Massachusetts start-up LineVision, a provider of non-contact overhead power line sensors to monitor, optimise and protect critical energy delivery infrastructure, has closed its series B financing round, raising $12.5m.

The round was led by UP Partners, a Los Angeles-based electrification and mobility fund. Other new investors include National Grid Partners and Zoma Capital, a Colorado-based family office specialising in grid modernisation technologies. These joined existing backers including Clean Energy Ventures, which is again investing.

“We are thrilled to welcome this elite group of investors and partners on LineVision’s next phase of growth,” said Hudson Gilmer, LineVision CEO. “With this investment, we will continue to build the team and platform which are helping our utility clients around the world increase the capacity, flexibility and resilience of their grids.”

Adam Grosser, chairperson of UP Partners, added: “LineVision is harnessing advanced sensors and analytics to solve one of the most critical obstacles to the energy transition. There is simply no way we will achieve the urgent goals of electrification and decarbonisation without widespread deployment of technologies like LineVision to unlock more capacity and flexibility from the existing grid.”

National Grid is using LineVision’s V3 platform to assess conductor asset health, obtain greater situational awareness, and increase transmission line capacity with dynamic line ratings. The utility first deployed LineVision’s technology in 2018 on transmission lines in Massachusetts, and in 2020 installed LineVision’s asset health monitors on lines in New York.

“National Grid has long been dedicated to deploying technologies that enable us to optimise the performance and reliability of our network,” said Rudy Wynter, president of National Grid in New York. “Technologies like LineVision’s V3 systems help us better understand the condition of our assets while enabling us to meet the goals of our Net Zero by 2050 plan. We see investment in grid-enhancing technologies like LineVision as strategically important to our efforts to modernise the grid and integrate more renewables.”

The V3 sensors collect real-time data on critical parameters of overhead power lines including line temperature, sag, horizontal motion and anomalies. Studies have shown congestion on transmission lines costs US consumers more than $8bn annually. A recent study by the Brattle Group showed that dynamic line ratings enabled by LineVision would help double integration of renewables on the existing grid.

In just over two years since its founding, LineVision has secured deals with National Grid, Dominion Energy, Xcel Energy, Tennessee Valley Authority, and several other North American utilities yet to be announced. The company also works with multiple European utilities through the Farcross Project, which aims to improve cross-border interconnections by using dynamic line ratings.