A look at the utility landscape today is unlike anything that the industry has ever seen. Concepts like distributed energy, evolving standards, new customer-centric use cases, and the emergence of analytic solutions are all part of the new energy landscape. Indeed, today’s utility operating model is beginning to look markedly different from what it was just a few years ago.

While all of this change is rich with opportunities, there are some operational and infrastructure basics that must be met to enable this future where the role of the utility and its customers will continue to evolve. At the core of this new future is the requirement for a network infrastructure that provides choice, reliability, and scalability. 

Considering this new energy future, much of the change lands on the distribution system and its network. The growth of DERs, engagement with the customer, even how a utility forecasts now all call for the right technology solutions at the distribution level, starting with the network.

New Capabilities Enabling New Use Cases

This new environment will require new capabilities to manage the grid and its assets, and to engage with customers in new ways. Flexibility in this environment will no longer be a “nice to have.” The explosion of grid and customer devices requires an openness and flexibility of systems, starting with the network.

“There are no real winners around standards and protocols right now. There is no single protocol, so utilities need to have a network that enables the selection of use cases and solutions or devices that best suit their needs. This should include flexibility at both the head-end system as well as at endpoint at the customer premise or the grid edge.”

A quick glance at most of today’s grid architectures or a list of new customer use cases with the myriad of devices, systems, and protocols confirms Greg’s point on the value of flexibility.

One critical area of operations where flexibility is key at the grid edge is smart metering. As utilities move forward into the AMI 2.0 era, enabling many new use cases, the industry is seeing the emergence of AMI systems that are comprised of smart meters from multiple manufacturers. A network that can support meters from multiple meter manufacturers, up to a dozen or more in some cases, is becoming important today but in the near future will be a requirement. 

Network flexibility also opens the door to more options in the build-out of the network itself; for instance, with mesh networks that are a fairly common part of many utility smart grid and smart metering infrastructures. Flexibility with a network, mesh, or others, provides another advantage, particularly when implementing cellular communications over time as part of a network solution that provides more options and will keep costs down. This again comes back to network flexibility. 

Many Solutions Working Together

The value of a network solution isn’t only about protocols and devices. The emerging utility model is one where the utility has visibility, connectivity, and in some cases control on the grid, at the customer premise, and in some cases even on the customer side of the meter. This means that the utility’s network needs to be open to some of these solutions from a multitude of other manufacturers and solution providers.

To understand the depth and breadth of how an open network is a game changer, consider the diversity of use cases that can be enabled. A few examples include:

• At the customer premise, energy disaggregation is proving to be a powerful tool in energy management for customers. Connecting energy management capabilities back to the utility, typically for opted in customers, provides more opportunities for load control and cost savings for both the utility and its customers.
• Smart building capabilities are another source of value for the utility and its customers. While sub-metering is a natural use case for many commercial buildings, the possibilities go much further and can include an integrated smart building with smart lighting, climate control, EV chargers and more…all on a single, open network providing connectivity back to the utility.

These use case examples also point to the variety of solution providers that will be “connected to” the network and dependent on it for the delivery of services and value for both the utility and its customers.

Open Network + Analytics = Customer Value  

Another area of value for the utility in leveraging an open network is to enable new analytic use cases. Smart grid and smart metering have created massive new data sets that can provide business value beyond core metering like power quality and Volt/VAR optimization. Here again, an open network is enabling the utility to select the application that best meets their use cases without being limited to a single vendor or protocol.

Two examples of where adding analytics to the mix of capabilities are in the non-technical loss and energy forecasting areas. Tracking and managing non-technical loss, typically caused by either energy theft or inaccurate billing, are activities that hit the utility’s bottom line. Having access to the customer data to enable the identification of customer premises where non-technical is occurring, often in real- to near real-time, is the first step to solving these recurring revenue losses.

In the case of energy forecasting, this traditional utility function has been turned on its head, quite literally. The growth of DERs – rooftop solar, electric vehicles, and batteries, in particular – has created the need for utility planners to take more of a “bottom up” forecasting approach that is significantly different from the traditional “top down” forecasting processes. Here again, the network is a key enabling technology in providing data across a multitude of systems and devices.

“Many of these services can be delivered in an ‘Analytics-as-a-Service’ model. This makes sense for utilities of all sizes. Challenges around scale with massive data sets and application updates are no longer issues.” 

As an example of the value to the customer in an Analytics-as-a-Service model, Greg notes one of Trilliant’s customers, a Caribbean-based utility that needed to scale quickly. The Analytics-as-a-Service model met their business needs for rapid deployment and scaling capabilities, all at a much lower cost than traditional software application implementations, as a result, the utility was able to start reaping benefits right away.

One additional consideration for how analytics use cases are deployed is today’s dynamic regulatory and legislative environment. Meeting requirements and reporting on program progress are all data-rich exercises that can also have frequent changes and updates. Having access to the data and analytic applications in an open, flexible environment will help keep the utility aligned with the many regulatory and legislative rulings that tend to shift with the latest political winds.

Future-Proofing the Utility

The language around the “utility of the future” is often very aspirational, providing a glimpse into what the future might have in store. The challenge with this position is that the future is here now, and it continues to evolve rapidly across technical, financial, regulatory, and customer dynamics.

It is the dynamic nature of today’s utility industry that calls out for foundational technologies like a network that is open and flexible and can meet the challenges in such a dynamic operating environment. A future-ready network  enables the utility to anticipate a future ecosystem that is awash in protocols, devices, and systems that that will ultimately make the new energy environment a reality, ensuring reliability, safety, sustainability, and rate stability. 

To learn more about future-ready networks, visit Trilliant.

The era of smart cities offers endless possibilities as local government leaders leverage intelligent technologies to enhance safety, mitigate climate impacts and improve the overall quality of life for their citizens.

This is no small feat. The global smart cities market was valued at US$748.7 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.8% through 2030 (Source: Grandview Research).

As cities strive to become smarter, one key dynamic that has emerged is the crucial role of the local electric utility’s smart grid infrastructure. The smart grid forms the foundation for many successful smart city use cases, creating a powerful partnership between cities and their local electric utility companies.

Smart city orchestration

Before a smart city can become a reality with numerous citizen-centric applications, there must be an effort to secure and leverage intelligent infrastructure. This begins with network infrastructure that provides device and system connectivity, acting as a conduit for the massive volumes of data that need to be moved in real-time or near real-time for applications to have their maximum impact.

In short, the network is a key component in orchestrating a smart city.

To scale quickly, manage costs and provide the most value for citizens, the network – often derived from the utility’s smart grid infrastructure – needs to be open and capable of supporting multiple communication protocols while providing 24/7 reliability for a wide variety of use cases, applications and devices.

A single platform that supports a diverse portfolio of use cases offers a powerful ROI for local governments facing increasing financial constraints.

In addition to providing choice, another consideration in building a smart city is the need to move and use data generated by various devices (like smart water meters or lighting sensors) to provide information and insights for better operations and sharper decisions, often in real-time or near real-time.

A truly open, data-agnostic network will enable this critical data movement and sharing, creating scalable business value for the city.

Beyond the benefits to local governments and technical considerations, there is added business value for local utilities. Partnering with local governments with their smart city efforts can create new revenue streams for utilities through lease network agreements. This is a win-win-win scenario that benefits the utility, the city, and most importantly, the citizens they serve.

Smart cities in action

With an open, scalable and reliable network in place, consider some of the use cases that will provide value for a smart city and its citizens.

First, supporting climate and environmental goals mandated by many local governments. This includes integrating a city’s renewable energy sources with the grid, managing EV charging networks and enabling integrated smart buildings and campuses to improve energy usage and peak management.

Another area is public safety. Smart street lighting applications, along with smart camera networks, alarms and more all contribute to a city that is as safe as it is smart.

Additionally, smart water metering is becoming one of the leading use cases as water usage management and conservation becomes critical with often constrained water resources.

During this time of financial belt-tightening, local government leaders are increasingly looking to make their cities more cost-efficient while maintaining or improving how they serve their citizens; in essence, this is a smart city. The success of smart cities starts with a network that is open and scalable and enables a wide array of use cases.

Learn more to discover the resources that smart leaders are using to build smart cities and smart grids.

This article originally appeared in Smart Energy International on October 3, 2024.

See our latest press release here.

Check out our latest press release here.