A National Grid partnership, GridCARE can reduce ‘uptime’ for large loads in New York

Dive Summary:

• National Grid works together GridCARE to “select and unlock” connectivity capabilities for New York’s bulk customers, companies said on March 25.
• Image of GridCARE Energize’s platform uses AI modeling, grid simulations and “real-time system intelligence” to find storage capacity on the grid, which can reduce connectivity. articles from several years to “six to 12 months,” the companies said.
• The announcement did not mention specific customers who would benefit from the scheme. By email, GridCARE CEO Amit Narayan says his company’s capabilities have attracted “a lot of interest from a variety of sectors,” including large manufacturers and data centers.

Dive Insight:

In a statement, National Grid President and Group Chief Strategy Officer Steve Smith said accessing and using grid power is the “fastest and most cost-effective way” to add new load.

“By responsibly unlocking hidden potential with modern physics-based AItools, we can support economic growth, strengthen trust, and protect consumers and the communities we serve,” he said.

Data center construction costs have risen from $7.7 million/MW in 2020 to $10.7 million/MW in 2025, real estate firm JLL said in January report on an industrial level. These figures do not include computer equipment but do include electrical equipment, which JLL says is a key driver of project costs and location decisions.

However, dynamic acceleration is still the “primary criterion for choosing a site,” JLL said.

GridCARE uses artificial intelligence to scan “quadrillions” of operating conditions and identify situations where the grid may be under stress, according to an announcement last week. Its platform then identifies solutions that can increase energy efficiency, including variable assets such as batteries and other forms of distributed energy.

The need to identify and unlock grid power is particularly strong in areas with “new expansion or large load phases that can often face multi-year connection delays due to the necessary transmission upgrades,” Narayan said.

In October, GridCARE and Portland General Electric said the California-based company’s platform was coming release 80 MW of power for data center connections this year. PGE already serves 800 MW of data center capacity in and around the Portland suburb of Hillsboro and expects to power 400 MW more — most of it in one location — by 2029, Larry Bekkedahl, PGE’s senior vice president of advanced energy strategy and delivery, told Utility Dive at the time.

Narayan said GridCARE’s collaboration with the National Grid will focus on “concentrated areas with limited supply infrastructure” or in areas near dispatchable and renewable generation facilities. Community Grid upstate New York it stretches from Lake Erie to the Adirondack Mountains and draws power from a combination of nuclear, gas, hydro and wind.

In this area soon to see a wave of interest from data center developers attracted by the relatively cheap, clean energy and connectivity of aging power plants and manufacturing facilities.

High-tech manufacturing projects may also increase the region’s energy demand in the coming years. Micron broken ground earlier this year on a $100 billion facility north of Syracuse that could accommodate as many as four chip manufacturing facilities over 20 years. To support the project, which Sustain CNY says will use 7.15 TWh / year in 2032 and up to 16.17 TWh / year in 2043, the National Grid will expand the nearby station and place eight “ultra-high-voltage” underground lines, according to a media report.

In addition to reducing “energy downtime,” the GridCARE solution can boost grid utilization, which the company says can help solve problems for customers and rate advocates. It he released the lesson in December showed that a hypothetical 1-GW data center in the middle of the utility could reduce costs by 5% across all customer groups or free up more than $1.35 billion for the utility by adding “a modest amount of flexibility.”