By Business & Finance 
Doireann Barry, Smart Grid programme manager for EirGrid; Connor O’Reilly, MD. EcoWatch; Sean Gallagher, Dragon’s Den Dragon.
The Smart Grid Innovation Hub has announced that EcoWatch has been named ‘Ireland’s Most Promising Startup’ for a Smart Grid solution or service.
Limerick-based EcoWatch scooped the top prize of up to €10,000 in funding for its work to develop Smart Distribution Network Monitoring Solutions.
Managing director Connor O’Reilly fought off tough competition from three other shortlisted companies to claim victory in a pitching contest at the 2014 Energy Show at Dublin’s RDS this afternoon. Among the panel of industry experts judging the competition were John Geoghegan from the National Digital Research Centre, Michael Walsh from EirGrid, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s Declan Meally, Sean Gallagher from Dragon’s Den and editor of SiliconRepublic.ie, John Kennedy.
The Smart Grid Innovation Hub is a collaborative initiative by EirGrid Group and NDRC to promote the development of innovative Smart Grid solutions, with a focus on entrepreneurial initiatives by companies, academics and entrepreneurs in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
A Smart Grid is an electricity network which facilitates the large-scale integration of renewable energy, utilises the electricity infrastructure efficiently through the optimal use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and seamlessly integrates the actions of all users connected to the network in order to deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies.
Ireland and Northern Ireland have a significant opportunity in Smart Grids due to the levels of wind-generated electricity on the power system, which can be up to 50% at any one time. This enables us to effectively become a live laboratory of Smart Grid evolution, as our system must be managed in a unique way.
