Global system integrator Fluence has acquired AI-enabled, renewable energy software-as-a-service provider Nispera, tripling its digital portfolio of assets contracted or managed since February to 15GW.
Fluence announced the agreement to acquire Zurich-based Nispera AG yesterday (Monday, 11 April). Nispera is a provider of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning-enabled (ML) software-as-a-service (SaaS) focused on the renewable energy sector.
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The transaction includes a cash buyout of existing private investors of US$30 million as well as Fluence stock to the management team that vests over three years.
Nispera’s technology solution allows customers to monitor, analyse, forecast, and optimise the performance and returns of renewable energy assets. The flagship offering is an AI-driven utility-scale asset performance management platform that currently has 8GW of assets under management across 450 wind and solar projects globally.
Recent buyers of its software and services include Pacific Hydro Chile, a subsidiary of SPIC, one of Chile’s five major electricity utilities, and German family office investment firm Wirtgen Invest.
The acquisition of Nispera brings Fluence’s combined digital portfolio of assets contracted or under management to 15GW, up from 4.7GW at the start of February when it tied up with another renewable energy asset trading and software service provider Pexapark. Since then it also bagged a deal to optimise 1.1GW of assets owned by AES Corporation, one of its parent companies.
Fluence president and CEO Manuel Perez Dubuc said: “With this acquisition, we are primed to expand our portfolio of digital products and services for customers around the world. Furthermore, it represents a powerful cross-selling opportunity to offer energy storage products to owners of existing renewable energy assets and portfolios. As a result, we expect this transaction will enhance Fluence’s recurring revenue capture, adding visibility to future cash flow in the years to come.”
The acquisition of Nispera and other similar companies in the past can be seen as part of Fluence’s strategy to create a wider ecosystem of software and services, the Fluence IQ digital ecosystem, around the core business of bricks-and-mortar battery energy storage systems (BESS) deployments. The ecosystem provides access to proprietary and third-party digital applications for renewable energy asset management.
Doing this is essential for system integrators to stay head, Fluence Growth & Market Development Director (EMEA) Julian Jansen told Energy-storage.news in a recent interview. He said that parts of the existing value chain of energy storage will becoming increasingly commoditised, making software an increasingly important differentiator. This was echoed by Jason Abiecunas, VP Business Development at US-focused system integrator FlexGen in another recent interview.
