Meet muGrid Analytics
At muGrid Analytics, we solve wicked problems at the intersection of energy technology and economics using math and modeling.
MuGrid provides bankable techno-economic analysis, optimized control, and project development of renewable energy, energy storage, and microgrids to maximize economic return, increase energy resilience, and promote energy equity in the US and around the world.
We are data nerds with heart and soul. Let us analyze your potential or existing projects to help you make sound data driven decisions, guide you through the technology implementation process, and get the most out of your renewable energy investments using our cutting edge AI-based operational platform, Redcloud RealTime.
We bring value throughout the life cycle of an energy project, from planning, design, and project financing to operational strategy and performance monitoring. Our clients include project developers, owner/operators, EPCs, and technology manufacturers looking to better understand the techno-economics of their systems and how best to design, configure, deploy, and operate them.
mu is for “micro”
So how exactly do you pronounce our name? The “mu” in muGrid comes from the greek letter, μ, which is written in Latin characters mu, and pronounced “myoo.” In math, science, and engineering, μ is the standard symbol for the prefix “micro-,” as in micrometers or micromoles.
It’s in the logo.
Microgrids are our area of expertise here at muGrid, so being the nerds we are, we made the logical substitution — mu is for “micro.”
Feel free to expand this scope by referring to the guts of your computer as a muProcessor and giving your kid a muScope for their birthday. We think that would be cool.
muGrid is an SBA certified woman-owned small business
Our Core Values
We have a lot of awesome technical capabilities that maximize energy resilience, economics, and renewable energy design. We pride ourselves on operating in alignment with the core values that mean the most to us as humans and get the best results for our clients.
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Integrity
In a world where everybody is trying to sell you something, we aren’t interested in getting you anything but the truth. We want you to make decisions that are going to be best for you and to get you the results you need and desire. And that’s the truth.
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Curiosity
We are always open to exploring, always open to trying something new, always looking for ways to serve our clients better. Sometimes that means trying out new technology. Sometimes it looks like building custom models for individual clients. But it’s always about digging deep into our clients’ true needs, even if they aren’t able to articulate them clearly at first.
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Agility
We work with low overhead and like to move fast. We’re ready when you are to create momentum for your project.
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Collaboration
We work in 360° collaboration. That is, we treat clients, partners, and subcontractors as teammates and not commodities. We are all in this together, and the more brain power we combine, the better the solution will be.
A lot of genius in this crew.
Meet the Team
The muGrid team is a one-two punch of broad industry experience and huge brain power. We combine our deep domain expertise in energy system operation, energy markets, and financial engineering with cutting-edge stochastic modeling and relentless curiosity to help project developers, investors, utilities, and equipment manufacturers reduce risk and maximize the economic return of their assets.
We’re recognized experts in the economics, resilience, and sustainability of renewable energy microgrids. We will help you get the right system in place and show you the economic return and expected resilience performance. Once it’s built, we’ll monitor and operate the system so you know you’re getting the best performance.
We are the quants of the renewable energy world. Let us put math, big data, and the coolest analysis on the planet to work for you.
Amy Simpkins, CEO &
Chief System Architect
Amy Simpkins has over 15 years of experience in technical engineering and project management of complex systems and software. She is Chief Executive Officer at muGrid Analytics.
Prior to joining muGrid, Amy was an engineer and spacecraft systems architect with Lockheed Martin, where she worked on advanced R&D and design integration for earth observing and manned spacecraft. In this capacity, she assessed architectural choices based on design performance, operational power constraints, and program finance. Amy also spent several years in flight operations for unmanned scientific exploration spacecraft, where she helped monitor and manage the solar array performance, energy storage systems, and power budgets of long duration deep space missions. Her technical expertise includes system and software architecture, system-level performance modeling, and design tradespace analysis.
Amy is also the host of the Power Flow Podcast, an industry-focused interview show amplifying the expertise of diverse professionals in the clean energy revolution.
Amy has coached and consulted on product innovation, business strategy, marketing, and sales for startups and small businesses in the renewable energy, healthcare, and SaaS sales spaces. She is an internationally recognized speaker on innovation and integration for entrepreneurs and is author of the book, Spiral: A Catalyst for Innovation and Expansion (Amazon). She holds an MS in Astronautical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an SB in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Travis Simpkins, PhD, Founder and CTO
Travis has over 20 years of experience in the design, modeling, and simulation of complex systems. He is the Chief Technology Officer at muGrid Analytics.
Though he was formally trained as an integrated circuit designer, he has spent most of the past decade helping to solve the world’s energy challenges. He joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 2010 and proceeded to reinvent their approach to modeling renewable energy systems. Eschewing emotion for data, he pioneered a purely quantitative approach to analyzing and optimizing the costs and benefits of solar, wind, biomass, waste-to-energy, and other renewable technologies. His innovative research in this field led to him creating the REopt tool.
Travis holds a SM and PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a certificate of Financial Engineering from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a BS in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Case Western Reserve University. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and has published numerous papers in the fields of energy system optimization, applied optics, and integrated circuits.
Ben Ruedlinger, PhD — Strategic Advisor
Over the last 20 years, Ben has led software-based businesses and teams in a variety of different areas. Currently, he is the Chief of Business Operations at Wistia, a software as a service company which provides video hosting and creation services to tens of thousands of small and medium businesses. Ben was the first employee after the founders and has been involved in the scaling of the technology platform, the development of industry leading video capabilities, and the scaling of the organization to almost 100 employees.
Prior to Wistia, Ben was Director of Tracking and Fusion Technologies at BAE Advanced Information Technologies. There, he led a team of 20+ engineers engaging on a variety of projects for agencies such as DARPA, NAVAIR, ONR, and AFRL. The programs were focused on the application of optimization and estimation theory to multi-modal sensor data to provide advanced situational awareness on a variety of military platforms. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with both an MS in Computer Engineering and a BS in Physics from Case Western Reserve University.
