Neara

Power outages due to bad weather are rising in the U.S. as the effects of climate change intensify. Neara works with electricity utilities to help them mitigate risks, such as floods and wildfires, and keep the lights on. The Australian startup’s 3D digital twin and AI-backed analytics platform allows utilities to simulate, say, how specific vegetation might threaten power lines in 65 m.p.h. winds or which power lines can be safely reactivated first as floodwaters recede. Neara said it has enabled Southern California Edison, which uses the platform across its 50,000-sq.-mi. service area, to complete vegetation work 50% faster because it can generate clearance guidance for trim crews in less than two weeks, instead of three to four months, while prioritizing highest-risk areas. Other customers include Australia’s SA Power Networks and Ireland’s ESB Networks. Electricity infrastructure “faces gargantuan challenges as we ask the grid to do more in the next 10 years than in the last 50,” says Jack Curtis, Neara’s chief commercial and operations officer. Healthy, high-functioning infrastructure, he adds, “demands the…fast decisionmaking we’re empowering for utilities.”