- Robert Denda, CEO of Gridspertise, and René Böringer, CEO of Cuculus, signed the contracts to found the company remade
- The neugemacht.com website illustrates the new company’s range of modular and flexible end-to-end metering services for municipal utilities, metering point operators and real estate companies in the German market.
Frankfurt, November 24, 2023 – Gridspertise S.r.l. (“Gridspertise“), a global player supporting distribution system operators worldwide in accelerating the digital transformation of power grids, and Cuculus GmbH (“Cuculus“), a Germany-based software company specializing in critical infrastructure in the global utility environment, announce the formation of neugemacht (“neugemacht“). The joint venture, which is 51% owned by Gridspertise and 49% by Cuculus, aims to accelerate the digitalization of German power grids. As can be seen on the neugemacht website (www.neugemacht.com), the new company’s solutions include all the necessary components such as meters, smart meter gateways (SMGWs), communication, software platform, system integration, installation service and operation to offer a complete metering-as-a-service. The new company extends the smart metering solutions beyond the basic metering point operator (gMSB). This means that a complete offering for competitive metering point operators (wMSB) will also be made available for the entire German energy market directly via neugemacht. With this offering, a strong and growing partner network is being launched on the market for the first time, from which providers of electromobility, producers of renewable energies, manufacturers of heating systems, submetering companies and energy communities can benefit equally. The new company follows the launch of the joint brand neugemacht, which was presented at E-World in May 2023, and embodies the joint efforts of Gridspertise and Cuculus to support the German energy market. The company’s relaunch comes at the right time in light of the German government’s recent legislation to relaunch the digitalization of the energy transition and accelerate the rollout of smart metering systems by providing a roadmap with binding targets until 2028. Consumers with an electricity demand of more than 6,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year and operators of renewable energy systems with an installed capacity of more than seven kilowatts (kW) will be obliged to install them from 2025.
“Gridspertise has more than 20 years of knowledge and practical experience in developing smart metering solutions in various regions. Our recent milestone of 100 million smart meters delivered with Gridspertise technology is a testament to our solid background and experience. Together with our partner Cuculus, which specializes in meter data management, we are now bringing our expertise to Germany,” says Robert DendaCEO of Gridspertise. “By offering end-to-end metering solutions, our joint venture neugemacht can really accelerate the implementation of the German smart meter rollout and enable the active participation of customers in the energy transition.”
“This is the ideal partnership and the right setup to enter the German market at the right time and at the required scale. We have always been here, but until now the market has not needed our expertise for very large, scalable and flexible systems. Cuculus is returning home with its new partner Gridspertise. In addition to municipalities, we are also targeting customers in the real estate industry and helping them to make a successful transition into the new areas that these industries are facing. Through a broad partner ecosystem, neugemacht offers fast rollouts for our complete Metering-as-a-Service (MaaS) offering,” says René BöringerCEO of Cuculus: “The answer lies in a complete end-to-end offering of a flexible and future-oriented supply and management system that is ready to push the boundaries of the industry. This is what neugemacht stands for”.
The contracts to found the new company were signed during a ceremony in Frankfurt, where neugemacht will be based.
About neugemacht
neugemacht is the new joint venture between Gridspertise S.r.l., a global player that supports distribution system operators worldwide in accelerating the digital transformation of electricity grids, and Cuculus GmbH, a leading German software company specializing in critical infrastructure in the utility environment worldwide. The company offers a comprehensive digital platform for metering point operation that meets the requirements of both the basic metering point operator and the competitive metering point operator in the German market. For more information, visit www.neugemacht.com.
About Gridspertise
Gridspertise offers smart grid devices, end-to-end and cloud-to-edge platform solutions and services to accelerate the digital transformation of electricity distribution grids in three main areas: Digitization of meters and grid edges, digitization of grid infrastructure and digitization of field operations. The company’s portfolio is designed as an open ecosystem that can be easily integrated into the existing infrastructure of distribution grid operators. It combines smart and automated grid devices with ready-to-use modular applications that run both at the central level and at the grid edge. The company was founded in 2021 as a spin-off from Enel, bringing with it twenty years of experience in developing, testing and scaling digital technologies to transform existing distribution networks into smart infrastructure networks. Gridspertise is now jointly controlled by the Enel Group and one of the world’s leading alternative investment managers, CVC Capital Partners. Gridspertise offers opportunities in one of the most advanced grid scenarios. The company has a significant intellectual property portfolio with over 350 patents and combines its grid digitization expertise with innovative solutions from leading technology partners to meet the evolving digitization needs of the energy market. The company recently reached the milestone of 100 million smart meters with Gridspertise technology delivered worldwide, meeting the needs of various energy markets and regulations. Gridspertise is headquartered in Italy and has offices in Spain, Brazil, India and the United States. Current target markets include Europe, Latin America and North America, which will expand towards Asia-Pacific and Africa, where investments in power grids will drive infrastructure modernization in the near future. In addition, the recent acquisition of Aidon, a leading smart metering company in the Nordics, expands Gridspertise’s capabilities in one of the most advanced grid scenarios. For more information, visit www.gridspertise.com or contact Gridspertise Institutional Communication at pressoffice@gridspertise.com
About Cuculus
Cuculus GmbH is a privately held German company that offers its “ZONOS” IoT platform specifically for critical infrastructure, such as Advanced Meter Management (AMM), Meter Data Management (MDM) and smart payment systems, for a range of smart metering tasks in the utilities industry worldwide. The ZONOS platform is currently used by more than 20 smart metering infrastructure customers on 4 continents. 17 sales and project partners worldwide are supported by 3 offices in Germany as well as offices in Johannesburg, South Africa, Bangalore in India and Dubai, UAE. Cuculus’ products and services are characterized by the combination of a state-of-the-art technology solution with in-depth market and industry knowledge. With its ZONOS IoT platform, Cuculus delivers open and scalable solutions to support utilities’ business processes by consolidating various metering platforms and their associated communication networks. Through the ZONOS platform, Cuculus helps around 15 million households worldwide to get closer to our vision: “Affordable energy and water for all”. For more information, please visit www.cuculus.com or send an e-mail to office@cuculus.com
