GridPoint, a commercial energy intelligence platform deployed across more than 20,000 buildings, announced plans to expand its platform with on-site battery storage, targeting 2 gigawatts (GW) of distributed storage capacity across its existing footprint. Co-founder Adrian De Luca has returned as chief executive officer to lead this next phase.
The move comes as U.S. electricity demand is on track to set records in 2026 and 2027, driven in large part by growth in AI data centers and manufacturing. That pressure is evident in rapidly rising operating costs for businesses managing thousands of restaurants, pharmacies, retail locations, and other facilities.
Commercial electricity rates rose 42% across GridPoint sites over the past five years.
“America’s power challenge is about getting more value from the energy infrastructure and buildings we already have, alongside building new generation,” said Adrian De Luca, co-founder and CEO of GridPoint. “GridPoint technology is deployed across more than 20,000 commercial locations. Adding storage gives those businesses the ability to reduce peak demand, store lower-cost energy for use when electricity is more expensive and participate in utility and capacity programs that can create new revenue streams. That combination is where we see a very significant opportunity.”
While battery investment has accelerated across utility-scale, large industrial and data-center applications, commercial buildings remain largely untapped.
GridPoint’s energy intelligence platform manages HVAC, refrigeration, lighting and other controllable loads for multi-site operators, including Walgreens, Panda Express and Wendy’s. Battery storage builds on that infrastructure to add two new sources of value: lowering energy costs by reducing peak demand charges by shifting when a facility draws power from a grid, and earning payments through utility and capacity programs.
Together, these benefits can cut bills by up to an additional 15% at qualifying sites, on top of the 20% GridPoint customers typically save today. As the grid becomes more strained, batteries can also provide resilience: in the past year alone, GridPoint customer sites in 26 states experienced 1,699 weather-driven outages, the company said.
De Luca co-founded GridPoint in 2003 alongside Chairman Peter Corsell and returns to the company from I Squared Capital, a global infrastructure firm managing $60 billion in assets, where he invested in and scaled energy and grid technology businesses.
“Adrian has spent his entire career at the intersection of energy, technology and infrastructure, starting with GridPoint,” Corsell said. “Given the recent dramatic transformation we have witnessed across the U.S. energy system, the paramount opportunity for GridPoint today is to leverage our industry-leading technology platform and upgrade our large installed customer base with battery energy storage systems. There is no one better positioned than Adrian to lead this next stage of GridPoint’s growth.”
