Sunairio has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research Phase I grant which funds high-impact technological R&D across a range of disciplines.
For Sunairio, this award will fund research into a scalable climate simulation engine that aims to generate climate insights for the energy sector at what the company says is 1,000 times the resolution of traditional, physics-based global climate models.
“The need for this research stems directly from the needs of the modern power grid, which is increasingly dependent on very localized, weather-driven assets like wind, solar and distributed generation,” says Rob Cirincione, CEO of Sunairio. “Given how variable wind and solar irradiance can be, there’s no way to ensure a reliable grid or a profitable energy investment without understanding how weather variability at many locations will affect grid supply and demand balances. Sunairio is working to create more robust predictions that allow us to reduce risk on multiple fronts.”
The company’s simulation engine uses generative AI and advanced statistics that it says early research shows can replicate forward-looking local hourly weather patterns and climate trends for up to 15 years.
Sunairio expects R&D for the platform’s next iteration to be complete within the year.
