Exodigo: Technology that sees what’s underground without the need to dig

Industries ranging from construction to utilities to oil and gas spend more than $100 billion every year on excavation and drilling to find out what’s underground. Planners and construction crews need to know what’s below the surface to complete their projects, but digging up the earth is costly, and unexpected consequences from excavation – like leaks and explosions – delay projects, cost billions of dollars annually and even endanger lives.

In 2023, we began successfully piloting non-intrusive mapping technology created by Exodigo across projects ranging from substations to gas main replacements and extensions, to transmission right-of-ways. The pilot we conducted in Rotterdam, New York exemplifies how Exodigo is helping us deliver our infrastructure commitments safely, on time, and on budget.  

What is Exodigo, how does it work and why is innovation so important in the energy transition? Read more to find out.  

What is Exodigo?  

Exodigo, based in California and Tel Aviv, is a leading underground mapping solution for non-intrusive discovery. Combining multi-sensor fusion, 3D imaging, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Exodigo’s technology gives energy suppliers more accurate data to make confident, safe, and cost-effective decisions. Exodigo’s platform can detect man-made buried objects and is developing similar capabilities for bedrock, water and ground-layers. The technology works in any terrain, from crowded urban environments to vast rural ones.  

 > Find out more about Exodigo  

Our pilot in Rotterdam, NY  

To increase grid resilience across our service territories, in late 2023 we expanded a substation in Rotterdam NY. To ensure there were no assets such as pipes or cables buried underground, we engaged Exodigo to locate all such objects both inside the fence line of the current substation and outside it.  

 Exodigo used its cart platform to scan the area with multiple sensors, camera images, and centimeter-precision GPS to collect more than 500GB of data per acre. The data was then analyzed and processed with Exodigo’s proprietary AI to create a visual underground network model that National Grid could ingest into its existing spatial software. This allowed us to ’see’ and create a complete map of the underground assets before construction. Exodigo identified 20 previously unknown lines beyond the substation property area.

Exodigo’s unique technology provides multiple benefits such as:  

• Cost-efficiency and on-time delivery: Drilling and excavating to discover what’s underground is costly and inefficient. Identifying underground obstacles during planning avoids expensive delays later in the project.  

• Safety: Ensuring accurate maps of underground objects keep field workers safe while digging.  

• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions: Using heavy equipment releases large amounts of air pollutants from diesel fuel combustion. Exodigo’s technology avoids unnecessary usage of major equipment for underground discovery.   

Mike Roberts, Director of Substation, Civil and D-Line Construction for National Grid in New York, said: “Exodigo delivered very promising results with the Rotterdam pilot. The technology looks to be a game changer for us in a space that is critical – from project inception to planning, design and engineering, all the way through in-flight construction. The level step-increase in visibility the tech offers is like putting on prescription glasses for the first time and gaining clear vision on what was previously limited and blurry.” 

In July 2024, we engaged Exodigo on a project located in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, which also yielded positive results. 108% more utilities were mapped because of Exodigo, allowing us to take action safely on the site in the future.  

The need for innovative solutions  

We’re committed to using innovative solutions to accelerate the energy transition safely and affordably. We have adopted creative solutions and cutting-edge technology in order to meet our goals. We invest in technologies that solve today’s challenges and create tomorrow’s energy systems.  

Our corporate venture and innovation group, National Grid Partners, takes the lead in scouting and investing in a wide range of technologies and startups such as Exodigo, then introducing them to our business units for deployment on our networks. Since its launch in 2018, National Grid Partners has invested more than $500 million in dozens of innovative startup companies, including Exodigo. 80 percent of those companies have strategically engaged with National Grid business units in the US and UK.  

> Find out more about National Grid Partners