Qualcomm : and Gridspertise Collaborate to Transform the Electric Grid, Unleashing a New Era of Smart Utilities

Highlights

• Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Gridspertise Srl., a subsidiary of Enel Group, are collaborating to digitally transform electric utilities and make the grid more reliable, flexible, resilient and easier to maintain.
• The collaboration sees Qualcomm Technologies as one of the strategic technological partners of Gridspertise for developing innovative smart grid solutions and services, also beyond the QEd - Quantum Edge® device, the revolutionary device for digital substations.

A few months after Gridspertise launched the QEd - Quantum Edge® device, which leverages the innovative Qualcomm Technologies' IoT solutions, today the two companies announced a further collaboration to accelerate the digital transformation of the power grids, targeting especially the needs of the US electric utilities industry.

Credit: Gridspertise

Qualcomm Technologies and Gridspertise have come together to explore opportunities for the joint development of new solutions to help electric utilities manage the increasing complexity of the grid. The collaboration provides a framework that could lead to the creation of new solutions for energy asset monitoring and advanced applications for grid management based on the QEd - Quantum Edge® device. The aim is to foster technological innovation, improve quality of service, health and safety compliance and enable the transition to a low-carbon economy through reliable electrification.

The collaboration between the two companies intends to help electric utilities address prominent challenges experienced across the industry, that include accelerated decarbonization, electrification and climate change. Utilizing its one technology roadmap and expertise across IoT with the growing number of devices at the connected intelligent edge, Qualcomm Technologies will bring its leadership of developing innovative and leading-edge solutions for 5G, edge computing, security and cloud-based services, to build industrial-grade solutions for Utilities applications.

Gridspertise will leverage the many years of operational know-how from Enel Group - one of the world's largest privately-owned utilities - bringing expertise in electronic design and solutions development, industrialization, first-hand experience of running advanced grids in various countries. Moreover, the company will provide data analytics models specialized for grid operations, predictive maintenance, design of software solutions in platform, early alerting services based on AI algorithms, as well as a unique environment for grid and data access on large scale field-testing.

The smart grid solutions and services that could be created through this collaboration will be commercialized globally by Gridspertise to utilities and energy service providers looking for scalable solutions that can be easily deployed with efficient return on investment. Reaping the benefits of digital power grids gives the opportunity to monitor grid assets remotely, with an enhanced visibility and availability of real-time data to perform asset management and maintenance. With this transformative evolution, electric utilities are empowered to take action faster and more strategically than ever before, reducing equipment failures, avoiding unplanned outages and much more. Ultimately, a smart connected grid can deliver higher resiliency and quality of service to customers, while improving efficiency for the operator and making the accessibility to clean energy a reality.

"Strategic collaborations, such as the one with Qualcomm Technologies, enable us to promote a leap forward in network infrastructure digitalization for utilities all around the world, combining the most advanced technologies designed by Gridspertise with those developed by its ecosystem of partners," said Robert Denda, CEO of Gridspertise

"Qualcomm Technologies is excited to collaborate with Gridspertise to unleash the next generation of utilities. As Qualcomm Technologies diversifies with new opportunities powering the connected intelligent edge - Gridspertise represents the type of strategic partners we will collaborate with across IoT to continue to build a transformative ecosystem that addresses non-linear changes now and in the future," says Jeffery Torrance, senior vice president, product management, Connected Smart Systems, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

"We are delighted to be supporting Gridspertise, headquartered in Europe" said Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president and president Europe/MEA, Qualcomm Europe, Inc. "EMEA is an epicenter for innovation and we are proud to support the digitization of industry, including utilities."

About Qualcomm

Qualcomm is the world's leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.

About Gridspertise

Fully owned by Enel through its subsidiary Global Infrastructure and Networks, Gridspertise leverages on Enel's expertise in testing, assessing and scaling up the best technologies to operate smart grids all over the world, to provide field proven solutions to Distribution System Operators (DSOs) of any size or geography. Gridspertise provides access to cutting-edge sustainable solutions for the transformation of electricity distribution networks in three main areas: metering and grid edge digitalization, networks infrastructure digitalization, field operations digitalization. Target markets include Europe and Latin America, starting with the countries where the Enel Group already has a strong presence, and expanding towards North America and Asia-Pacific where the investment in smart grids will drive infrastructure upgrade projects in the near future.