One of the nicest comments people have made about the electrical grid was … nothing. The grid works best when it fades into the background.
That low-profile status has changed in recent years as fires in California and freezes in Texas raised awareness of the electrical grid. But it was in 2025, when the electrical grid — and concerns about demand, supply, pricing, and the strain on natural resources — moved into the spotlight. And a new batch of startups have emerged with a software-as-a-solution pitch.
Electricity rates are up 13% in this U.S. this year driven by an AI boom that has seeped into unlikely places, including repurposing supersonic jet engines for data center duty and working on beaming solar power down from space.
And that pace of growth isn’t expected to slow; the amount of electricity data centers use is projected to nearly triple in the coming decade. That forecast has fueled consumer frustration around pricing and drawn the ire of environmental groups that have called for a nationwide moratorium on new projects. Utilities, which have toiled away in the background, are now scrambling to upgrade the grid and build new power plants that can cope with the load — the fear of an AI bubble bursting always lingering in the background.
This confluence of demand and fear could give software startups a boost in the coming year.
For example, startups like Gridcare and Yottar argue that spare capacity already exists on the grid and that software can help find it.
Gridcare has gathered data on transmission and distribution lines, fiber-optic connections, extreme weather, and even community sentiment to optimize the search for new locations and convince utilities the grid can handle it. Already, the company says it has found several such sites that have been overlooked. Yottar finds places where known capacity exists and overlaps with the needs of medium-size users, helping them quickly connect amid the data center boom.
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Several other startups are using software to stitch together massive fleets of batteries scattered across the grid. Those startups can turns these fleets into virtual power plants to deliver power to the grid when it’s needed most.
Base Power, for exampl …