![]() Yet only $2 billion out of $14 billion of requested grid-modernization investments were approved in 2018. Utility companies have responded by proposing comprehensive grid-modernization plans. Today, advanced cloud technology, software engineering models, and data-governance practices are paving the way for transformational use cases that cross the boundaries of individual systems.Īs a result of these shifts, modernizing the grid is now critical. While utilities in more advanced economies have already gone through several rounds of investments in grid-modernization technologies such as smart meters, grid management systems (DMS/TMS), asset-management platforms, and geospatial information systems (GIS), these systems were largely viewed as isolated solutions serving siloed system requirements. Grid-technology innovations are creating opportunities to drive value across T&D workflows.As indicated by the rise in flexibility contracts tendered in the United Kingdom’s distribution flexibility markets (1,900 megawatts to be tendered in 2020 across UK distribution-network operators 1 “Market changing standard contract for flexibility delivered,” Energy Networks Association, April 6, 2020, .), the role of DERs in managing the grid is here to stay. Increased automation and control capabilities at the “edge” of the electric grid are no longer thought experiments they are now an operational reality. While grid planners, control-center operators, and engineers face significant challenges in managing the complexity of the two-way electric grid, they can take advantage of new capabilities to support grid operations, such as smart inverter control and vehicle-to-grid and managed charging. The T&D grid faces increasing pressure to integrate new technologies-such as electric vehicles (EVs), distributed solar generation, and energy storage-in a rapid, safe, and low-cost way. Distributed energy resources (DERs) are changing the grid’s value proposition.According to a recent McKinsey Global Institute report on climate risk, the chance of a once-in-a-century hurricane is likely to double in some parts of southeastern United States and triple in some parts of Southeast Asia by 2040. On the US climate front, for example, recent wildfires have affected California’s networks, blackouts have hit New York City, and coastlines have been battered by a plethora of catastrophic hurricanes. Climate change and cyberattacks pose increasing levels of risk-and they are here to stay. ![]() Increasing operational risks are changing the calculus for new investments.And the economic slowdown and uncertainty will further highlight the importance of T&D rate affordability. With greater acceptance of working from home, access to reliable electricity service has become paramount. ![]() Customers were already increasingly adopting digital and mobile channels-a trend that has been rapidly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent physical-distancing measures. ![]() Operating the grid safely and reliably at a low cost has long been so-called table stakes for T&D operators. Customer needs are evolving, sharply accelerated by COVID-19.Recent events and trends across a number of fronts have made the situation more urgent than ever: Utilities, policy makers, and communities have agreed for years that the aging electric transmission and distribution (T&D) grid in the United States needs to be significantly upgraded to withstand the challenges of the future. The future of the power grid has arrived.
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