Dartmouth’s Green Power Labs, which makes predictive analytics software for electrical grids and solar power plants, is launching a joint project with Calgary- and Houston-based MR Control Systems International.

Founded in 2004, Green Power’s software predicts increases and decreases in power consumption or production based on factors such as temperature. MR Control sells technology for managing power and climate control systems using industrial internet of things, or IIoT, technology.

The two companies are collaborating to build a platform that will proactively manage climate control and power consumption in industrial buildings.

“Imagine that there are many buildings that are semi-automated, or not automated,” said Green Power CEO Alexandre Pavlovski in an interview. “Imagine the age has come when many things can be done based on internet-of-things sensors.

“Everything that we have in these buildings -- thermostats, sensors, the temperature... and controls, of course -- our control system is capable of bringing a huge volume of data to be processed in real-time about the building, and then moved to human curation.”

Green Power’s core business is based around the principle that energy producers and distributors need to be able to predict how much power will be drawn from their systems, as well as how much they will need to store if they use battery banks.

“It’s even more important today for distributed energy resources like solar and storage,” said Pavlovski. “You have to know what will happen next week, next hour, next day. And that’s predictive analytics.”

The company’s employee count fluctuates depending on the size of the projects Pavlovski’s team is working on, but it is usually between 10 and 25 people. During COVID-19, his staff shrank somewhat, but Green Power just hired one new employee and is in the process of recruiting another.

MR Control Systems makes SCADA -- supervisory control and data acquisition -- software for utilities companies, the oil and gas industry and the renewable energy sector. The company was founded in 1999, and sales intelligence website ZoomInfo estimates that it now has about 23 employees and revenue of at least $4 million.

The joint project will combine Green Power’s software with MR Control’s Sinolta SCADA platform.

The two companies have carried out several pilot projects, including one at The Bays at Innovacorp -- the provincial venture capital crown corporation’s facility for startups that need laboratory space. Now, they are plotting a larger-scale pilot project by the end of the year or possibly sooner, if the planning process goes smoothly.

Pavlovski said Green Power has not raised capital recently, but a joint funding round with MR Control could be in the works, as they look to finance their collaboration.

“There are a few options on the table that are currently reflected in our MOU (memorandum of understanding),” he said. “And one of the options definitely will be about bringing this to the attention of investors. With what we showed at The Bays at Innovacorp... we will be able to speak to that opportunity.”