This Norwegian AI scaleup wants to modernise grid maintenance – and now plots global expansion

Europe’s energy grids are facing a crisis. The mass blackouts across Spain and Portugal earlier this year revealed just how fragile the networks are. Around 40% of Europe’s grids are nearly half a decade old, and it’s estimated a trillion euros will be needed to upgrade and replace grids to meet soaring electricity demand.

At the European Parliament’s June plenary session, MEPs voted overwhelmingly to press the Commission to come up with an EU-wide action plan.

"The Commission must act decisively to prioritise planning and coordination on grids and storage – or we will keep lurching from one crisis to the next," said Austrian MEP Anna Sturgkh at the time.

Bringing physical infrastructure into the digital age

As Europe races to modernise its ageing power grids, the task of monitoring millions of kilometres of lines and equipment has become one of the continent’s most urgent infrastructure challenges.

Historically that monitoring was done by technicians doing manual inspections around the continent. "Think about people walking the power lines, climbing poles at the very highest-voltage levels of the grid," says eSmart Systems CEO Henrik Bache.

"Sitting with binoculars, trying to detect defects - that has worked relatively well for the past 100 years," he says. "But the world is changing and that methodology is not going to cut it going forward."

Based in Halden, Norway, eSmart Systems bills itself as a "leading provider of AI-powered solutions for the inspection and maintenance of critical infrastructure." The company takes images and other material mapping Europe’s grids, ingests that data and, using their proprietary AI-based software, builds a digital twin of the network to identify faults and weaknesses.

Sitting in his office, Bache tells Impact Loop various factors have led to this point. First is the age of the grid, which in many parts is approaching the end of its expected lifespan. The next emergent challenge, says Bache, is increasing electrification, adding more strain. And then, of course, you have the impact of the adverse weather events associated with climate change.

Designing the green grids of the future

Estimates suggest Europe’s power grid will need to triple in size over the coming decades to meet soaring electricity demand. As that demand grows, so does the pressure to build a system capable of integrating flexible, reliable renewable energy.

Most crucial right now, says Bache, is "getting control of the infrastructure already in place, to make sure you manage and operate what you have installed today and are able to deploy additional capital in the most cost efficient way."

The key to that is data, and that’s where eSmart comes in. "We create that data layer for utilities to make better, more informed decisions," says Bache. This data, on the physical infrastructure as well as historical weather and other information, allows utilities to "shift from reactive operations to more proactive operations" based on where the risks are and will be in the future.

In late 2024, eSmart raised €30m in a Series C round led by French impact VC TiLT Capital Partners, with existing investors such as Arosa Capital, Equinor Ventures, Nysnø Climate Investments, and Future Energy Ventures also participating. With €63m raised in total since 2022, and around €10m in annual revenue, eSmart is pushing its solutions out across Europe and North America, and looking further afield.

Bache says competition in the sector is increasing, something he welcomes, even as eSmart aims to lead the pack. "The market we are in is quite fragmented," says Bache. "I do expect this market to consolidate over the next years. Our plan and goal is definitely to take a leading role in that."

Bache says the company’s order book is “massive,” bolstered by deals with major players Alliander and E.ON.

"We expect revenue over the next couple of years to grow more than 100% as a result."