Utilities are adopting advanced supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), and communication protocols to enhance asset performance and reduce outage risks, reinforcing long-term substation automation market forecast momentum. The ongoing shift toward digital substations, combined with growing electricity consumption, renewable energy integration, and aging grid infrastructure replacement, is driving substation automation market growth globally. According to Ipakchi, the convergence of distributed energy resources (DERs), reliability, and market operations is underway. In an industry of fast followers, Ipakchi’s insights offered a compelling case for innovation grounded in practical applications.
In North America, substation automation adoption is being driven by large-scale grid modernization programs and tighter operational standards for renewable-heavy power systems. Regulatory pushes and large-scale digital substation rollouts across major economies are further accelerating investments in automation solutions designed specifically to support high renewable penetration. Modern substations are increasingly equipped with intelligent electronic devices, advanced communication standards, and digital control schemes that allow faster response, better coordination with energy storage systems, and improved grid stability.
Technically enabled potential includes all loads that already possess the monitoring and control capabilities needed for participation, though this remains significantly below the theoretical potential. Different options are addressed, from increasing control of output from small solar installations, to higher battery deployment, to refining price signals, including offering free electricity to customers. These smaller-scale and dispersed energy sources are generally known as distributed energy resources (DER). Studies commissioned by the states of California and New York show that managed electrification could lower the cost of distribution upgrades needed through 2035 by more than US$30 billion in each of these states.18 That’s because building efficiency measures and smart devices to manage energy usage and smooth EV charging could reduce capital spending on new substations, transformers, feeders, and other distribution equipment (figure 4).
By redesigning the end-to-end billing and payment journey and integrating digital invoicing with expanded payment options, utilities can simplify the most frequent customer interaction and build engagement. In fact, a number of utilities have had their rate cases fully or partially disallowed based on challenges related to reliability, resiliency or customer service. There is a growing importance on maximizing the ROI of customer initiatives to capture load-growth opportunities, maintain affordability and balance investments with the significant capital commitments many utilities are making. P&U companies are increasingly integrating customer experience at the heart of their priorities, focusing across residential customers, small and medium-size businesses, and larger commercial and industrial customers. More broadly, US renewables are likely to expand and remain an important factor in long-term capacity planning, due not just to government incentives but also to new innovations and technologies that enable scale.
Role of Renewable Energy Sources in Evaluating Technical and Economic Efficiency of Power Quality
- Keith Adams is Deloitte’s US renewable energy leader and serves as the firm’s modeling and insights offering leader.
- Grant architects and delivers smart operational solutions that address regulatory, technological, and consumer shifts.
- This report seeks to explore the key challenges for grid modernization, addresses concepts for smart operations in the grid context, as well as the steps needed to establish a modernized and digitalized electricity grid.
- Learn more about the resilience-oriented cellular grid formation and optimization project.
- Between March 2024 and 2025, 16 data center developments were delayed or denied due to permitting restrictions, with local community pushback being a leading cause.
With deep industry expertise and a comprehensive approach, TRC can guide utilities through every process step, from strategy development to system integration and ongoing support. Integrating enterprise systems offers numerous benefits for utilities, enabling them to operate more efficiently, serve customers better and adapt to changing market conditions. Enterprise systems integration opens up a world of possibilities for workflow optimization, from outage management to predictive maintenance to billing. Lastly, the shift from a one-directional to a bidirectional grid presents operational and business model challenges.
NLR has innovated a DERMS approach that can more effectively estimate PV hosting capacity by taking into consideration control options for localized inverter optimization. The project team added autonomous controls to homes within a new development constructed by Habitat for Humanity, allowing the homes’ solar panels, battery storage, and appliances to automatically balance power and voltage constraints within the neighborhood. For Rivian, the agreement forms part of its broader strategy to leverage software-defined vehicle capabilities beyond transportation. By integrating with ChargeScape’s platform, these capabilities can be linked directly to participating utility programmes. According to the companies, Rivian vehicles already provide grid-support capabilities through software-based energy management functions. The competitive landscape includes a mix of global technology leaders, industrial automation providers, and specialized AI software companies focused on transforming energy operations through advanced analytics and machine learning technologies.
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Download a brief overview of key findings from the “Power grid modernization” study(will open in a new tab) The Center offers several training opportunities for professional development and the highest level of continuing education in renewable energy technologies. Sessions are curated to explore strategic insights necessary … The NARUC 2026 Summer Policy Summit provides unique perspectives from those on the front lines of utility http://www.semmms.info/update-on-a6marr-progress/ regulation, policy, and infrastructure challenges. “To kick off 2026, utilities are advancing grid modernization through technologies like advanced distribution management systems and distributed energy resource management systems,” stated Cleo Carter, Policy Analyst at NCCETC. “This quarter, lawmakers and regulators considered load flexibility programs to address increasing demand on the grid created by large load customers,” noted Emily Apadula, Senior Policy Analyst at NCCETC.
NLR developed optimization models and a novel framework to integrate the flexibility of behind-the-meter DERs into grid restoration planning and operation. NLR and partners have piloted a hierarchical control system that estimates and forecasts DER flexibility in real time, aggregates DER resources across neighborhoods, and issues operational commands that strengthen both the community and the entire distribution network. To take advantage of flexible grid-edge DERs for improving grid operations, a prerequisite is to possess some knowledge about the DER dispatchability capacity at a given time, the duration of the desired dispatch, and how fast the DER can respond to a control command. NLR and project partners deployed an optimal power flow control approach for rural Colorado co-op Holy Cross Energy.
Compliance & Future-Ready Integration
- Integrating enterprise systems offers numerous benefits for utilities, enabling them to operate more efficiently, serve customers better and adapt to changing market conditions.
- A critical component of this is using customer effort score (CES) as a key metric, with a management focus on eliminating dissatisfiers and reducing operating costs by process and journey.
- This is at a time when US data center energy demand is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 15% from 2023 to 2030, and to potentially account for 8% of total US power demand (up from about 3% in 2024).
- Explore Grand View Brainshare – Delivering value and creating impact for our clients through actionable business insights
- We have the capabilities, resources, and team to help you overcome the obstacles and succeed in realizing your energy goals.
- Meeting these demands calls for more than incremental upgrades; it requires a holistic transformation that leverages digital innovation and data-driven decision-making across the enterprise.
Today’s grid contracts and data center service agreements treat AI load as firm, inflexible demand. The platform models dynamic line ratings, advanced power flow controllers, and topology reconfiguration in a single environment, automatically generating control plans that re-route power off overloaded lines and onto under-utilized ones. Heron Power is building Heron Link, a modular medium-voltage SST purpose-built for 800V DC power conversion and a key partner of NVIDIA’s 800 VDC architecture. Beyond reducing the stack, SSTs are bidirectional and programmable, enabling native integration with battery energy storage systems (BESS), solar, and other forms of on-site generation sources. The strongest companies in each of these subcategories address both speed and structure simultaneously. Power equipment has been structurally undersupplied for years, and companies that navigate manufacturing barriers or redesign their product to sidestep them through modularity or new suppliers carry lead time advantages that are difficult to replicate.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity accelerates innovation and creates “next generation” technologies to modernize the electrical grid. Marty plugs into the industry knowledgebase to deliver critical information about the opportunities and challenges facing utilities today. The podcast is part of Department of Energy’s Voices of https://innovatenexes.com/network-safety-measures.html Experience, an initiative that supports grid modernization by sharing insights, lessons learned and advice on operating in a rapidly evolving industry. He brings extensive experience designing and deploying advanced utility solutions that address the evolving demands of the energy transition. Sean leads the Integration and Emerging Technology practice at TRC, where he is a recognized leader in grid modernization and innovation.
Utilities must submit detailed resilience plans demonstrating asset redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities, subjected to federal audits. These costs stem from upgrading monitoring equipment, hiring specialized compliance staff, and increased reporting obligations. The high sector specificity (9.0/10) and regulatory weight (9.0/10) confirm that this is a uniquely utilities-centric development with limited immediate crossover to unrelated industries. The CETO completion supports that thesis operationally but does not, on its own, change the near term focus on restoring earnings after a weak 2025 or the key risk that Alberta regulatory outcomes and cost recovery decisions could pressure margins and cash flows. Learn utility-scale solar engineering, battery storage integration, grid interconnection, power system studies, and commissioning best practices. Master power transformer testing and commissioning with expert guidance on TTR, winding resistance, insulation testing, impedance tests, CT verification, and safe energization.
From application intake to commissioning, GridUnity provides a single platform for interconnection, ensuring faster, more efficient workflows that eliminate bottlenecks. The (reV) model is a detailed spatio-temporal modeling assessment tool that empowers users to calculate energy capacity, generation, and cost based on geospatial intersection with grid infrastructure and land-use characteristics. Probabilistic Resource Adequacy Suite (PRAS) is an open-source, research-oriented collection of tools for analyzing the resource adequacy of bulk power systems. PIPES (Pipeline for Integrated Projects in Energy Systems) is a project management, data management, and a workflow management layer for integrated modeling teams.