Spirae Inc.

• Author: Peterson, Eric

INITIAL LIGHT BULB

After leaving Sixth Dimension Inc., a provider of Web services to energy utilities, in mid-2002, Sunil Cherian saw a void in the market and wasted no time founding Spirae to fill it.

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"There are lots of new technologies being developed in renewables and the distributed-power areas, but when it comes to actually putting that together as a comprehensive solution, there's a big gap in the market," said Cherian, the company's CEO. "There aren't very many people who can take these new technologies and do the right things with it. That's a key problem in the market, as well as an opportunity."

IN A NUTSHELL

Focusing on next-generation energy technologies, the 12-employee Spirae offers a wide range of engineering and design services to both grid operators and energy consumers.

The company's largest project is developing new tools for Denmark's natural gas and electrical system operator, Energinet.dk, one of the most progressive utilities on the planet.

"Denmark has the highest penetration of renewables anywhere in the world, about 20 percent of the energy," Cherian said. "They have a very significant amount of wind power on their system, and a significant number of efficient CHP (combined heat and power) plants. We are essentially helping them develop their next generation of controls for grid management."

Of its consumer clients, Spirae helped the Park City Mall in Lancaster, Pa., develop an Energy and Information Management System. "They have a lot of energy needs," Cherian said. "They have different types of energy resources they'd like to manage, so we jointly developed a comprehensive solution."

The company also has partnered with Colorado State University to develop the InteGrid Test and Development Laboratory, which is jointly owned and operated by Spirae and the school's Engine and Energy Conversion Laboratory.

"Basically, it allows us to develop a physical simulation of a portion of the power grid," Cherian said. "We can take a portion of the grid in, say, Denmark or Colorado, scale it down, and mimic what's going on in the real world.

"It's a very unique facility. There are one...