Leeds firm lands £2.5m investment for technology to boost power line efficiency

In addition to this, up to a 10 per cent reduction in power losses can be achieved, abating the need for further carbon-emitting power generation.

Dr Niall Coogan, founder and managing director of AssetCool, said: “With grid infrastructure becoming a frequent bottleneck as growing populations demand greater levels of electricity, we believe that our photonic coating and related in-situ application technology can offer a discontinuous reduction in costs for adding capacity to overhead lines, helping to facilitate electrification around the world.

“This investment will allow us to further accelerate our commercial rollout and develop effective techniques to fit it to existing networks.”

The largest capital commitment as part of this funding round has been made by Northern Gritstone, an investment business focused on university spin-outs and technology-enabled businesses in the North of England. Northern Gritstone joins existing shareholders Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, managed by Mercia Asset Management, and Kero Development Partners.

The funding will allow the company to advance with the commercial rollout of its coating, as well as to further develop techniques to retrofit the existing grid network with AssetCool’s technology.

Duncan Johnson, Northern Gritstone chief executive officer, commented: “As the modern world becomes increasingly reliant on the energy grid to provide electricity for sustainable modes of transport such as electric vehicles, the bottleneck in transmission networks is becoming ever more prevalent.

“AssetCool’s technology provides a solution to increasing the capacity and efficiency of these networks that has the potential to transform the energy transmission process across the globe.

“With links in both the Universities of Manchester and Leeds, AssetCool is a living example of the breadth of the technology ecosystem that is based in the North of England.

“We look forward to working with Niall and his team as they continue to develop their technology and roll it out across the energy grid.”

AssetCool was co-founded by Dr Coogan at the University of Manchester in 2016 whilst on the EPSRC Power Networks Centre for Doctoral Training.

The firm relocated to Nexus at the University of Leeds campus in 2019.

In addition to coating new overhead conductors, the company has also developed techniques to retrofit existing electricity networks, including through the use of aerial coating robots.