EPS Snags $30M for Energy Management

Did we mention that energy management tools are suddenly sexy in the downturn? The worse the market gets, the hotter technologies that can save energy look. So in the midst of hard times for cleantech sectors, EPS Corp., an 8-year-old startup making an energy efficiency tool for manufacturers, has just raised $30 million in a Series B investment round led by private equity and venture firm Altira Group. NGEN Partners and Robeco, which invested $20 million in EPS in 2007, also joined.

EPS developed a tool last year called xChange Point, and part of this latest round of investment will be used to expand that product’s customer base, according to EPS spokesperson Jessica Appelgren. The basic idea is to cut companies’ energy costs (and later, costs associated with carbon emissions) without the upfront capital costs of most energy-efficiency projects by offering xChange Point as a service — making it pitch-perfect for an economic downturn. It involves a web-based interface and hardware (which EPS owns) that attaches to manufacturing systems and machinery for real-time monitoring of energy use. It can also be used to organize and store energy data on EPS servers, and to control systems — adjusting temperatures or powering process elements on and off, for example.

As a next-step beyond this data collection and analysis, EPS can then come in and provide the physical upgrades to make a facility more energy efficient based on recommendations from the xChange Point tool. Appelgren said EPS will also use this latest investment to buy up energy efficiency providers that allow it to extend its geographical reach for these installations. The company is not disclosing where it plans to expand, although Appelgren said it already has nationwide reach.

Last November, EPS President and CEO Jay Zoellner told us the company was looking into using the xChange Point system to monetize carbon credits from efficiency projects by helping customers “verify and certify” their energy use and emissions. With Congress toiling away at a cap and trade program, now would be a good time to ramp up that monetization — fast. Being sexy in a downturn might be good for EPS, but seizing market share in the coming boom for emissions management would be even better.

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