7th of November, 2024. The University of Oviedo and its spin-off Plexigrid have signed this Thursday the collaboration agreement for the creation of the Plexigrid Chair, aimed at promoting research and innovation in the digitization and monitoring of electrical distribution systems. The agreement, signed by the rector of the Asturian academic institution, Ignacio Villaverde, and the company's Software Director, Enrique Riesgo, on behalf of its CEO, Alberto Méndez, is valid for four years and has an initial investment of 120,000 euros until 2027.
Plexigrid, the Asturian deep tech company dedicated to digitalizing electrical grids for energy transition, will undertake the construction of the world’s most advanced flexible distribution grid control center in Asturias.
Control systems for electrical distribution grids were designed decades ago for a centralized and controllable energy system, based on highly predictable power flows from generation plants to cities and end consumers.
However, the energy transition brings decentralization, intermittency, and complex bidirectional power flows.
This poses the greatest technological challenge for electrical distribution grid operators in decades. It is about achieving real-time visualization, intelligence, and control of the millions of nodes and lines that make up their systems, as well as the automatic coordination of a wide variety of flexible loads, all to avoid bottlenecks and overloads on the grid.
Plexigrid’s revolutionary technology brings precisely these new superpowers, turning the control center into the core space where these innovations are implemented and operated.
In Pablo Arboleya’s own words: This chair will be the first at the University of Oviedo funded by one of its own spin-offs. The initial step will be establishing a state-of-the-art laboratory, the control center of the future, designed to become an international benchmark. This facility will welcome global companies and leading academics, establishing itself as a hub for the future of electricity distribution.
The impact of this initiative will not only contribute to training hundreds of electrical engineers but will also stand out for the quality of network management they will offer, positioning Asturias as a global knowledge center in smart grids.
