Samsung is betting that the launch of the island can replace the grid with software and batteries

The electric power industry has changed more in the last ten years than in the previous five. Solar, wind, and batteries have moved electricity away from monolithic manufacturers. But in reality, the team still faces the same challenges.

“The problem on the grid is a big problem. Most of the time you are good, you have a lot of energy. But in peak hours you may not have enough,” Michael Phelan, co-founder and CEO of Grid Beyondhe told TechCrunch.

Today, this shortage is felt most by technology companies and data center developers, who need more electricity to train and run AI models.

“But if you have enough energy stored in a battery or you have an industrial load you can resist – and it’s hundreds of megawatts – then you can start building hyperscalers,” said Phelan.

Grid Beyond has been building tools and programs connecting the different parts of the grid to act as a large power generator. The startup already manages 1 gigawatt of solar, batteries, wind, and hydropower, and on the demand side, it has “several gigawatts” across commercial and industrial sites, Phelan said.

To expand its profile, Grid Beyond recently raised €12 million ($13.8 million) in funding led by Samsung Ventures, the company told TechCrunch. Other participating vendors include ABB, Act Venture Cattail, Alantra’s Energy Transition Fund, Constellation, EDP, Energy Impact Partners, Enterprise Ireland, Klima, Mirova, and Japanese electronics and software company Yokogawa.

The startup has its hardware controllers installed in batteries and power plants along with major sales and manufacturing facilities in Australia, Ireland, Japan, Ireland, the UK, and the United States.

Like many electricity companies, Dublin-based Grid Beyond started on the island. When Ireland started to add wind power, Phelan said: “They hit this problem when they were an island and had to balance the grid.

Grid operators have been asking heavy users to reduce their energy use during extreme heat. For example, paying users effectively to shave interest rates. This practice is cheaper than building new transmission lines or electricity. The trend has grown as renewables have become more common, allowing industrial and retail customers to reduce usage at night or when the wind is out.

Recently, batteries have added another dimension. Grid Beyond manages several large energy storage installations, including a 200-megawatt battery in California. A new renewable energy source helps fill dips from renewable energy sources.

Batteries have another advantage: they respond faster to demand than high-voltage generators, which can take minutes to come online. This allows the company to buy and sell energy quickly in an arbitrage process.

It also opens up new opportunities for data centers. Most data centers don’t draw power continuously, instead peaking at AI training. These events can cause oscillations on the grid – “you know the thing that dropped the Spanish glass, which is not what people want,” Phelan said. The batteries in the data center can absorb much of this load, and manage the profile of the data center to avoid unwanted fluctuations.

By plugging into nearby power plants or using batteries installed on site, “it’s easy for them to connect,” he said.