AiDash, a startup, secures $50 million funding for AI and satellite technology to detect wildfire risk.
AiDash, a startup based in California, announced on Tuesday that it has secured $50 million in fresh funding. The company utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite technology to identify fire and weather hazards on power lines. This funding highlights the ongoing endeavors in Silicon Valley to develop innovative solutions that assist energy companies in adjusting to the challenges posed by climate change.
Power utilities are under pressure to reduce the risk of wildfires and blackouts from storms after massive fires caused by power lines and downed weather conditions. At the same time, grid loads are likely to increase as electricity displaces fossil fuels in applications such as electric vehicles and home heat pumps.
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Hundreds of startups and small businesses are offering services and technology to improve forest management, wildfire detection and suppression, and other terrain and wildfire services, data from researcher PitchBook shows.
AiDash uses artificial intelligence to look for problems and changes in power plant transmission lines from satellite images, such as where vegetation has grown and trees have encroached on the lines.
The technology is also used to survey companies facing new biodiversity reporting regulations, such as in the UK. The new funding will be used in part to open the European headquarters.
National Grid, an AiDash customer and investor that owns grids in the UK and US, said it has seen measurable improvements in reducing the number and duration of outages after using the system to identify maintenance priorities for the Massachusetts grid.
“We need to be more dynamic in allocating resources” as circumstances change, AiDash CEO Abhishek Singh said in an interview.
Lightrock led an investment round that included National Grid’s National Grid Partners, Schneider Electric-backed SE Ventures, Edison International, Shell Ventures and others.
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