Italy’s Enel sets up digital grid service company

Milan: Italy’s biggest utility, Enel (ENEI.MI), has set up a new company to offer digital grid services to power distributors round the world to help upgrade networks as the energy transition gathers pace.

Gridspertise will manage all activities related to digital meters and intelligent grid services to help its clients deal with the increasing amounts of power generated from intermittent renewable energy sources.

The spinoff will mainly target markets in Europe and Latin America, where Enel already has extensive business, but will also look to expand in North America and Asia-Pacific.

Europe’s biggest utility manages power distribution grids in eight countries in Latin America and Europe with around 74.8 million end users. More than 40% of its core earnings came from networks last year.

“The company will help electricity distribution companies of any size and geography roll-out integrated smart grid solutions to meet the evolving needs of grid users and electricity end-customers,” Gridspertise CEO Robert Denda said in a statement.

Governments around the world are seeking to improve the digital resilience of their distribution networks as they tackle the climate crisis by using more electricity for energy.

On Thursday Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore said Gridspertise aimed to have 1.5 billion euro ($1.8 billion) sales by 2030 and could sell a minority stake in its capital to investors.