CleanSpark Inc (NASDAQ:CLSK), a software and services company, announced Tuesday that it is throwing its hat into the electric vehicle charging station space following its recent acquisition of GridFabric LLC.
GridFabric is an OpenADR (automatic demand response) communications compliance and certification company, and CleanSpark is planning to utilize that technology to provide software for EV charging stations to assist with electrical load managementment.
EV fast-charging will create an additional burden on the existing, aging power grid, CleanSpark said, and public utilities will likely need to upgrade their existing infrastructure and rely more on demand management programs in order to handle the additional load.
READ: CleanSpark cheers new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order to help the microgrid compete and work with traditional power utilities
That’s where GridFabric comes in. The company’s OpenADR protocol allows EV charging companies and their customers to communicate directly with the utilities for demand response programs, the company said, which gives utilities additional information to better manage power distribution to the grid.
Specifically, GridFabric offers a method of rapidly implementing OpenADR and providing the corresponding certification. CleanSpark’s new subsidiary has provided its OpenADR software to two EV charging companies since its acquisition in August and has additional proposals pending with a number of EV charging companies, the company said.
EV charging locations that plan to participate in these programs will be required, in certain jurisdictions, to utilize certified communications protocols, CleanSpark noted, which GridFabric can ensure.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel