“New rules require Georgia Power to contract for 15 years with new large load customers at a rate that covers 100% of utility costs,” she added. Conscientious regulators need new approaches for the hard choice between legitimate modernization investments and the upward rate pressure they cause, state commissioners and analysts said. Utilities should present investment information “like a business owner seeking a loan” to eliminate regulators’ concern that approval “is a gamble with customer money,” she added. “Regulators can approach modernization investments like they are investors in a business,” said Commissioner Abigail Anthony of the Rhode Island Public Utility Commission. There were 726 policy actions on grid modernization in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year, many requiring significant new investments, per the Clean Energy Technology Center’s most recent Grid Modernization policy update. Deloitte’s 2026 Renewable Energy Industry Outlook indicates that amid policy changes, the industry is likely to focus on building resilience

Another example of the growing emphasis on the business approach was the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities June order authorizing spending for utility modernization plans. Regulators need to remember that “utilities are already planning significant spending to meet customer demand, and investments to reduce climate risk and prepare climate resilience have benefits that massively outweigh the upfront costs,” she added. He also provides clients with strategic planning, business transformation, business model development, systems engineering, systems integration, feasibility planning and analysis, project/program management and customer relationship management. https://logotype.dev/articles/trash-can-logo-a-creative-and-eye-catching-design-for-your-brand Craig has more than 25 years of experience leading projects involving electric utility distribution grid modernization information, and operational technologies, data management and analytics solutions, distributed energy and microgrids, and smart city solutions. Drawing on survey data and extensive industry experience, we have identified the industry’s top grid modernization priorities, the top challenges and the strategies and tactics that can drive success. The Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) Cyber Range allows researchers and partners to study energy systems’ interaction with and dependence on digital communication devices and networks.

The impact https://www.storonniki.info/the-ultimate-guide-to-19/ of electric disturbances due to weather events has significantly increased over the past few years, and they mostly hit the distribution grid, where 90% of outages originate.10 Demand losses have more than doubled between 2014 and 2018, and over the past five years, the disruption of 317 gigawatts of electricity impacted 66 million customers for longer durations (figure 2).11 Though not all of that will be built, the delays complicate project deadlines and financing arrangements. In 2023, the backlog of mostly utility-scale renewables and storage awaiting grid interconnection grew to 2.6 terawatts9—more than twice the current installed capacity.

Advanced Analytics, AI, and Digital Twins

Despite the best metrics, regulators ultimately face hard judgment calls, many acknowledged. “Significant requests for rate increases have become more common,” but with effective planning, regulators can resolve “the trade-off” between cost savings and “the most efficient reliable service,” she said. And the most valuable modernization investments are “an outcome of Integrated Distribution System Planning” with comprehensive analyses that often include two metrics, it added.

• The technological foundation is largely in place to align households to climate targets through opt-out time-varying rates.
• He brings more than 10 years of management consulting experience working with power and utilities companies as both a consultant and business leader in the industry.
• Annual Technology Baseline provides a consistent set of technology cost and performance data for energy analysis.
• Given customer preferences for bill stability and the importance of market-based rates to lowering system costs, a combination of TOU and peak pricing could optimize residential flexibility to respond to both routine and emergency grid needs.39

North American Energy Resilience Model To Strengthen Power System Planning (NAERM) provides a comprehensive modeling system for U.S. energy and communications infrastructure for use by energy system planners, operators, and government stakeholders. NLR assists utilities in managing complex distribution planning data and workflows, establishing load forecasts and scenarios, quantifying the reliability threat landscape, and optimizing utility investment. Department of Energy’s Office of Policy, NLR hosted a webinar series for utility engineers, planners, operators, and industry leaders to gain insights from experts, explore cutting-edge research, and participate in Q&A sessions.

At one end of the spectrum are DER with low deployment but high capacity, such as EV storage harnessed via bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging technology. Zero and positive energy homes are so efficient that they can generate as much or more renewable energy as they consume.12 This can be especially true for households shifting from electric resistance space and water heaters to their highly efficient heat pump counterparts. Rapid DER deployment could outpace utility-scale capacity by 2035 and help meet higher peak demand. Conversely, in the event of a generation shortfall during extreme weather, grid-interactive households can adjust their thermostats and delay hot water heating or EV charging for a short period of time to help prevent a blackout. DERstribution can enable responsiveness to supply and grid conditions, making demand coequal to supply as a flexible resource.

with Utilities to Provide:

• Because DER can generate, store, or flexibly draw or discharge power to the grid, the demand from households is becoming increasingly variable.
• Distribution Integration Solution Cost Options (DISCO) is a Python-based NLR software tool for conducting scalable, repeatable distribution analyses, with a focus on hosting capacity and DER integration.
• This is the case utilities should make to regulators to secure backing for DER integration plans.
• When AI is positioned as a support layer rather than a replacement, adoption accelerates.
• In tandem with Deloitte’s energy, resources, and industrials leadership, she drives energy research initiatives and manages the execution of the center’s strategy as well as its eminence and thought leadership.

Examples include deploying smart ring main units with remotely controllable switches or upgrading heavily loaded substations. In many cases, relatively focused upgrades can produce major improvements in reliability and customer satisfaction. Effective modernization strategies prioritize these high-impact and high-risk areas first.

Modernization also maximizes existing infrastructure while building a more flexible and resilient network for the future. They can preserve core systems while extending capabilities, modernizing customer experience and adopting AI in a way that is pragmatic, secure and sustainable. Across the industry, one of the most important cultural shifts underway is the move toward a crawl, walk, run approach to AI adoption. Modernization should reduce dependencies—not create new ones. The most resilient implementations are cloud-agnostic and LLM-flexible, enabling utilities to adapt as technology advances, regulations shift and cost structures change.

He has 35+ years of experience in developing and leading EHS functions across various industries, including manufacturing, construction, power generation, and the nuclear sector. Serving as Think Power Solutions’ Chief Financial Officer, Larry is responsible for the finance, accounting and corporate development functions of the company. Beyond corporate roles, Mr. Vasudevan serves as Vice Chair & Strategic Advisor for the Edison Electric Institute’s Transmission Subject Area Committee, shaping the future of technology and infrastructure. Under his leadership, Think Power Solutions had grown to over 400 employees, expanded into 14 states, and earned consistent recognition as a top workplace in the US for culture, safety, and employee well-being. As founder & former CEO of Think Power Solutions, he drove transformative advancements in construction, vegetation, utility, and field services.

Grid modernization for electric and gas utilities – A strategy for success

In addition, NLR’s ComStock and ResStock analysis tools include multiple datasets on load profiles under different energy efficiency scenarios. NLR’s work on distribution planning spans establishing frameworks for planning, workflows, modeling, scenario development, and developing supporting datasets. The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) provides resources to support utility and grid operators in modernizing electric power systems and planning for industry challenges and opportunities. OE leads national efforts to develop the next generation of technologies, tools, and techniques for the efficient, resilient, reliable, and affordable delivery of electricity in the U.S. A critical component of grid modernization is a coordinated, strategic research, development and demonstration (RD&D) effort that involves both the public and private sectors. This exciting transformation of the nation’s electric grid creates both challenges and opportunities to advance the capabilities of today’s electricity delivery system.

Enabling households to help address the pressures arising from these challenges requires utility investment in equitable deployment of DER and the digital technologies to harness them. This partial decentralization of production and storage is changing the historical unidirectional power flow from utility power plants to customers as bidirectional DER networks multiply at the distribution grid edge, or “DERstribution.” Commercial, industrial, and other customers are part of this DERstribution, but households form the most distributed and versatile customer segment, with the greatest capacity and equity potential. Craig is a managing director with Deloitte Consulting’s Energy, Resources & Industrials practice, focusing on helping public and private sector clients transform their operating models and technology systems to accommodate evolving digital and clean energy technologies. He brings more than 10 years of management consulting experience working with power and utilities companies as both a consultant and business leader in the industry. 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.

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. Demand-side grid (dsgrid) toolkit harnesses decades of sector-specific energy modeling expertise to understand current and future U.S. electricity load for power systems analyses. ComStock and ResStock analysis tools help states, municipalities, utilities, and manufacturers identify which commercial and residential building stock improvements, respectively, save the most energy and money. Distribution Grid Kitchen, developed by NLR and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is a set of statistical hosting capacity models and representative, geospatially relevant models for substations, feeders, and low-voltage networks. URBANoptTM is an advanced analytics platform for high-performance buildings and energy systems within one geographically cohesive area within a city (e.g., a city block or district).