Electricity Today T&D Magazine

Plugging workers into data analytics and information technologies

BY JOHN SIMMINS, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Collectively, North American electric utilities operate in a unique environment. They need to serve all willing customers; they are in one of the most capital-intensive industries; and their product is consumed immediately. Yet the planning and pricing for that product might have lead times greater than a year, even as utilities suffer from the same rapidly evolving technology challenge that affects many other industries. In particular, for utilities, as assets that are deployed become “smarter”, greater amounts of data need to be managed—data from renewable resources, sensor data, data from smart meters, load management, and provisioning customers with usage data.

No portion of the power grid is changing more significantly and rapidly than the electricity distribution system. Traditional distribution system philosophy has been to maintain acceptable electrical conditions at the lowest possible cost...