With ABB’s billion-dollar-acquisition of smart grid software maker Ventyx this week, it got us thinking about how hawt the smart grid merger and acquisition market has been. Here’s a tally of what’s (publicly) gone down over the past couple of years, and how each deal fits into a larger trend. Most of the acquisition prices were undisclosed, and we threw Cisco’s (s CSO) invesment into Grid Net in there for good measure. If we forgot any majors add ’em in the comments and we’ll update the list:
| Acquirer | Acquired | Price, Date | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABB | Ventyx | “Close to $1 billion,” March 2010 | The Swiss electrical gear company adds on smart grid software. |
| Black & Veatch | Enspiria | Undisclosed, March 2010 | The consulting and engineering company beefs up its integration capabilities. |
| Cisco | Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence | Undisclosed, January 2009 | Cisco buys up building and IT networking system. |
| Cisco (equity investment) | Grid Net | Undisclosed, Sept. 2009 | Cisco invests in smart meter maker Grid Net, which has a first product built on WiMAX. |
| Cooper Industries | Eka Systems | Undisclosed, April 2010 | Cooper fold’s Eka’s wireless network product into its automation system. |
| EnerNOC | Cogent Energy | Undisclosed, Dec. 2009 | Demand response player moves into energy efficiency business. |
| EnerNOC | SmallFoot | Undisclosed, March 2010 | The demand response player buys wireless tech for small commercial buildings. |
| EnerNOC | eQuilibrium Solutions | Undisclosed, June 2009 | EnerNOC adds on energy and carbon accounting software. |
| EnerNOC | MDEnergy | $7.9M, Sept. 2007 | EnerNOC buys energy procurement service provider. |
| EnerNOC | South River Consulting | $4.75M, May 2008 | EnerNOC adds on more energy procurement and risk management. |
| GridPoint | V2Green | Undisclosed, Sept 2008 | The smart grid company adds on electric vehicle smart charging. |
| GridPoint | Lixar SRS | Undisclosed, June 2009 | GridPoint moves into home energy management. |
| GridPoint | ADMMicro | Undisclosed, Nov 2009 | The smart grid firm tackles energy from the commercial and industrial sectors. |
| Honeywell | Akuacom | Undisclosed, May 2010 | Building automation giant buys into open source demand response, OpenADR |
| Siemens | Energy4U | 60 percent stake, Aug. 2009 | The electrical gear company adds on software for intelligent metering and billing. |
| Silver Spring Networks | Greenbox | Undisclosed, Sept. 2009 | Smart grid network player jumps into home energy management. |
| SmartSynch | Applied Mesh Technologies | Undisclosed, Nov. 2008 | The smart grid network maker buys a competitor to grow. |
| Trilliant | SkyPilot | Undisclosed, May 2009 | Smart grid network maker acquires wireless mesh network maker. |
For more research on smart grid opportunities check out GigaOM Pro (subscription required):
Smart Algorithms: The Future of the Energy Industry
New Opportunities in the Smart Grid
Report: IT Opportunities in Electric Vehicle Management
Image courtesy of woodleywonderworks’ photostream.
