Utilities are modernizing at a rapid rate. Growing demand for electricity, mandated decarbonization commitments, integrating alternative energy sources, and managing the impacts of increasingly extreme weather events require utilities across the globe to explore new approaches to address these challenges.
Agility to innovate and create new value from data will be critical to success
Utilities prefer tried-and-tested solutions. Most smart grid technologies do not yet have lengthy track records. As a result, utilities face a dilemma.
It is 5:45 AM. I am just putting on my running clothes and getting ready for my morning run
A renewed focus on remote monitoring, service, and control — the latest spotlight on grid modernization.
IoT and IoT-enabled platforms are harnessing intelligence from the grid edge, bringing remote monitoring and analytics capabilities to support electrification.
If climate change mitigation is to be the foremost goal of the 21st century, then a crucial electric power question is emerging.
The smart grid has delivered an electric utility future in which distributed, centralized renewables can play a significant part leading to reduced GHG emissions.
Utilities have always analyzed data to improve the operation of the electric grid and their processes.
Let us continue to use the hypothetical case study from an earlier article.
In 2006, a leading utility industry magazine[1] stated “Assuming only nominal growth, by 2010 the industry will need to hire some 10,000 new skilled workers each year”.
Let us continue to use the hypothetical case study from the last article.
Let us continue to use the hypothetical case study from last article.
The last article set the stage for the kinds of changes that are being seen in the utility industry.
Chasm Crossing and Force Fitting – these are powerful terms that if you ask ten people to define, we will get more than 20 answers
The utility industry in the US has been changing for several tens of years but most often, this change is slow and somewhat predictable.
The United States has possibly the most complex regulatory model.
DERs encompass a broad set of technologies that bring new sources and forms of supply into the grid.
Many people smarter than me have confirmed that it is very real.
The grid today is changing in ways that we cannot imagine. We are slowly moving away from a generation that came from large centralized power plants to generation mix that looks quite different.
The electric power industry is entering a very uncertain phase from a generationprofile perspective – at least in the US
The utility business is in the throes of change, the likes of which, we have not seen since the advent of wholesale deregulation.
Distributed Energy Resources portend a series of changes to the grid that Tesla (and Edison) triggered several tens of years ago.
Utilities are in the throes of some phenomenal change – Technology is changing everywhere and organizations are also changing and several mergers and acquisitions are taking place both at utilities and at vendors.
‘My teaching philosophy extends to mentoring high-school students.’
The utility will need to install some kind of net metering at that residence so that it can track how much power was delivered back to the grid
When electric customers install solar on their rooftops, some fixed costs required for running the grid can go unrecovered.
Before wholesale deregulation happened in the early-to-mid 1990s, all utilities worldwide were vertically integrated with full control of the entire electric chain (all the way from generation to consumption).
The Smart Cities Council defines a Smart City as one that uses information and communications technology (ICT) to enhance its livability, workability, and sustainability.
In 2003, the US National Academy of Engineering identified electrification as the top engineering achievement of the 20th century, meaning that this singular capability had the greatest impact on life during and following this period.
Utilities are embarking on the first set of movements in the post-ARRA world.
Drones represent one of the most transformative technologies that have appeared on the horizon not just for utilities but for everyone else
All electrical engineers and many others are very familiar with the historical significance of AC versus DC, the battle royal between Edison and Tesla/George Westinghouse
Energy storage is that disruptive technology that many of us power system engineers have been waiting for our entire professional lives.
As industrialized societies continue to grow, worldwide electricity demand is estimated to double by the year 2030.
BIG DATA is attracting big interest. A recent Forbes article said that “87% of enterprises believe BIG DATA analytics will redefine the competitive landscape of their industries within the next three years.
The utility Power System – the core system that an electric utility manages, is one of the strongest networks
Energy Editor, Transmission & Distribution World, President, Inception Energy Strategies Transmission & Distribution World’s IdeaXchange experts address the opportunities and benefits microgrids represent for utilities.
The electric grid is changing in ways that we cannot yet imagine.
It is proposed that the utility be put at the center of the distributed energy equation and manage the output of all the distributed energy in its territory
New technologies are flowing into utilities at unprecedented rates in a variety of different ways
The utility industry has been in a slow evolutionary mode since the middle of the 20th century
The utility industry has been in a slow evolutionary mode since the middle of the 20th century.
Author, trainer and smart grid pioneer, Mani Vadari, is back to explain how the smart grid is changing the traditional roles played by system operators“
In 2006, a leading utility industry magazine stated “Assuming only nominal growth, by 2010 the industry will need to hire some 10,000 new skilled workers each year.”
With so many Baby Boomers headed for the exits to retire in the next five years—some 40 percent of the utility workforce by most accounts—the twin challenges of doing more with less and doing it with fresh recruits looms on the horizon.
An important concern that will need to be addressed by the industry as it tries to combat climate change is the incorporation of new sources of renewable energy (e.g., wind and solar) into the electric grid.
In previous articles, author, trainer and smart grid pioneer Mani Vadari has explained the smart grid’s key players and helped us understand the crucial system operations function
The systems operations function is crucial to electric power, yet it is frequently ignored or misunderstood
“Author, trainer and smart grid pioneer Mani Vadari has previously explained how the smart grid is changing the traditional roles played by system operators
“To be adept at the smart grid, you must first understand a) the underlying electric power system and b) the key players and their respective roles.
Ask any utility employee where he or she will be in five years and fully 40 percent of them will give you the same answer—retired!
Once considered a supreme engineering achievement of the 20th century, America’s electric energy grid is now very much showing its age.
Smart Grid is a term with as much buzz as any I’ve heard lately.
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