Vellex Computing provides hardware accelerators for computations crucial to the design, control, and management of the electric grid technology that will enable the seamless planning and operation of a carbon-free grid for a sustainable and electrified world.
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Palak Jain
Palak Jain is the co-founder and CEO of Vellex Computing. As a senior research associate at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, she conducted foundational research in computing and grid technologies that led to the formation of Vellex Computing. She received her Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the National University of Singapore, where she was part of the Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore program.
TECHNOLOGY
Critical Need
Computing is critical for enabling a sustainable, reliable, and intelligent electric grid. Conventional computing technologies are poorly positioned to address the ever-evolving simulation, monitoring, and control challenges of the grid. Moreover, the rapid adoption of renewable energy resources and electric vehicle charging has introduced many new computing challenges that are poorly addressed with conventional computing platforms. There is an urgent need for fast, accurate, and energy-efficient computing tools designed for power systems applications that can meet these challenges.
Technology Vision
Vellex Computing provides hardware accelerators for computations that are crucial to the design, control, and management of the electric grid. Its first product is a hardware accelerator that dramatically shortens the time required for technical feasibility studies for interconnecting solar and renewable energy resources with the grid. This accelerator is based on a fundamentally new hardware computing technology and provides at least 10,000X faster simulations of complex transmission networks with inverter-based distributed energy resources. Its long-term vision is to develop computing tools to enable the seamless planning and operation of a carbon-free grid for a sustainable and electrified world.
Potential for Impact
Vellex Computing’s technology dramatically reduces balance-of-system costs for utilities, energy developers, and end-users. For instance, by helping energy developers accelerate their timeline through the generator interconnection process, renewable energy resources can be deployed up to 40 percent faster, with less regulatory uncertainty, and with up to 25 percent lower overall project cost. By 2050, this could result in an additional 500 terawatt hours of renewable energy utilized per year compared to current Energy Information Administration estimates, representing a reduction of CO₂e emissions by more than 500 million metric tons per year.
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