Sparkfund

Looking forward to participating on this panel next week at ClimaTech in Boston. It's very cool to see our industry centering around how hyperscalers and other data center developers can leverage BYO structures to secure capacity, help modernize the grid and contribute to affordability all at the same time. Give me a shout if you'll be in Boston.

There’s a direct link between how the grid is used and what customers pay. Improving utilization is one of the clearest paths to lowering costs while supporting growth. Get the full The Brattle Group report: https://hubs.la/Q04dyH8t0

🌐 👥 Meet the outstanding panel for our upcoming Grid 2.0 webinar on decentralised solutions for the energy transition. We have brought together four leaders who are building the infrastructure, hardware and platforms that will define how energy is generated, stored and consumed locally. 👤 Haroon Inam - CEO & Co-Founder, DG Matrix 30+ years in power electronics and 50+ patents. DG Matrix is pioneering solid-state transformer technology that is 10-20x smaller than conventional alternatives, with deployments spanning data centres, EV fleet charging and microgrids. Recently announced as part of the NVIDIA MGX ecosystem. 👤 Matthew Williams - Founder & CEO, IONATE A mechatronic engineer turned deep-tech founder, Matthew built IONATE to reimagine the transformer, one of the oldest and most overlooked components of the grid. Their Hybrid Intelligent Transformer turns passive infrastructure into smart, controllable devices. Named in the 2026 Global Cleantech 100. 👤 Julian Z. - Sales Director, Skeleton Technologies Skeleton Technologies is a global leader in supercapacitor-based energy storage, backed by over €300M in funding from Siemens, Marubeni and others. Their technology delivers millisecond-response power for grid stability, black start capability and peak demand management. 👤 Pier LaFarge - Founder & CEO, Sparkfund Pier has spent over a decade challenging how utilities think about distributed energy. Sparkfund has deployed 3,200+ projects across 43 US states with 300MW+ of energised assets, pioneering the Distributed Capacity Procurement model that positions utilities as leaders of the DER transition. Register here: https://lnkd.in/e9g69ExK

❌ Myth: Only massive transmission projects can meet growing load. ✅ Reality: Batteries on the distribution system can unlock hundreds of MWs of utility-grade power without the wait. Distributed Capacity Procurement (DCP) changes the math, bringing real capacity online, fast. See how 👇

Load shows up fast. Capacity doesn’t. A BYOC (Bring Your Own Capacity) model gives hyperscalers and large-load customers a way to pair new demand with front-of-the-meter battery capacity on the distribution grid, helping projects move forward faster and more reliably. Behind the scenes, that capacity can be structured in different ways—aligned with regulatory requirements, utility planning, and long-term system needs. When demand and capacity align, the grid is better positioned to support growth without delay.💡 https://hubs.la/Q04cPYc70

There’s no shortage of ideas in this industry. Getting them onto the grid is another story! At recent events in Vermont and New Hampshire, Sparkfund’s VP of Regulatory Affairs and Wholesale Markets, Allison Bates Wannop, was part of conversations that brought into focus what’s possible on the grid and what actually gets deployed. In some cases, the path forward is relatively straightforward: pair local insight with system planning and targeted analytics to improve resilience without overbuilding. In others, the challenge is more structural, with interconnection timelines and deployment hurdles limiting how much capacity actually makes it onto the grid. Progress will depend less on new concepts and more on removing the barriers that slow down deployment.

Earlier this year, Sparkfund joined companies across the energy and technology ecosystem to launch the Utilize Coalition, focused on a powerful idea: the U.S. power system has more potential than we’re currently using. The Brattle Group found that because the grid is built to serve rare demand peaks, much of its capacity sits underused for most of the year. Improving system utilization could lower customer bills, connect new load faster, and allow utilities to grow the grid more efficiently. Read the report here: https://hubs.la/Q04c88QH0

Great to see fellow Utilize Coalition member SPAN pushing forward new ways to unlock capacity at the grid edge! Innovations like XFRA highlight the significant opportunity to better utilize the system we already have. 👇

Sparkfund’s VP of Regulatory Affairs and Wholesale Markets, Allison Bates Wannop, will be on the ground at the Electrify Vermont Summit, joining a group of policy, utility, and technology leaders exploring what it takes to plan for a more resilient system. As the conversation shifts from “who is responsible” to “how we deliver,” the resilience panel will tackle some of the biggest questions around cost and system design. If you’ve been following the conversation around resilience and wondering what it means in practice, you won’t want to miss this panel. 👇