Building essential systems is what we do
At Utilus, we build essential IT systems — the kind that quietly keep entire operations running. Software that isn’t glamorous, but needs to work. Always. So when we started building a Virtual Power Plant platform for a major European energy provider, we approached it like any other high-stakes system: clear scope, solid planning, and full control over complexity. That’s what we do. But something unexpected happened along the way.
The real-world bottleneck
The platform itself worked. It allowed flexibility in energy production, consumption and storage. But it kept running into a hard limit — not in the software, but in the real world: the power grid. No matter how smart the software was, the grid couldn’t handle the load. Especially in local areas, where capacity was already stretched thin. We weren’t energy experts. But we knew infrastructure problems when we saw them. And this one had all the signs of a system that was overburdened, outdated, and poorly managed.
A more complex bottleneck
The platform did what it was designed to do. It managed flexibility by shifting energy production, consumption and storage based on requests from the grid operator. That worked as intended. But too often, scaling energy up or down meant losing energy in the process. That wasn’t a software problem. It pointed to a flaw in how the system as a whole was set up. The real constraint wasn’t in the code, but in the grid infrastructure. Especially locally, where capacity problems are unpredictable and short-lived, but disruptive.
It made us question whether reacting to problems was enough or whether we needed to prevent them in the first place. Responding to grid requests was reactive by design. But every time we scaled up or down, energy was wasted. That inefficiency became the real problem to solve.
Rethinking the problem
That shift in thinking led to a new direction. What if we stopped trying to fix the entire grid and focused instead on smaller, local systems? Not nationwide control, but community-level optimisation. It turns out the grid isn’t overloaded everywhere, all the time. Congestion is local, and often temporary. And that means it can be managed if you have the right tools.
The birth of ProximaRed
That idea became ProximaRed. It’s software built by Utilus. Designed to run what we call mini-grids: small, local energy networks where businesses can manage their own production, usage and storage. It enables smaller entities, like business parks and residential areas, to mutually and locally manage and share their energy supply, demand and storage. Keeping it local minimises the need for energy transmission, relieving the power grid.
A smarter way forward
The energy transition is full of bold ideas. But many of them depend on a grid that simply can’t keep up. We believe smarter local systems are part of the answer. If just 1% of national infrastructure spending went into platforms like ProximaRed, we could increase grid capacity by 20–40%. That’s not just theory. It’s software, working today. And it started with a different question.
The role of Utilus
ProximaRed is now its own platform, but Utilus remains behind the scenes. We built the technology, we improve it, and we keep it running. Because the same rules apply: whether it’s financial software, healthcare systems or energy management, if it’s essential, it needs to be honest, structured, and built to last.
That’s where Utilus comes in.
We do the work.