Camus Energy Joins MSL Consortium

We are excited to announce that Camus Energy, a leader in advanced grid management software, has joined the MSL Member consortium. With a mission of “transforming the grid for a zero-carbon future,” Camus complements the MSL network’s strengths in research centers, utilities, and NGOs with its unparalleled software engineering skills and distributed systems expertise, developed over decades of senior network engineering management experience at ultra-high-performance technology companies such as Google.

Camus’ early development dovetailed with MSL and New Mexico in several respects, including meetings with the advanced networking team at Los Alamos National Laboratory (an MSL Member), an initial grid-scale deployment with Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC, also an MSL Member), and a second deployment with Holy Cross Energy and its CEO (and MSL Advisor) Bryan Hannegan. Camus Co-founder and CEO Astrid Atkinson has also served on MSL’s Advisory Board. 

The Camus Platform

Camus’ grid management platform leverages proven distributed systems technologies and machine learning techniques to provide the real-time grid visibility and advanced control needed to navigate a complex and dynamic grid environment. Utilities and energy providers can leverage integrated grid, customer, and device data to reduce energy costs, meet decarbonization goals, and engage customers and members in a local energy community.. 

The cyber-secure platform provides grid-wide, data-driven, real-time visibility and network optimization, inclusive of utility-owned and customer devices. Camus’ distributed systems approach enables operators to reliably manage grid conditions, scaling from hundreds to millions of controllable endpoints. The cloud-based, open-source solution employs the proven advantages of software as a service (SaaS), adapted by Camus to manage the grid with Grid Management Software as a Service (GMaaS).

Camus is enjoying rapid growth, having recently secured Series A venture capital funding and its initial investor-owned utility customer, as detailed in this Canary Media article on the company.

Microgrid Integration

Through its KCEC deployment, which supports the utility’s goal of providing 100% daytime solar generation to its members, Camus is a principal partner in the Resilient El Rito project. This community resilience microgrid initiative, led by MSL, will enable integration of the Camus platform with two “nested” microgrids at the campus of Northern New Mexico College and the Kit Carson distribution feeder in El Rito, NM. Sandia National Laboratories (an MSL Member) is providing technical assistance to the El Rito project, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy; and KCEC considers it an important and replicable element of its overall grid modernization strategy.

We look forward to deepening our collaboration with the company to advance our shared interests in grid modernization and technology innovation.