Climformatics: Forecasting for a Resilient, Clean Energy Future
The Problem
Climate change is hitting utilities, farmers, and emergency services with unprecedented challenges. Utilities face grid reliability issues as solar generation fluctuates unpredictably, forcing costly curtailments. Farmers need to time irrigation with solar availability while protecting crops from heat stress. Fire agencies like CAL FIRE need better long-term forecasts to prepare communities before fire season hits.
Traditional weather models don’t provide the detailed, long-range forecasts these sectors need to make critical decisions. Without accurate, location-specific predictions, climate impacts cascade across energy systems and communities, undermining reliability and increasing emissions.
The Solution
Climformatics developed ClimEnergy™, a forecasting platform that delivers customized, high-resolution weather and climate forecasts from daily to monthly timescales. ClimAlert gives utilities and fire agencies early warnings for heatwaves and wildfire risk months in advance. ClimSolar provides solar operators with precise forecasts to better align generation with demand, reducing curtailment and maximizing renewable integration.
The technology uses gridded forecasts at 4km resolution across the U.S. and 25km globally, delivering actionable insights where customers need them most. This empowers customers to “climatize” their operations—proactively adapting to a rapidly changing environment.
The Impact
With support from the CalSEED program, Climformatics accelerated the development and pilot deployment of its forecasting dashboards. CalSEED funding helped the team refine product-market fit, create clear marketing materials for ag tech and energy sectors, and demonstrate their platform through customer pilots.
CAL FIRE piloted Climformatics’ year-ahead fire-weather forecasts to improve forward preparedness and community protection. Gridware (CalSEED alumni) and Xcel Energy used ClimAlert to plan power generation and maintenance around forecasted heatwaves and wildfire risk, enhancing grid resilience. Umida Ag (CalTestBed recipient) piloted the technology to shift irrigation energy demand to periods of high solar generation, reducing curtailment and improving operational flexibility.
In July 2024, Climformatics and Xcel Energy won Phase 1 of the DOE/NREL Digitizing Utilities Prize Round 2 for their “Proactive Climate Risk Mitigation for Utilities” tool. This national recognition highlighted Climformatics’ ability to deliver advanced, year-ahead insights that help utilities plan for extreme weather and climate risk.
CalSEED’s Role in Success
CalSEED provided critical early-stage funding, mentoring, and validation, allowing Climformatics to advance from a prototype to a market-ready product. The program helped facilitate connections with CAL FIRE, utilities, and energy partners, providing a platform to demonstrate real-world value.
Today, Climformatics is scaling its forecasting platform, enabling utilities, agriculture, and emergency agencies to anticipate climate risks and optimize clean energy usage—one forecast at a time.
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