The Grid
12% of 37 billion tonnes per year
Decarbonisation Pathway| 8 Sectorsmore details
| Sector | Emissions today | Decarbonisation pathway |
|---|---|---|
| Clean generation | Near zero | Rapidly growing — solar, wind, geothermal and nuclear are the core of the transition; the primary destination for energy capital globally |
| Dirty generation | Bulk of the ~12% residual — coal, gas and oil power stations are the single largest addressable emissions source | Shrinking — the speed varies enormously by geography and policy; gas peakers retain a role during the transition in high-renewables grids |
| Transmission & distribution | Small — primarily losses in wires | Critical bottleneck — grid capacity is increasingly the binding constraint on renewable deployment; transformer lead times of 2–4 years in some markets; the low-voltage distribution network was not designed for bidirectional flow from distributed generation; a major and urgent investment requirement regardless of losses |
| Storage | Near zero | Strategically growing — storage is structurally mandated by the physics of solar and wind intermittency; short-duration batteries are scaling rapidly; long-duration storage remains the unsolved problem at grid scale |
| Data centres | High and rapidly growing — almost entirely electricity-related; AI workloads are driving an unprecedented surge in demand, making data centres one of the fastest-growing load sources on the grid globally | Almost entirely a grid decarbonisation story — direct emissions are negligible; the pathway is clean electricity supply, on-site generation, and aggressive efficiency improvement (PUE); hyperscalers are among the largest PPA buyers globally, making them active participants in grid decarbonisation rather than passive consumers |
| Grid software & intelligence | Negligible | Increasingly critical — as distributed generation, storage and flexible demand multiply, software is what makes the grid manageable; demand response, virtual power plants, network modelling and dispatch optimisation are all growing investment themes |
| Fugitive emissions | Significant — methane leaks from pipelines and gas flaring at wellheads are potent near-term warming sources | Shrinking — declines as fossil fuel use falls; near-term abatement via leak detection and flaring reduction is high-leverage given methane's 80x potency over 20 years |
| Refinery own-use | Significant — refineries burn fuel to process fuel | Shrinking — declines as liquid fuel demand falls with transport electrification; a long tail given the pace of ICE fleet turnover |
Data Centres
Data centres are the fastest-growing demand node on the grid — their decarbonisation is almost entirely a function of grid decarbonisation, making them a Grid story rather than an Industry story.
Howmet Aerospace
FeaturedUSA
Howmet Aerospace is a manufacturer of advanced engineered solutions for aerospace and transport.
Howmet operates across four segments: Engine Products (airfoils and seamless rolled rings for aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines), Fastening Systems (aerospace fasteners, latches, bearings), Engineered Structures (titanium forgings and aluminium structures for airframes and landing gear), and Forged Wheels (aluminium wheels for heavy trucks).
The Engine Products segment is the strategic core: Howmet is one of only four or five companies globally capable of producing single-crystal turbine blades to aerospace specification, and together with PCC holds an estimated ~80% of that market.
The casting process — growing a turbine blade from a single crystal of nickel superalloy — prevents grain-boundary cracking under extreme heat and stress, and requires proprietary foundry technology with over 1,170 patents.
The commercial aerospace backlog (driven by record airline order books at Boeing and Airbus) extends through the decade. Data centre growth is an additional demand driver via industrial gas turbine and aeroderivative engine demand.
Publicly Traded: NYSE: HWM - Institutional investors (Vanguard, BlackRock) hold ~94% of shares.
Precision Castparts Corp.
FeaturedUSA
Precision Castparts Corp is a manufacturer of large, complex structural investment castings, airfoil castings, and forged components, serving the aerospace, industrial gas turbine, defence, and power generation industries.
PCC is the global market leader in single-crystal turbine blade casting — the most demanding form of precision metalwork, requiring proprietary alloy development and decades of foundry expertise to replicate. Its subsidiary PCC Airfoils is the leading supplier of airfoil castings to the industrial gas turbine market.
Beyond casting, PCC operates vertically integrated manufacturing spanning nickel superalloys, titanium sponge aerostructures, and aerospace fasteners.
PCC has a near-duopoly with Howmet Aerospace over high-end investment casting, together estimated to hold ~80% of the global single-crystal turbine blade market.
The company was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in January 2016 for $37.2 billion — at the time Berkshire's largest-ever acquisition. In March 2026 it acquired UK-based Morvern Group, its first confirmed deal since the Berkshire acquisition, deepening turbine casting capability in European aerospace and defence supply chains.
PCC went public on the NYSE in 1968; Warren Buffett / Berkshire Hathaway acquired it in January 2016.
Generation
Demand for energy has only ever grown — it is the foundation of economic progress and national security alike. The transition changes the source, not the need.
Fervo Energy
FeaturedUSA
Fervo is rapidly gaining a great deal of interest, not least raising over $400m in Dec 2025 to accelerate the development of their Cape Station geothermal project.
In their projects, cold water is pumped underground, heated up by the Earth’s temperature, and brought back to the surface. Modern Organic Rankine Cycle generating technology converts the geothermal energy into electricity in a highly efficient process that emits no carbon or other harmful pollutants. Using this technology, 100% of the water is reinjected back into the ground.
Pretty basic. Pretty clever.
Investors
Built Robotics
USA
Built Robotics retrofits standard construction excavators with AI and sensors to operate autonomously — cutting the cost and timeline of site preparation for large-scale solar and infrastructure projects.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
USA
Nuclear Fusion using revolutionary high temperature superconducting magnets developed in collaboration with MIT to build smaller and lower-cost tokamak fusion systems.
Eavor
Canada
Eavor has developed a closed-loop geothermal system that circulates fluid through deep underground radiator-like loops — delivering 24/7 dispatchable heat and power from almost any location.
Eologix
Germany
Eologix makes wireless blade-mounted sensors for wind turbines that detect ice formation and structural stress in real time — improving safety and energy yield.
Flotation Energy
United Kingdom
Flotation Energy is a UK floating offshore wind developer, specialising in identifying and progressing projects in deeper waters beyond the reach of conventional fixed-foundation turbines.
GE Vernova
USA
The BWRX-300 is a 300 MWe small modular boiling water reactor designed for passive safety and significantly reduced capital cost — with agreements to build first units in Canada and the US.
Publicly Traded: NYSE. Code: GEV
Heliatek
Germany
Heliatek makes organic thin-film solar cells that can be printed or laminated onto surfaces including curved facades, rooftops, and transport vehicles — enabling solar integration where glass panels are impractical.
Heliogen
USA
Heliogen uses AI-controlled mirror arrays to concentrate sunlight to temperatures above 1,500°C — delivering renewable heat for cement, glass, and steel production that solar panels cannot reach.
Helion
USA
Helion Energy is a fusion startup pursuing field-reversed configuration plasma with direct electricity generation — and has a binding power purchase agreement with Microsoft targeting grid delivery by 2028.
Highview Power
UK
Highview Power makes the CRYOBattery — a liquid air energy storage system that stores off-peak electricity by liquefying air at -196°C and regenerates it on demand, scalable to multiple GWh with no geographical constraints and a 30+ year lifespan.
Hydgene
Australia
HydGene Renewables has engineered bacteria that convert sugars from waste biomass — agricultural residues, grain stubble — into green hydrogen via biological fermentation, enabling decentralised, carbon-negative hydrogen production in rural and remote areas.
HyWind
United Kingdom
The world's first commercial floating offshore wind farm — five 6 MW turbines on spar-buoy substructures off Peterhead, Scotland, consistently achieving the UK's highest offshore capacity factor at 54% and proving the case for deep-water floating wind at scale.
Kanin Energy
Canada
Kanin Energy finances and installs Organic Rankine Cycle systems at industrial facilities to convert waste heat into electricity — delivering decarbonisation and energy savings at no upfront cost to the operator.
Kardinia Energy
Australia
Kardinia Energy develops lightweight, flexible, printed organic solar films for large industrial and warehouse rooftops that cannot structurally support the weight of conventional glass solar panels.
Leapting
China
LEAPTING (丽天智能) is a robotics company specialising in intelligent automation for the solar photovoltaic industry, foscused on products for panel cleaning, inspection, and installation.
Next Power
USA
Nextpower is the world’s leading solar tracker company — holding #1 global market share for 10 consecutive years and shipping over 150 GW of systems — now expanding into a full-platform integrated solar energy solutions provider.
Publicly Traded: Nasdaq. Code: NXT
Nuscale
USA
NuScale Power is an American SMR company and the first to receive NRC design approval for a small modular light-water reactor, targeting carbon-free baseload power for utilities, data centres, and industrial users.
Publicly Traded: NYSE. Code: SMR
Oklo
USA
Oklo is developing Aurora — a sodium-cooled fast fission microreactor in 15-50MW sizes — designed for inherent safety, fuel recycling, and modular deployment at data centres and industrial sites, with Sam Altman as chairman and over 1,350MW in LOIs.
Publicly Traded: NYSE. Code: OKLO
Oxford PV
UK
Oxford PV is the world's first commercial producer of perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar modules, achieving efficiencies that significantly exceed conventional silicon panels.
Quidnet Energy
USA
Quidnet Energy stores energy by pumping water underground into pressurised rock formations using well-drilling technology — a modular, geography-independent form of long-duration storage that works like pumped hydro but deployable almost anywhere.
Sage Geosystems
USA
Sage Geosystems is a Houston-based startup pioneering pressure geothermal — a technology that enables 24/7 baseload power generation and long-duration energy storage from hot dry rock formations anywhere in the world.
Siemens Energy
Germany
One of the world's largest energy technology companies — gas turbines, HVDC transmission, grid infrastructure, and wind (via Siemens Gamesa). Technology underpins approximately one-sixth of global electricity generation. Listed: Frankfurt (ENR).
Publicly Traded: Frankfurt Stock Exchange: ENR
Solstice AI
Australia
Solstice AI provides machine learning-powered forecasting and optimisation software for solar farms, virtual power plants, and energy traders — turning generation uncertainty into actionable intelligence.
Sun Cable
Australia
Northern Territory solar and storage mega-project targeting a 20 GW solar farm, 42 GWh battery and 4,200 km undersea HVDC cable to Singapore — backed by Mike Cannon-Brookes after restructuring, it would be the world's largest of each technology type.
SunDrive
Australia
There isn't enough silver in the world manufacture all the solar we need so SunDrive have invented a process to use copper instead, which is 100x cheaper.
SunMan Energy
China
SunMan makes ultra-lightweight, glass-free solar modules at just 5kg per panel — enabling solar deployment on structures that cannot support the weight of conventional 18kg glass panels.
Type One Energy
USA
Type One is a fusion energy company developing a stellarator using high-temperature superconducting magnets and advanced manufacturing to build a commercially viable fusion power plant, with a licensing application already submitted for Tennessee's first commercial fusion project.
Wind Catching Systems
Norway
Wind Catching Systems is developing a floating offshore wind platform that mounts hundreds of smaller turbines on a single 1km² frame — claiming 5x more energy output per unit of ocean area than conventional offshore turbines.
Zap Energy
USA
Zap Energy is a Seattle-based fusion startup developing sheared-flow stabilised Z-pinch technology — a magnet-free approach to plasma confinement that could dramatically reduce the cost of fusion power.
Grid software & intelligence
The grid has always moved electrons — software is what makes it intelligent enough to move them at the right time, in the right direction, at the right price.
IND Technology
FeaturedAustralia
IND's premise is simple but powerful: detect the precursors to failure before faults occur.
Sensors mounted on poles up to 5km apart capture radio-frequency signals emitted by stressed or failing components. These signals are analysed in real time, locating anomalies to within 10m so that maintenance crews can intervene proactively instead of waiting for the next scheduled inspection. The result is a shift from periodic, reactive inspections to continuous, data-driven prevention. IND has solutions for both overhead and underground powerlines, allowing utilities to use a single detection platform across rural bushfire corridors, suburban feeders, and dense urban cables.
Investors
Neara
FeaturedAustralia
Neara is a software company building physics-enabled digital twins for electricity grid infrastructure. The core idea is straightforward but technically formidable: take the fragmented, often inaccurate data that utilities hold about their transmission and distribution networks and combine it with engineering-grade physics simulation to create a geometrically precise, behaviourally accurate 3D model of an entire network. Every pole, tower, conductor, span and substation is modelled in a way that reflects how the real assets actually bend, sag and fail under load, heat, wind, flood and fire conditions.
That physics fidelity is the key differentiator. Neara's models simulate the real-world behaviour of assets rather than just recording their location and specifications. This lets utilities run what-if scenarios at whole-of-network scale: how does the grid respond to a Category 3 hurricane? Where are conductor clearances dangerously close to vegetation after a wet spring? Which spans have hidden thermal capacity that has never been used because conservative blanket standards were applied across the whole network?
Neara has modelled over 15 million infrastructure assets spanning more than 3 million kilometres across four continents. Its customer base includes ~90% of Australian network utilities (Ausgrid, Endeavour, Essential Energy, AusNet, SA Power Networks, Transgrid) and major international utilities including Southern California Edison, CenterPoint Energy (US), ESB Networks (Ireland), ScottishPower (UK) and Hedno (Greece).
Investors
Camus Energy
USA
Camus Energy (acquired by Google) provides utilities with a distribution grid management platform that integrates DER data and enables active control of flexible assets across the network.
Australia
CAPA provides cyber intelligence and monitoring services to electricity utilities and renewable energy operators — protecting the increasingly digital and connected critical energy infrastructure.
Grid Beyond
AI-powered energy flexibility and demand response platform — connecting industrial loads, batteries and renewables to energy markets to reduce costs, generate revenue and help balance the grid.
GridCog
Australia
Gridcog is an Australian energy project simulation platform that helps developers, consultants, and energy majors accurately model the financial and technical performance of complex energy assets before committing capital.
GridQube
Australia
GridQube provides near real-time operational visibility software for electricity distribution networks — helping DNSPs understand, model, and manage the two-way flow of power as DERs proliferate.
GridSight
Australia
Gridsight is an AI-powered distribution grid platform that builds a real-time electrical digital twin to help utilities manage DER connections, optimise network capacity, and shift from reactive to proactive grid operations.
Halcyon
USA
AI platform for energy market intelligence — aggregating regulatory filings, grid data and market signals across every US energy jurisdiction to help developers, utilities and investors accelerate decision-making.
Orkestra
Australia
Orkestra provides cloud-based feasibility and optimisation software for distributed energy projects — helping developers and consultants model solar, storage, and hybrid systems with bankable accuracy.
PV case
USA
PVcase is the leading solar project design platform — automating layout, terrain adaptation, cable routing, and yield simulation across the full development lifecycle, trusted by 1,800+ customers in 75+ countries for over 4 TW of annual project design.
Solcast
Australia
Solcast provides high-accuracy solar irradiance forecasts and historical data globally via API — using satellite cloud-tracking updated every 5-15 minutes at 90-metre resolution, beating standard weather models by 25-50% and used by solar operators on four continents.
Three
USA
An AI platform that automates infrastructure asset inspections for power utilities and renewables — applying computer vision to drone and sensor data to detect defects 80% faster and surface critical issues in real time.
Viotas
Ireland
VIOTAS is an Irish demand response technology company that connects large industrial and commercial energy users to electricity grid balancing markets, paying them to flex their loads within 150 milliseconds and enabling higher levels of renewable energy use.
WindLab
Australia
WindLab is an Australian wind energy developer and data analytics company using proprietary atmospheric modelling to identify, develop, and optimise wind energy projects globally.
Storage
Generation without storage is a tap you can't turn off; storage is what transforms intermittent supply into a dispatchable grid.
Hachiko Energy
FeaturedAustralia
Batteries are valuable because they provide flexibility, responding faster than other energy technologies, and help maintain grid stability by turning on and off in fractions of a second., Software contributes through improved grid performance, efficient integration of diverse energy sources, simulation and modelling of energy options, optimisation of building energy use (particularly HVAC systems), and guiding organizations in delivering emission reduction goals through accurate measurement and reporting.
Founders
Investors
Investible
Akaysha Energy
Australia
Akaysha Energy develops utility-scale battery storage projects for the Australian grid — acquired by BlackRock in 2022 and now one of Australia's most active large-scale BESS developers.
Allegro Energy
Australia
Allegro Energy develops vanadium redox flow batteries for long-duration grid storage — offering unlimited cycle life and independently scalable power and energy capacity.
CATL
China
CATL is the world's largest battery manufacturer, supplying lithium-ion cells to nearly every major EV maker globally and driving the cost and performance improvements that make electrification viable.
Publicly Traded: Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Code: 300750
Endua
Australia
Endua makes modular 150kW hydrogen fuel cell systems for off-grid and remote power — providing clean, dispatchable backup power without diesel.
Eonix Energy
USA
Eonix Energy applies AI and computational screening to accelerate the discovery of better battery electrolytes and materials — compressing years of laboratory research into months.
ESS
USA
ESS Tech makes iron flow batteries using iron, salt, and water as the electrolyte — a non-toxic, geographically unconstrained chemistry for 6–12 hour grid-scale storage with unlimited cycle life.
Publicly Traded: NYSE. Code: GWH
Fluence Energy
USA
Fluence is one of the world's largest energy storage technology and services companies, providing grid-scale battery systems and AI-driven software to utilities, developers, and grid operators globally.
Publicly Traded: Nasdaq. Code: FLNC
Form Energy
USA
Form Energy is an American long-duration energy storage company developing iron-air batteries capable of storing electricity for up to 100 hours — enabling reliable clean power through extended periods of low wind and solar output.
hydrostor
USA
Canadian long-duration energy storage company using Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage in underground caverns to deliver 8–24+ hours of grid-scale storage — with projects advancing in Australia, California and Ontario.
LG Chem
Korea
Korean battery giant and one of the world's three largest lithium-ion manufacturers — supplying EV cells to GM, Volkswagen and Hyundai while producing the widely-deployed RESU home battery range for residential solar-plus-storage systems.
Publicly Traded: Korea Stock Exchange. Code: 051910
Malta
USA
Malta uses pumped heat energy storage — converting electricity into a temperature differential between hot salt and cold antifreeze tanks — for long-duration, geographically unconstrained grid-scale storage.
NanoGraf
USA
Chicago battery materials company whose silicon-graphene composite anode delivers higher energy density than graphite as a drop-in replacement — validated with the US Army and commercial battery makers for EVs, power tools and defence electronics.
One D materials
USA
1-D Materials (OneD) engineers silicon nanowire-enhanced graphite anodes that significantly increase lithium-ion battery energy density and fast-charging capability without changing cell manufacturing lines.
Sila Nanotechnologies
USA
Sila Nanotechnologies has developed a silicon-based anode material to replace graphite in lithium-ion batteries, delivering 20–40% more energy density for the same battery size.
yCube
UK
The yCube is Aggreko's containerised 1MW lithium-ion battery storage product — a rapidly deployable, relocatable clean energy storage unit replacing diesel gensets in temporary and remote power applications.
Transmission
You can build all the clean energy in the world — it is worthless if you cannot move it from where it is generated to where it is needed. Transmission is the circulatory system of the energy transition, and right now it is the binding constraint.
Aquila Energy
FeaturedNew Zealand
Aquila Energy proposes to solve the fundamental spatial mismatch between where solar energy is abundant (near the equator, in space) and where energy is needed (distributed populations, often cloudy). Satellites in geostationary orbit collect solar energy continuously — without the day-night cycle or atmospheric losses that ground-based solar faces — and convert it to laser beams that are directed to ground-based receivers. The technology premise is that laser costs follow a learning curve similar to semiconductors, making it economically competitive over time. While still pre-commercial, the concept addresses energy transmission at continental or global scale without requiring physical grid infrastructure, and is particularly relevant for remote industrial sites, islands, or nations without grid capacity.
Investors
Hitachi Energy
FeaturedJapan
Hitachi Energy is one of the most important companies in the energy transition because as electrification accelerates, the grid becomes the critical path. Hitachi Energy is arguably the single most important company in making it actually work.
Formed in 2020 when Hitachi acquired ABB's Power Grids division, it is the custodian of over a century of grid infrastructure technology — including ABB's pioneering HVDC work dating to the 1950s.
The company's portfolio spans the full electricity value chain: transformers (it is the world's largest manufacturer by installed base), high-voltage equipment up to 1,200kV, HVDC and STATCOM power electronics, substation automation, grid control software, and energy storage integration. These technologies are the physical infrastructure that moves electricity from generation to consumption, and every major shift in the energy system — more offshore wind, longer transmission distances, higher renewable penetration, greater grid complexity — increases demand for exactly what Hitachi Energy makes.
HVDC in particular is a strategic bottleneck in the energy transition. Submarine and long-distance land cables connecting offshore wind to load centres, linking national electricity markets, and enabling intercontinental renewable energy flows all depend on HVDC technology. Hitachi Energy holds a commanding position in this market alongside Prysmian (cables) and Siemens Energy (converter stations).
Publicly Traded: Tokyo Stock Exchange. Code: 6501
Infravision
FeaturedAustralia
In order to keep up with the energy transition, grid infrastructure is also going to require new large-scale energy networks quickly. Infravision facilitate this by replacing traditional stringing methods with unmanned heavy lifting drones. They hold the record for the world’s longest single span drone flight pulling power lines a distance of 1400m.
Founders
Investors
Emrod
New Zealand
Emrod transmits electricity wirelessly over long distances using directed microwave beams — offering an alternative to physical cables for remote communities and difficult terrain.
GridMo
Australia
gridmo is a Melbourne-based software platform that dramatically accelerates grid interconnection studies for renewable energy projects, providing engineers with standardised, code-compliant simulation templates that integrate with PSS®E, PSCAD, and PowerFactory.
Ionate
UK
Deep-tech grid hardware company whose Hybrid Intelligent Transformer adds real-time power flow control, voltage management and harmonics suppression to existing distribution networks — enabling smarter, more resilient grids for the renewables era.
NKT
Denmark
Century-old Danish manufacturer of the high-voltage direct current cables connecting Europe's offshore wind farms and cross-border grid interconnectors — one of a handful of companies globally capable of producing HVDC cables at scale.
Publicly Traded: Nasdaq Copenhagen. Code: NKT
Prysmian
Italy
Prysmian is the world's leading manufacturer of high-voltage cables, including the submarine HVDC interconnectors that are forming the backbone of Europe's integrated renewable energy grid.
Publicly Traded: Borsa Italiana. Code: PRY
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