Battelle, Gridquant Collaboration Will Enhance Reliability and Security of the Electric Grid

COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwire - Feb 16, 2012) - Battelle has signed an exclusive licensing and collaboration agreement with the specialty grid management company Gridquant, bringing breakthrough modeling and analysis technologies to the electricity transmission market.

The agreement makes Battelle the exclusive provider of consulting services in the United States and Canada and enables Battelle to help grid operators accurately visualize and manage the state of the grid, which is one of the most pressing challenges in electricity transmission management.

Gridquant's patented Holomorphic Embedding Load-Flow Method (HELM) algorithms are at the core of these new technologies. Gridquant physicist Antonio Trias Bonet invented the algorithms and proved them internationally for a decade. They are unlike existing approaches that require some prior knowledge of the condition of the grid in order to ascertain load flow and state estimation, yielding uncertain and unreliable results. The advanced grid management tools based on HELM allow grid operators to accurately monitor and control the power grid under all operating conditions.

Ram Sastry, a director in Battelle's Grid Systems Group, said maintaining the grid is like navigating a ship -- until today, grid managers were using a sextant and the stars to make decisions. With HELM, they'll have a GPS.

"We are eager to bring this transformational technology to the grid marketplace," said Marty Toomajian, President of Battelle's Energy, Environment, and Material Sciences Global Business. "By giving grid operators a new tool, Gridquant's technologies have the potential to reshape grid operations."

Ross Harding, President and CEO of Gridquant, said, "Battelle is a unique organization and a powerful partner. Its focus on technically correct solutions and science based culture is a perfect complement to our core skills."

About Battelle
As the world's largest independent research and development organization, Battelle provides innovative solutions to the world's most pressing needs through its four global businesses: Laboratory Management; National Security; Health and Life Sciences; and Energy, Environment and Material Sciences. It advances scientific discovery and application by conducting $6.5 billion in global R&D annually through contract research, laboratory management and technology commercialization. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle oversees 22,000 employees in more than 130 locations worldwide, including seven national laboratories which Battelle manages or co-manages for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom.

Battelle also is one of the nation's leading charitable trusts focusing on societal and economic impact and actively supporting and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

About Gridquant

Gridquant Inc. develops and deploys tools to help manage our increasingly complex electrical grids. As complexity grows, so does system and operator stress. The current, iterative based methods for managing the grid are not up to the challenge. Utilizing the patented Holomorphic Embedded Load-flow Method (HELM), Gridquant has developed breakthrough capabilities for operating the transmission grid, even in the most stressed states.