MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee Electric, Middle Tennessee State University and Qubit Engineering have announced a strategic collaboration to develop, test, and validate advanced analytics tools for electric distribution systems — with the goal of moving new algorithms from prototype to field use in months rather than years.

Distribution utilities face conditions their networks were never designed for: rising demand, growing rooftop solar and battery storage, and EV charging that concentrates load on individual feeders.

MTSU contributes its research faculty and graduate student researchers; MTE contributes operational data, field experience and an advanced distribution grid for optimization; and Qubit Engineering contributes its quantum-inspired optimization technology and AI-based analysis platform. The work will focus on power flow analysis, contingency screening, grid visualization tools and battery dispatch optimization.

Work begins in August 2026, with initial results expected within 12 weeks, according to an MTE news release.

“While quantum hardware is being developed in specialized laboratories, advancing real-world quantum and AI applications requires close collaboration between technology developers like Qubit Engineering and industry partners to ensure these technologies are designed, tested and validated for practical deployment,” said Marouane Salhi, CEO and co-founder of Knoxville-based Qubit Engineering.

“This partnership represents exactly the kind of lab-to-market experience we want to create for MTSU students and early-career researchers,” said Hanna Terletska, professor of physics and founding director of MTSU’s Quantum Research, Interdisciplinary Science and Education Center, better known as QRISE. 

“By bringing together MTSU’s research expertise, Middle Tennessee Electric’s operational infrastructure and industry perspective and Qubit Engineering’s technology, we are building the kind of academia-industry partnership that is central to QRISE’s vision,” Terletska continued. “It also directly supports Tennessee’s growing emphasis on developing a quantum-ready workforce through the Tennessee Quantum Initiative, preparing talent not only to understand emerging technologies, but to apply them to real challenges facing Tennessee industries.”

Because the tools will be validated on MTE’s advanced grid rather than on synthetic test cases, results will reflect the realities of an operating utility. The partners expect the work to improve how grid assets are managed and optimized. The collaboration will also create research opportunities for MTSU graduate students working alongside utility experts.

“Innovation happens when rigorous research and real-world utility operations collaborate,” said Brad Gibson, MTE’s chief operating officer. “We are creating practical, validated solutions that will shape the future of electric distribution.”

About Middle Tennessee Electric

Founded in 1936, MTE is the largest electric cooperative in the Tennessee Valley Authority region and the second-largest in the United States, serving more than 750,000 Tennesseans via 350,000+ accounts across nearly 2,200 square miles in 11 Middle Tennessee counties, primarily Rutherford, Cannon, Williamson, and Wilson. Municipalities served include Murfreesboro, Franklin, Brentwood, Smyrna, La Vergne, Lebanon and Mt. Juliet. MTE employs around 540 people in six local offices and its Murfreesboro headquarters.

MTE’s subsidiary, United Communications, is a nationally recognized broadband company with a fiber network spanning more than 6,600 route miles, providing high-speed internet and phone services to portions of Bedford, Davidson, Franklin, Giles, Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, Moore, Rutherford, Williamson and Wilson counties. 

For more information, please visit mte.com.

About Qubit Engineering

Qubit Engineering is an energy technology company developing next-generation software that combines artificial intelligence and quantum-inspired optimization to help electric utilities operate smarter, more resilient, and more efficient power grids. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, the company works with utilities and research institutions to accelerate the deployment of innovative grid technologies.For more information, please visit qubitengineering.com.