The investment will see Ombu take a controlling interest in RLtec and will enable the London company’s management team to accelerate the commercialisation of its technology in the UK and overseas.

RLtec has developed a smart, grid-management technology, called Dynamic Demand. The technology can be installed in electrical devices, such as fridges and air conditioners, and enables the carbon-free balancing of supply and demand across the national grid.

In March this year, RLtec signed a decade-long commercial deal with supermarket giant Sainsbury’s that sees the venture capital-backed business’s technology installed in more than 200 stores. The investment deal follows the Ombu’s acquisition of third party shares in RLtec on June 6.

Under the agreement, RLtec’s equipment has been integrated with each supermarket’s heating and ventilation systems with the aim of boosting energy efficiency.

RLtec managing director Paul Lazarevic, comments, ‘2011 has been a great year for RLtec and this investment on the back of our groundbreaking partnership with Sainsbury’s will allow us to take advantage of the fact that we are the only company in the world who can do what we do.’

In February, RLtec was named New Energy Rising Star at the Rosenblatt New Energy Awards 2011. Last year, the company won an investment of £6 million from a venture capital syndicate including support from Low Carbon Accelerator, NAXOS Capital Partners and Carbon Trust Investment Partners.