Syniad Secures Equity Investment in Islay Power

Vancouver, British Columbia – June 10th 2024: Syniad Innovations Inc. (“Syniad”) is pleased to announce that it has taken an equity position in Islay Power (“Islay”), a venture based on intellectual property created at the US Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

Islay was established to develop a range of embedded automated AI solutions that allow for the distributed management of energy in electrical grids.  One of the first applications enables the creation and management of virtual power plants by aggregating small scale power storage and selling surplus power into wholesale energy markets to meet rapid demand response needs and to capture the maximum value from stored power. It is Syniad’s first venture based on IP developed at a US research institution.

PNNL spearheaded a major initiative in grid technologies under the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration project, core funded with $89m of US Department of Energy support and involving some 60,000 metered customers. Research and experience from that demonstration established a patent family that has been licensed to Islay and which provides the initial foundation of the business.

Commenting, John Davies, Syniad’s CEO said “We’re obviously seeing energy markets embrace new AI tools. Many of these tools are focussed on demand side management i.e. providing incentives to energy customers to reduce energy consumption at times of peak load.  But armed with the PNNL patents, Islay is the first company that we’ve seen that’s using AI to aggregate power supply from small scale producers and to transact that supply into wholesale energy markets. It’s a clever idea supported by years of practical implementation experience.”