Michael Barnard welcomes CEO and co-founder of Camus Energy, Astrid Atkinson, to Redefining Energy - Tech for the first half of their lengthy discussion.
Astrid shares her background in big tech at Google before transitioning to grid management in the energy industry. She discusses the parallels between building reliable software systems and decarbonizing the grid. Her interest in climate change inspired her to apply her skills towards creating utility grade reliability for electrical utilities.
The discussion highlights the importance of understanding what it takes to create electricity and ensure its consistent availability.The co-founders of Camus Energy both come from Google and how they came to start a company that provides grid orchestration software for distribution utilities is an interesting journey. They differentiate themselves by going further upstream in understanding conditions on the grid and integrating with wholesale markets, as well as working with legacy systems through their team's unique mix of expertise in hardware, firmware, and large-scale system infrastructure.Camus Energy leverages local resources for local services, including virtual power plant use cases and capital deferral. They integrate data from operational sources and provide utilities with universal visibility into what's happening on the grid. Camus Energy uses machine learning technologies to build a pseudo real-time view of the grid that helps in controls use cases such as peak shaving and substation deferral. Forecasting load growth is important for managing costs and feasibility of grid expansion towards 100% electrification goal.

Don’t forget to like the episode and follow Redefining Energy - Tech so you won’t miss the second half of the conversation with Astrid, and don’t forget to follow parent channel Redefining Energy, where Laurent Segalen and Gerard Reid focus on how the global transition is getting financed.