This landmark partnership will see the two collaborate to support smart cities and local energy de-carbonisation.

Glasgow-based clean energy technology company Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS) and SSE’s Distributed Energy business will work together to develop a new “Energy as a Service” platform.

The new system will incorporate SGS’s distributed energy generation, EV infrastructure, private electricity networks and heat networks under a single platform.

This will aim to optimise energy usage to generate more revenue, deliver enhanced security of supply and meet reduction targets. The platform will be building on SGS’s existing smart grid platform, ANM Strata, which controls energy assets and load to manage constraints in the underlying network to which they are connected.

Over time, the system’s capabilities will be enhanced to provide increased functionality to generate revenues from opportunities in a number of UK markets including Wholesale, Balancing, and Ancillary Services, as well as enabling behind the meter and building energy optimisation.

The platform’s algorithms and fast-acting control capability will be further enhanced by the experience and expertise of SSE’s Distributed Energy business.

Graham Ault, Director at Smarter Grid Solutions, said of the partnership: “The partnership with SSE Enterprise is the culmination of a significant investment to enhance our DERMS platform to manage diverse energy assets, deliver flexibility and provide multiple market interfaces, adding to our already proven distribution network management capabilities.

“We have exciting projects already underway to manage EV charging, renewable energy, and flexible loads and look forward to developing these opportunities much further with SSE Enterprise and so enable a wide range of energy consumers and generators to benefit from the low carbon transition.”

Stephen Stead, Director of Digital Services and Strategy for SSE Distributed Energy arm, said: “Real time control of local energy generation and consumption is playing an increasingly vital role in decarbonising our economy. As energy demand increases through the electrification of services, such as transport and heat, so too will the need for responsive energy asset control to manage the growth in variable renewables.

“This exciting new SGS-SSE partnership is a huge step in our ‘smart cities’ vision and will support local authorities, large energy users, and building and estate owners to deploy and manage low carbon technologies in order to meet the UK Government’s net-zero target by 2050. It will also help consumers to minimise both energy costs and exposure to energy price uncertainties while maximising security of supply.”