Trilliant smart meter firm snaps up $40m funding

Smart electricity metering firm Trilliant has this week scored $40m in equity financing, that it now intends to invest in expanding into international markets and recruiting more senior management.

The company specialises in smart meters for electrical utilities, which communicate with each other via wireless networks to form a mesh of devices. The meters can use the mesh network to communicate electricity usage information back to the grid, providing utilities with precise data on how energy is being used in the building.

The company has already participated in small-scale distributed renewable electricity projects in Ontario, in which very small renewable energy installations are hooked into the grid as part of net metering projects. Under these agreements, electricity produced locally from renewable resources can be sold back to the grid, providing the operator of onsite renewable technologies, such as solar panels, with an extra revenue stream to help offset the initial costs.

The new funding, which comes from MissionPoint Capital Partners and zouk ventures, will also be used for research and development. "We're accelerating a number of our advanced product features," said company president Bill Vogel "We've added a lot of consumer-oriented features for the dynamic energy economy. Things that allow meters and thermostats to work together or balance each other, or allow a display in a house to tell you how much energy you used."

The deal comes as the smart grid sector appears to be gaining fresh momentum. Companies such as Trilliant and its competitors Ambient and Silver Spring Networks, are politically well positioned thanks to increasing political interest in modernising the grid. Both presidential candidates have committed to modernising the electrical grid. Barack Obama has pledged funds to improve peak load management at customer sites, while McCain has also singled out smart metering technologies as a focal point for his energy policy.

Investors are also showing increased interest in the sector with US smart grid specialist BPL Global attracting $23m in funding earlier this month and engineering conglomerate GE underlining its commitment to the technology with its acquisition of Northern Ireland-based grid monitoring firm Kelman.