Israeli tech company behind Iron Dome system to help New Zealand sync electricity grid

Israeli tech company behind Iron Dome system to help sync New Zealand electricity grid.

MAY 7, 2017 15:45

Updated: MAY 11, 2017 16:44

The current New Zealand flag flies on Parliament buildings in Wellington's Central Cusiness District on March 24, 2016. (photo credit: AFP PHOTO) — The current New Zealand flag flies on Parliament buildings in Wellington's Central Cusiness District on March 24, 2016.

(photo credit: AFP PHOTO)

The Israeli software company behind the Iron Dome command and control system will soon be synchronizing the energy resources of more than 1.2 million New Zealand homes and businesses.

The Petah Tikva-based mPrest – a provider of mission-critical monitoring, control and analytics software for utilities – last week announced a new partnership with Vector Limited, the island nation’s leading multi-network infrastructure company.

The company will deploy its Distributed Energy Resource Management product, or mDERMS, on Vector’s intelligent grid, enabling it to improve operational efficiencies and offer new services to customers, such as home energy optimization, clean energy choices, grid contribution and energy trading, according to the partners.

“It is the most comprehensive monitoring, analytical and control system available anywhere in the world,” Vector CEO Simon Mackenzie said.

“You can think of it as a system of systems,” he said. “The software sits over customer, market and network systems managing performance in real time. Through self-learning, it is able to assess and predict multiple factors including loads, market dynamics, storage, customer demand and capacity.

This greatly enhances the resilience, security and efficiency of customer solutions and our network.”

After conducting a joint pilot program, Vector is now moving toward a full implementation of mPrest’s technologies, Mackenzie added.

The Israeli company’s mDERMS technology will unify Vector’s various energy resources, including its photovoltaic systems and storage, onto a single distributed command and control platform. It will also be integrating Vector’s internal operations platforms, such as geographic information system, distribution automation and asset health management onto a single information and operational technology system.

Doing so will enable increased efficiency and reduce cost and risk for Vector, with more choices and lower electricity bills for customers, the company said.

“This project represents a new level of software control for the power utility sector,” mPrest chief commercial officer Ron Halpern said. “MPrest will bring all of Vector’s distributed energy resources together, yielding a single situational overview while providing maximal utilization of these distributed resources.”

Although best known for furnishing the control software for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, mPrest also made headlines in January 2016, when it raised $20 million in a series A fund-raising round led by OurCrowd and GE Ventures.

In January, the company also completed an information grid project with the Israel Electric Corporation, enabling the company to optimize and further secure the management and control of its systems.

In March, mPrest also began supplying critical infrastructure support to New York’s largest public power organization. The company deployed its Asset Health Management application, developed jointly with the New York Power Authority, to monitor the operational health of the transformers in real time and maximize the efficiency of the latter’s Niagara Power Plant – one of the largest renewable-energy sources in the United States.