they’re definitely not getting their side of the story across.
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/aer-lingus-dispute-settled-26654262.html
Look in response to that, I don’t personally work for the company so I can’t argue for them to the point. I just think people here are been a bit heavy on them. I back unions and what they stand for and I back the average worker because I place myself in that bracket. Cabin crew have a tough job and from my experiences they do it well. Michael o Leary is anti union but he is a million air while his staff feed off the scraps if his table. Their strike has more to do than just the roster. Their CEO earns an astronomical wage working Monday to Thursday and the staff are not been rewarded for the turn around in the company. It’s a mirror image of our government, those in power tell us we need to pay our debts but they don’t share the burden.
Does she really think employees who don’t go to work should get the same perks as those who do, I wonder what her opinion would be if she was running the company, with Ryanair breathing down their neck shjt has got to change or they will all be looking for jobs probably with Ryanair
So it’s ok to down tools and destroy the travel plans of thousands of people ,then go back to work and get cheap tickets for there families to head off to New York , Jesus this is Realy an irish joke, time the aer lingus luvvys joined the real world.
She’s always moaning about something that one. What a waste of a seat in the Dail. I’ve yet to hear her say anything constructive.
She should join SF
Typical socialist, thinks they can hold an airline to ransom while holding onto the privilege of cheap flights with no fear of loosing their jobs
Also, Christophe, if you are reading this, can I have a job… I will work the current roster no bother and promise never to strike!
I would be a tad sore if I was an Aer Lingus employee with these Bully Boy tactics & I suspect they will alienate & upset their workers even more by pulling stunts like this. Only time will tell!
Their stunt cost 10m. 25% of this is taxpayer money. Well done AL.
There’s always Ryanair! Aer Lingus staff need to take a hard look at themselves. They’ve worked as civil servants for too long and can’t deal with the realities of the free-market economy. Shape up or ship out!
George there was a time it was great to fly with the boys and girls in green I’m not so sure that applies now. Like all jobs their moans and groans come across loud and clear and dare you ask the a question ??????
Yes, Kathleen, I remember the day when you were abroad and as soon as you got on an Aer Lingus flight, you felt at home; those days have long gone. It’s all about price for most people now.
Fcuking stupid comment there by clare daly.quite right they should lose their perks for ONE year.what about all the people who gave up there perks to go on holiday only to have it ruined by air lingus staff and bullying unions
A disgusting analogy, and she should apologize, and I say that as somebody who usually supports Daly, and indeed agree in the sense that it is wrong to punish workers for striking. Disastrous statement though, doesn’t do herself, the Aer Lingus workers, or the left, any favours.
I like her too, generally. My sympathy for Aer Lingus workers has finally been exhausted though. I’m back from Spain a week or so, and was continuosly worried and stressed in the run up to the break away that they would strike and leave me in the lurch.
I’ve always flown only with Aer Lingus, but I’ve decided it’s time to let them go now. I’ll be going yellow pack instead.
If she’s that stupid she doesn’t deserve that seat! Hope she gets abuse now
Daly is just another moron who can’t get their point out there without the use if sensation ism and scandal.
Fire all the cabin crew and hire people who would be happy to have a well paying job!
She really is a clown.
Maybe she had a row with Mick and needed to vent
Yours all so funny I need a new name a a new photo
I’m sure Aer Lingus would counter with something along the lines of “every action has an opposite and equal reaction.”
I am enjoying the last of my 2 days off that I had in the last 14… so should I call for a strike now or??
Often wonder if these wee Aer Lingus perks are regarded as BIK by revenue. Would sure love my employer to pay part of my hols….
Serves them right. I’d love my employer to fund my holidays. As it stands I’ve to fork out an arm and a leg to fly home with my children during the summer as the staff travelling to where I live all year bumps up the price for us mere mortals (you know the ones who PAYS THEIR WAGES). My husband works for a low cost carrier and he can’t even get allocated holidays during the summer and, even if he could, there’s generally no staff flights available. A bit of a pain but we’re pretty grateful he has a job so we do what the staff in Aer Lingus should do -SUCK IT UP. Welcome to the real world.
It has always puzzled me why employees and pensioners of high cost airlines such as Aer Lingus and BA and their families can fly free or at greatly reduced fares without having to pay tax on these Benefits in Kind.
It seems to me that the Minister for Finance need to protect the taxpayers by taxing such Benefits in Kind.
Interesting point.
I hope this will show the voting public what they get when voting for independents. Imaging the Dail full of these clowns?
Almost if not all comments here are from Men ! Where are all the women ?? Do they agree with her??
I don’t Flash but then I don’t agree with a lot she says
Wait… Is she really comparing that bull to domestic violence?? IDIOT!!
Everyone seemed pretty happy with the rosters agreed back in 2011, anyone know if they’ve been drastically changed since then?
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/aer-lingus-dispute-settled-26654262.html
Michael Martin should not complain too much!
He set up the HSE where approx 49 per cent of staff had no work to do!
Administration! administration! Administration!
Crazy policy from FF!
The Government needs to legislate to ban all strikes while the Country is in crisis!
The staff of Aer Lingus voting for strike is crazy!
It’s like “turkey’s voting fir Christmas”!
The Board of Aer Lingus will in time transfer the domicile of the Company abroad when it will be to late for the greedy union to apologise!
Shame on our Government and greedy Trade Unions!
But AL are not what I would care core infrastructure. DAA/air traffic controllera etc are. If AL went on a long strike tomorrow, other airlines could be tendered to provide a service for a period time when AL license to operate is removed.
The woman is a disgrace to link something offensive to a company withdrawing a perk….you have to remember she is a shop steward from the airport. Another commie who wants everything for free
What a stupid comment from Clare Daly, and it shows what the people of Ireland will get if these lefty-looney Independents are ever allowed into Government.
Aer Lingus should not only withdraw perks from disruptive cabin crew, they should sue the ‘Impact’ trade union for the destruction to the national flag-carrier that the union are causing.
Michael Noonan sounds as though he cares for us tax payers going away on a well deserved rest!
Ms Daly your a disgrace mind you Aer Lingus you are too !
This is a perfect example why it is dangerous to elect Independents like Clare Daly to the Dail. They lack discipline, policies and coherence and are primarily concerned about securing publicity in order to secure re-election. And some of them are not as Independent as they seem but are merely people who failed to secure nomination as candidates of a political party.
brain dead
Clare what ever made u say such a horrible stupid demeaning unproductive comment.You have confirmed how unfair you are.
have your say