By Rod Walton, EnergyTech Senior Editor
Historic home generator firm Kohler Co. is making a bigger move into next-generation clean energy resources and microgrids with its acquisition of a startup Massachusetts distributed energy platform developer.
Wisconsin-based Kohler is buying Heila Technologies and folding it into the Power Group which includes engines, power generation and clean energy resources. Kohler has been manufacturing diesel and gas generators for the past 100 years to both industrial and residential customers.
Heila Technologies was founded six years ago in Somerville, Mass. It was created out of work originally done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The startup’s focus is on distributed energy control platforms and microgrids. Its platforms can integrate solar, energy storage and fuel cells.
Among its customers include Costa Rican supermarket chain Auto Mercado, which is using Heila’s control and optimization platform with newly installed solar and energy storage at the Auto Deli production plant in Heredia.
Heila Technologies also was contracted to deploy its platforms for the energy storage system at Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School in Washington, D.C.
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Microgrids are increasingly in demand for providing energy resiliency at mission critical facilities such as military bases, education campuses, commercial and industrial sites and health care research and hospitals. They can operate within the grid, both taking in and sending power out, but also island from the main grid in the event of an emergency such as weather.
These microgrids can feature rooftop or ground-mounted solar, battery storage and traditional generator sets, all integrated with new-generation control technologies. Some market forecasts predict the global microgrid sector will grow by double-digit percentage points over the next five years and reach as much as $20 billion in annual revenues, according to reports.
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(Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can reached at [email protected]).
