“grid Modernization: Upgrading Aging Electricity Systems” – IT/OT plays a critical role in powering the grid’s modernization journey to secure the infrastructure, maximize big data, and build a customer-centric platform to connect utilities, customers and partners.
Info-Tech’s deep-dive trends report Grid Modernization: Optimizing Opportunities and Minimizing Risks investigates strategic outlooks and highlights the impact of grid modernization programs on people, processes and technology for utility IT/OT leaders electric. Our goal is to guide you through the transformation journey by providing you with practical insights.
“grid Modernization: Upgrading Aging Electricity Systems”
1. Grid Modernization Deck – This deep-dive foresight trends report provides practical insights and a readiness checklist to help IT/OT leaders in electric utilities de-risk grid modernization projects.
Keeping The Power On: The Critical Importance Of Reliable Electricity
This deep-dive trends report provides insights into the lessons learned and potential risks associated with electric utility grid modernization projects. Based on expertise from industry practitioners and technology vendors, the people, process and technology readiness checklist identified in this report will help IT/OT leaders better prepare for any grid modernization project.
Smart grid is not the latest hot topic in the electric utility sector. However, its long-term impact on utilities and customers changed the traditional paradigm for good. With the adoption rate of distributed energy resources to the grid, many emerging players are participating in the ecosystem within a traditional monolithic industry.
Together IT and OT leaders are expected to form a stronger alliance as an enabling backbone to support the often business-led transformation of networks. As a result, IT and OT teams are tasked with implementing and supporting various network technologies and applications without being fully prepared for the significant people, process and technology implications.
Info-Tech’s grid modernization industry research examines the cost-benefit analysis of grid modernization programs and their major unfulfilled promises. By combining lessons learned from previous projects, and perspectives from industry practitioners and technology vendors, this report helps IT/OT leaders optimize and de-risk any future grid modernization projects by providing a practical readiness checklist for you to lead your team and the business. throughout the trip.
Data Center Modernization
Smart grid – The United States Department of Energy describes “smart” electric grids as allowing electricity and information to flow in a two-way exchange between utilities and customers. It consists of a network of communications, automation, controls, computers, and new technologies and equipment working together to make the electricity grid more efficient and more reliable, safer, and greener. [U.S. DOE, 2022]
The US plans to spend even more aggressively developing grid infrastructure to build resilience against various disturbances. This has previously resulted in government funding for industry investments as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The new funding injection has a diversified portfolio, including grid hardening and weatherization, and developing advanced cyber security technologies. The previous wave of investment focused heavily on AMI deployment.
Global investment in the smart grid has rebounded after a couple of low years in a row due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Poland’s Power Grid Needs €25 Billion Upgrade For Renewables: Report
The US, China and Europe continue to lead, driving market size growth. Investments should be tripled by 2030 to reach the Net Zero Goal in 2050.
Smart grid projects, including research development, demonstration, and deployment, have been happening around the world for several decades. There is great value in reviewing, understanding and sharing lessons learned and how we can avoid common pitfalls and de-risk future projects.
Lessons learned from the Australian government’s Smart Grid, Smart City Project (2010 – 2013) trial in Australia:
In grid operation, customer operation, distributed generation, distributed storage and supporting information, communication technology platforms, and electric vehicles.
From Generation To Supply: Electricity System Operators (part 3)
Lessons learned from previous rollouts of the US Smart Grid Investment Grant Program (2010 – 2015) in the United States scope:
From the earlier pioneers in Europe to the recent government-funded accelerator programs, progress and improvements have been made in the following areas.
We have a diverse portfolio of recent investments that reflect the technological advancements in smart grid technologies. For example, Canada’s Smart Grid program (2018-2023) consists of various demonstration and deployment projects in energy storage, microgrid, Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS), and Grid Monitoring and Automation [NRCAN, 2022].
The public-private partnership (P3) funding model has proven valuable in initiating progress in both research development and deployment projects. Cooperation between local, regional and national operators is strengthening. Regulators are changing performance-based regulations to boost grid investments.
Modernization And Replacement Measures For Transformers: Reinhausen
Cyber security technologies have been given a lot of emphasis to protect the critical electricity infrastructure. To solve the interoperability challenges, various industry standards have been established and continue to evolve, such as DER interconnection standards, Inverter standards for both distribution and transmission networks, application integration, EV plug-in, and common power network protocols.
In a hybrid ecosystem, decentralized customers play an ever-increasing role alongside the centralized utilities in transforming the grid.
Energy equity is recommended to ensure that all consumer segments are engaged and benefiting from the grid modernization journey.
Developing a reproducible formula to justify the investment is difficult because many factors distinguish one utility state from another. Soft benefits are generally well understood and accepted by regulators and customers. However, measuring and reporting quantitative return on investment (ROI) is challenging.
Why The U.s. Is Struggling To Modernize Its Power Grid
Cost-benefit analysis is not the only approach that utilities have successfully used to gain approval from regulators. In many cases, the following perspectives were used to support the decision-making processes: cost-benefit analysis, end-of-life replacement, loss of knowledge due to retirement and aging workforce, basic investment to address DER disruption, investment technology for reliability challenges. , modernization to support public policy, sustainability objectives, and customer needs. [Bain & Company, 2018; Advanced Research Grid (DOE), 2020]
Utility-specific data to support your own business case is critical although insights from other project deployments are beneficial. To obtain regulatory approval, utilities are often expected to develop a thoughtful plan in advance to achieve short- and long-term value. While the business case for every grid modernization project is different, the following cost and benefit metrics (financed and unfinanced) from many AMI deployments shed some light on the level of detail required to justify the business case.
The benefits of the business cases must be in line with the organization’s vision and mission, driven by your organizational objectives. Grid modernization programs create value for electric utilities by transforming the value stream of transmission and distribution, and retail and customer services. The use cases of network modernization may be different for each organization.
Carnegie Mellon University’s most referenced Smart Grid Maturity Model (SGMM) is an open source tool. Organizations can use this tool to identify gaps and prioritize initiatives to improve operations.
Utilities Face Challenges With Aging T&d Grid
Assessing your maturity level alignment with business capabilities is critical to developing a vision and roadmap for your grid modernization journey.
Grid modernization and the advent of IIOT have forced electric power utilities to review their IT and OT organizations. Regardless of the rate of IT/OT convergence, business and technology leaders cannot ignore the urgency of developing skilled resources to enable grid modernization.
The roles highlighted in light blue are the new and emerging roles that organizations often lack. A common theme is the integration skills requirements across all business and technology areas to support the grid modernization journey.
The evolution of grid modernization technologies and the use of applications will drive the change in the organizational structure either organically or forcibly. A realignment of the organizational structure will clarify the lines of authority, roles and responsibilities for effective service delivery.
Is The Grid Ready For What Is Coming?
Percentage of US electric utilities that agree the adoption of smart grid technologies is gaining new skills and has a significant organizational impact.
“Utilities are struggling to find skilled and knowledgeable talent to manage complex smart systems. Willingness to learn and adaptability to change are just as important as technical skill sets.”
As with implementing any grid modernization technologies and applications, the cost, time and effort required to develop the right talent is substantial.
Electric utilities are often surprised at the level of gaps during projects and struggle to shuffle already stretched staffs. The following checklist is to help you be better prepared before you go on the trip.
Don Reeves, Author At Power Magazine
Hidden behind the “air gap” figuratively and literally, OT is operating with a focus on control and availability to support real-time control systems. On the other hand, IT emphasizes the serial integrity, security and availability model according to industrial standards such as COBIT, ITIL, PMI to control all core processes for years.
When it comes to governance maturity, OT can benefit from IT practices. When it comes to service responsiveness, IT can benefit from OT practices. Investment beyond physical assets such as core process re-engineering will be rewarded.
Organizations that already struggle to effectively manage their core IT processes are under even greater pressure to transform to support network modernization programs. Challenges also create opportunities to overhaul the entire process to realign and improve efficiency overtime.
According to the Info-Tech Utilities IT Management and Governance benchmark report, the following areas are prime candidates to begin the
What Is A Smart Grid? What Are The Major Smart Grid Technologies?
A readiness checklist to start redesigning your core processes Due to the interdependence of systems and teams introduced by complex smart grid technologies, silo processes become detrimental to efficiency and
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