Startup Launches New Climate Change Tool For Rural Utilities

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Last Updated on: 19th March 2025, 06:00 pm

Regardless of the latest shift in federal energy policy, climate change is not suddenly vanishing into the mists. Utilities are still searching for tools that help predict and mitigate weather-related risks in an increasingly fraught environment. The climate data startup Rhizome is among the stakeholders anticipating that rural electricity providers are particularly keen to embrace affordable solutions, given their sparse ratepayer base relative to long distribution lines.

Incorporating Climate Change Into Grid Datasets

Rhizome launched out of Washington, DC in 2023, with an AI-enabled data platform called Aspen. The platform integrates utility information with public datasets covering weather, climate, vegetation, and socioeconomic elements, providing grid operators with a “three-dimensional” picture of their resources as impacted by environmental conditions.

As is expected of AI-enabled grid tools these days, Aspen continuously updates itself with new information, including the condition of new assets and resources, individual sources of increased demand, and the general impact of the electrification movement, as well as information about climate change and weather patterns.

In addition to the increasing rate of severe storms associated with climate change, Aspen also enables utilities to track and prepare for other climate-related risks, such as wildfires.

A New Climate Change Tool For Electric Cooperatives

Rhizome introduced its gridFIRM wildfire tool for utilities last summer. The new tool represents a new step for the company. Rather than assessing fire risks from specific events, gridFIRM helps utilities spot signs of potential vulnerability among their assets, and take steps to correct them.

“This cutting-edge wildfire intelligence software application has been specifically designed for electric utilities to place a magnifying glass on their assets and learn the optimal ways to mitigate a wildfire ignition over the decades to come,” Rhizome explained.

The next step in Rhizome’s portfolio is gridCAVA, a climate change software tool designed specifically for not-for-profit utilities, including electric cooperatives as well as municipal agencies. The software enables budget-constrained utilities to perform effective climate change assessments on par with large, investor-owned utilities, without the high expenses.

Earlier today the company announced that it is debuting gridCAVA with the Vermont Electric Cooperative. As is typical of many rural electric cooperatives, VEC operates a sprawling distribution system for a relatively small scattering of ratepayers. Its service territory covers 33,000 member ratepayers spread among 75 communities, involving 2,500 miles of overhead  lines.

“As a non-profit, member-owned cooperative with an expansive distribution system, we can’t afford to be anything less than targeted with our investments and upgrades,” VEC Innovation and Technology Leader Cyril Brunner noted in a press statement.

Rhizome co-founder and CEO Mishal Thadani also emphasized the affordability factor in climate change preparedness. “Our platform has brought down the cost of running climate models for predictive utility planning, making it easier for smaller utilities such as VEC to prepare ahead of growing extreme weather events,” Thadani said.

“The software tool will provide Vermont Electric Cooperative insights into potential future climate vulnerabilities, ultimately preventing failures against extreme weather-caused power outages through prioritizing grid resilience investments,” Rhizome added.

Climate Change And Rural Electric Cooperatives

A successful experience at VEC could open up many more opportunities for Rhizome in the electric cooperative area. The US rural electric cooperative network dates back to the 1930s, when the federal government tried to interest private utilities in electrifying sparsely populated rural areas. At the time, nine of 10 rural households had no electricity.

The private sector took a pass, but local farmers and other rural stakeholders picked up the ball and ran with it. Today, the US rural electric cooperative network consists of hundreds of not-for-profit, ratepayer-owned electricity providers across the US..

The trade organization representing rural electric cooperatives, NRECA, has a lot to juggle in terms of federal energy policies. The public benefit mission of electric co-ops can complicate the case for renewable energy, balancing workforce and service needs along with entanglements in existing long term contracts. Still, that same public benefit mission empowers co-ops to experiment with renewable energy resources and other new electrification technologies.

Though NRECA prefers to let its members do the talking on climate change, the organization continues to be laser focused on electrification. “We electrified rural America 75 years ago. Now we will electrify vehicles and homes and water heaters and provide a path toward a cleaner, more sustainable future. Energy is us,” reads the NRECA mission statement (see more electric co-op background here).

The Vermont Canary In The Climate Coal Mine

In terms of state-level policy, Vermont is among those taking the climate change bull by the horns. As noted by Rhizome, Vermont has seen a significant increase in damaging storms over the past several years, and the state government maintains a web page titled, “Climate Change in Vermont.”

Last year the state legislature passed Act 122, the Climate Superfund Act, in an attempt to place some of the responsibility for damage control squarely where it belongs, on fossil fuel stakeholders. The bill was signed into law by Governor Phil Scott in May.

“The law allows the state to recover financial damages from fossil fuel companies for the impacts of climate change to Vermont,” Climate Change in Vermont explains. “Those funds would support climate adaption projects.”

“This work is even more important as our state recovers from a second straight year of widespread flooding, with the impact falling hardest on low-income Vermonters and our most vulnerable communities,” said State Treasurer Mike Pieciak.

Secretary of Natural Resources Julie Moore also piled on, noting that “Vermont has seen firsthand the significant impacts that climate change is having on our environment and our economy.”

Implementing the new law is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish. Meanwhile, VEC already has a headstart on decarbonization. In 2017 the co-op committed its members to a 100% carbon-free power supply. They reached that goal in 2023, primarily by leveraging hydropower resources and a fairly substantial amount of nuclear energy, with solar energy playing a small but respectable role.

VEC has also been introducing large scale energy storage systems to its members, and in 2022 the co-op joined the newly formed Vermont Clean and Resilient Energy Consortium, so don’t be surprised to see green hydrogen somewhere in the mix along with other clean tech. If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the comment thread.

Photo (cropped): Rural electric cooperatives are among the utilities that can benefit from strategic, AI-enabled guidance on climate change response (courtesy of Vermont Electric Cooperative).