Utility Innovation Report: 64% of utility leaders have expanded their innovation budgets - and nearly all see AI as a strategic focus

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National Grid Partners unveils results – and investment in Aina Climate AI Ventures – at 2025 NextGrid Alliance Summit

BOSTON, Oct. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- National Grid Partners, the corporate venture capital and innovation arm of one of the world's largest investor-owned energy companies, today unveiled research that found nearly two-thirds of utility leaders have seen increased innovation budgets in the past year – and nearly all (96%) view artificial intelligence as a strategic focus.

But the survey also found that two-thirds (66%) of respondents call the talent gap the top obstacle holding back AI deployments.

The findings were announced at the 2025 NextGrid Alliance Summit, where innovation leaders from 150 worldwide utilities met with startup founders and senior technology executives to share strategies for modernizing operations, managing costs, and improving service for customers.

National Grid Partners also announced an investment in Aina Climate AI Ventures, an early-stage fund and startup studio leveraging AI to accelerate climate and energy solutions. This marks National Grid Partners' 55^th investment since its 2018 launch as the utility industry's first Silicon Valley corporate venture capital arm. The news, along with its recent backing of Emerald AI, carries forward National Grid Partners' $100M commitment to invest in AI startups advancing the energy sector.

"Soaring demand for datacenters and EVs, as well as rising renewables deployments, have brought unprecedented volatility and pressure to the utility industry," said Steve Smith, President of National Grid Partners and Chief Strategy and Regulation Officer at National Grid. "Our findings are clear: Utilities have gotten the message and are putting their budgets to work to rapidly embrace innovation, deploy AI and build a more dynamic grid."

Additional highlights from the report include:

• Innovation everywhere: 69% of respondents say innovation now is embedded across all business units. That's a notable shift from 2024, when 66% said innovation at their companies was structured as a centralized corporate function.
  
  
• Embracing startups: 42% of utility leaders reported working with startups to spark innovation; last year, just 26% of those surveyed said they identified fresh ways of thinking from startups.
  
  
• Expanding deployments: Utility leaders reported a 33% increase from last year's survey in the percentage of innovation projects that move from the drawing board to implementation (32% v. 24%).
  
  
• AI obstacles: After the talent gap, data privacy (65%), high implementation costs (64%) and integration with existing systems (39%) were cited as the top blockers to AI deployments.

Speakers at this year's NGA Summit included senior leaders from utility giants Duke Energy, Exelon, the New York Power Authority, NextEra, Oncor and Southern California Edison, as well as top executives and thought leaders from Google, Microsoft, Harvard University, MIT and many more.

Amit Narayan, founder of Aina Climate AI Ventures, took part in the panel "Grid Meets Gigawatts," which explored how utilities and datacenter operators can ensure sufficient power for the artificial intelligence boom without burdening other utility customers. The first startup from Narayan's venture studio, GridCARE, helps utility companies identify underutilized sections of their networks where datacenters can be built more quickly than in areas with high energy demand. GridCARE this week announced its first project with Portland General Electric, an NGA member, to accelerate time-to-power for datacenters in Hillsboro, Oregon.

"Amit has a proven track record of building companies that make electric grids smarter and more dynamic," said Smith. "With GridCARE, he's already addressing a top utility priority by bringing datacenters online faster to speed the AI revolution while balancing the grid."

Narayan was previously CEO and founder of Autogrid, a National Grid Partners portfolio company that develops virtual power plants and was acquired by Schneider Electric in 2022.

"National Grid Partners is an industry catalyst in driving innovation and scaling startups from 'pilot hell' to the control room," he said. "They've been instrumental in brokering introductions to other utilities through the NextGrid Alliance. Their partnership was essential to my previous exit, and teaming up again to advance AI was an easy decision."

Research for the 2025 Utility Innovators Survey was conducted from June 5 to July 30, 2025, through an online survey prepared by Method Research and distributed by RepData and National Grid Partners. It included 166 leaders involved in innovation at global utility companies. Download the complete survey findings here.

About National Grid Partners
National Grid Partners is the venture investment and innovation arm of National Grid plc., one of the world's largest investor-owned energy companies. By providing corporate venture capital, business development counsel and direct integration with National Grid's innovation teams, National Grid Partners is accelerating the future of energy to benefit utility customers and their communities. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, National Grid Partners has offices in Boston, London, and New York. Visit ngpartners.com or follow us on X and LinkedIn.

About the NextGrid Alliance
The NextGrid Alliance brings the world's energy providers together to ensure utility investment and innovation initiatives make an industry-wide impact. National Grid Partners launched the alliance to convene innovation, strategy, business development and operational executives from power utilities around the globe. Learn more at ngalliance.energy.

SOURCE National Grid Partners