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On the heels of Distributech 2025: Lessons from leaders across the industry 

Startup Insights from Distributech

In the fast-evolving energy landscape, collaboration between utilities and startups is crucial. While these two worlds might seem fundamentally different—think of Venus and Mars—they share a common goal of ensuring there’s enough reliable, affordable electricity to power the AI economy.

Recently, Pradeep Tagare, Vice President and Head of Investments at National Grid Partners, moderated a panel at Distributech—a premier conference for utility and technology leaders. The panel included Robin Lanier, New Ventures Managing Director at Southern Company; Josh Wong, CEO of ThinkLabs; Brian Curtis, Principal of NextEra Energy Investments; and Bill Dall, Chief Product and Technology Officer of Urbint, a National Grid Partners portfolio company. The group explored challenges at the intersection of utility operations and innovation and discussed ways to strengthen collaboration between utilities and startups.

On the heels of Distributech 2025: Lessons from leaders across the industry

Tagare kicked off the session by highlighting a fundamental tension between Venus (Silicon Valley's "move fast, break things" approach) and Mars (utilities' need for consistent, reliable infrastructure). This difference in worlds isn’t a roadblock—it's an opportunity to learn from each other and transform how we think about energy technology.

The panelists agreed: Successful innovation requires a nuanced understanding of each world's unique challenges. Wong, an entrepreneur with extensive utility experience, emphasized that it’s critical for startups to understand their industry customers. He shared, “Focus, focus, focus. Utilities have many needs, but entrepreneurs must have the discipline to home in on one problem they can solve well.”

The utility leaders were clear about their priorities: Simplifying complex processes, improving customer affordability, and enhancing energy efficiency. And both sides concluded that successfully adopted technologies will be those that solve specific, high-priority utility challenges rather than those chasing broad innovation.

Navigating Different Worlds of Innovation

The bulk of the discussion focused on ways to build a successful pilot collaboration. A pilot is more than a discrete project: It’s an opportunity to showcase transformative potential while learning the constraints of a utility’s operations. The startup representatives shared candidly that they wish the pilot process could be shorter, since these preliminary engagements can take up to two years. However, panelists aligned on several strategies to help keep these projects on track:

Free money is never free: The group cautioned that while government grants and subsidies promise financial support, they also can consume project resources. Grants typically include an array of requirements and paperwork that tend to extend project timelines. This should factor into assessing the true cost of a project’s time to revenue.

Support IT and procurement: Rather than viewing utility legal, IT and procurement teams as blockers, the panelists emphasized approaching them as partners. These teams have mission-critical jobs: Meticulously protecting customer data and ensuring new technology doesn’t compromise energy reliability and affordability. Security, compliance, and integration requirements should be addressed early to prevent delays. Additionally, third-party validations such as SOC II security certification, accreditations from the Electric Power Research Institute, or affiliations with major incumbents such as GE or Siemens can help manage new solutions. Lanier commented, “If startups can integrate with the institutional vendors we’re already working with, we can de-risk implementation while still learning a lot from each other.”

Empower internal champions: The most successful startup-utility collaborations emerge from a shared commitment to delivering value. Internal champions within utilities can dramatically accelerate adoption of new technologies. Equip these stakeholders with transparent success metrics and offer consistent communication and materials that can support internal discussion.

Maintain momentum: All panelists agreed: Downtime can threaten successful implementation. Setting clear goals up front and tracking them over time can keep a project on pace, which helps both sides align on objectives and outcomes. Once a pilot is off the ground, entrepreneurs should plan future phases with their utility partners, while also planning ways to scale their technology more broadly after proof of concept. Dall shared “the pilot is never the end state; and if it is, maybe you don’t want that pilot. We try to establish what the contract will look like after the pilot is complete, so we know exactly where we’re headed next.” This is also key from an investment perspective: Tagare noted he looks to invest in companies that can deploy a pilot in short order after term sheets are signed.

The Art of Technology Pilots

Lanier stated, “I think integration should be the word of the year, and this is an opportunity for our industry to weave itself together.” Integration can make innovation smoother without breaking things; in this case, when used together, we can achieve a careful balance of collaboratively pushing technological boundaries while maintaining the critical infrastructure that powers our world. As National Grid Partners continues to facilitate these conversations, we remain committed to connecting visionary (though focused) technologies with essential energy infrastructure. Our approach goes beyond investment capital: We're building bridges between industries that are more alike than they might initially appear.

And we accelerate progress even further by sharing proof-of-concept learnings with more than 130 other global utilities in our NextGrid Alliance (NGA). We launched the NGA five years ago to tackle shared industry challenges and collaborate on innovative solutions. Because the future of energy lies not in competition but in thoughtful, strategic transformation that serves everyone's customers and communities.

Innovation, at its core, is about understanding. It's about listening, learning each other’s languages, adapting, and working together—to create solutions greater than the sum of their parts.

The Path Forward

Ella Kobelt is Event Operations Manager at National Grid Partners

Transforming Energy: How Utilities and Startups Can Join Forces