EDF Renewable acquires PowerFlex Systems to Accelerate Deployment of Large-Scale

USPA NEWS - EDF Renewables announced it has acquired Los Altos, California-based PowerFlex Systems (PowerFlex), a pioneer in managed electric vehicle (EV) charging technology. This acquisition will enable a single ecosystem for distributed energy that seamlessly integrates Electric Vehicle smart charging, solar, storage and building load. The investment is part of EDF Renewables´ strategy in the USA in the distributed energy market, as reflected by their acquisition of groSolar in 2016 and their partnership with EnterSolar last year. PowerFlex´s patented technology was incubated out of Steven Low´s NetLab research laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech). The optimization algorithms and methods were developed thanks to supporting grants from a variety of organisations, including the National Science Foundation, Rothenberg Innovation Initiative, Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator at NREL, and the CalSEED program.

EDF Renewables announced it has acquired Los Altos, California-based PowerFlex Systems (PowerFlex), a pioneer in managed electric vehicle (EV) charging technology. This acquisition will enable a single ecosystem for distributed energy that seamlessly integrates Electric Vehicle smart charging, solar, storage and building load. The investment is part of EDF Renewables´ strategy in the USA in the distributed energy market, as reflected by their acquisition of groSolar in 2016 and their partnership with EnterSolar last year. PowerFlex´s patented technology was incubated out of Steven Low´s NetLab research laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech). The optimization algorithms and methods were developed thanks to supporting grants from a variety of organisations, including the National Science Foundation, Rothenberg Innovation Initiative, Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator at NREL, and the CalSEED program. PowerFlex has deployed in California some of the largest single-site EV charging deployments in the world thanks to their Adaptive Charging Network (ACN) technology. This system enables site hosts to maximize delivery of electricity to EVs while reducing or eliminating the need for costly utility upgrades by managing charging depending on driver´s demand, building load, or onsite energy generation.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Our commercial and industrial clients are realizing how important it is to provide cost-effective electric vehicle charging to retain their employees and their customers,“ said Raphael Declercq, Executive Vice President, Distributed Solutions & Strategy at EDF Renewables in North America. “By incorporating the PowerFlex technology alongside our existing solar, storage, and smart energy management offering, we are now able to provide building owners and facility managers with a single energy ecosystem aiming at delivering a clean, reliable, and affordable carbon-free power when and where it is needed.“ Yannick Duport, Director of Electric Mobility at EDF, is delighted by this new investment in the EV charging field: "This acquisition is consistent with the ambitions of EDF Group's Electric Mobility Plan launched last October and meaningful in such a key region of the world where the electric mobility sector is innovative and very active". “For California to meet the 2030 goal of 60% renewable energy and five million EVs, we need to deploy thousands of low-cost workplace charging stations that promote daytime charging to prevent curtailment of solar,“ said George Lee, CEO of PowerFlex in reference to California´s Duck Curve. “Orchestrating the seamless coordination of variable production from solar with the flexible load from EV charging will be critical to the long-term health of our grid. PowerFlex provides the solution to do exactly that. ABOUT EDF RENEWABLES (PREVIOUSLY EDF ENERGIES RENOUVELABLES--------------------------------------------- EDF Renewables is a leading international player in renewable energies, with gross installed capacity of 13 GW worldwide. Its development is mainly focused on wind and solar photovoltaic power. EDF Renewables operates mostly in Europe and North America but is continuing to grow by moving into promising emerging regions such as Brazil, China, India, South Africa and the Middle East. The company has strong positions in offshore wind power, but also in other areas of the renewable energies industry such distributed energy and energy storage. EDF Renewables develops, builds, operates and maintains renewable energies projects, both for itself and for third parties. Most of its international subsidiaries bear the EDF Renewables brand. EDF Renewables is the EDF Group subsidiary specialising in developing solar and wind power. SOURCE : EDF