PowerOn Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, has acquired a minority stake in Ottawa-based BluWave-ai, which will use the proceeds to develop and deploy its electric-vehicle charging software.
PowerOn made the investment in BluWave-ai’s recently closed $9.5-million Series A funding round, which included other investors led by Capital Angel Network. With the investment, James Brewer, OPG’s vice-president of new growth and business development, joins BluWave-ai’s board of directors.
BluWave-ai is best known for its artificial-intelligence-based power grid optimization technology, which allows more renewable energy onto the world’s electricity systems. Software for powering and regulating EV charging, starting with truck and bus fleets, represents the next push in the six-year-old company’s evolution, said Devashish Paul, BluWave-ai’s chief executive officer.
PowerOn designs, installs and operates EV charging stations for fleets, and has a contract to serve the Toronto Transit Commission’s EV bus fleet over the next two decades. Under the deal, BluWave-ai and PowerOn will partner in pursuing contracts to serve fleet charging systems.
“Electricity guys are the ones who know how to run the grid, the charging connection to the vehicles, and to deal with the real time market pricing of electricity. But some software entity has to manage and control of all that,” Mr. Paul said in an interview. “So PowerOn invested in us so that we can be part of their solution set for fleet operators all around North America.”
The funding follows a $1.7-million grant from Ottawa’s Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, announced late last year. The recent influx of capital will allow BluWave-ai to increase its staff complement to 60 from the current 40, executives said.
BluWave-ai had already begun seeking EV charging opportunities in other parts of the world. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Power Delhi to help fleet operators avoid overloading the grid as it proceeds with a plan to run 8,000 electric buses by 2025. It marks the latest deal in India for BluWave-ai, after a contract in 2021 to provide its power-grid product to Mumbai-based Tata Power. The company is set to announce other deals for an electric bus fleet in Dubai and with an as-yet undisclosed “world leader in last-mile delivery.”
Surging energy costs due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are helping to drive fleet operators to EVs, and large charging networks require the software to operate efficiently in tandem with power grids that are decarbonizing, he said.
The company’s artificial intelligence technology analyzes and regulates electricity grids to allow more wind and solar power to be added while keeping the network stable. The system takes into account market prices, grid carbon content, weather and battery storage. Mr. Paul said EVs represent a type of storage, and they can help absorb the variability of renewables.
BluWave-ai is planning for its next stage, which will involve the charging of EVs for residential customers. “The volume of residential EVs will far outstrip all the bus companies put together, and so we believe that will be our largest line of business,” he said. “We have a project with [Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator] to test all of this out over the next year and a half, specifically in Hydro Ottawa’s grid working with the Ontario Energy Board.”
The company has already begun working on its next funding round, Mr. Paul said.