POWER May 2023 - 26

CONNECTED PLANT
Utilizing Data Is Key for Top Grid,
Power Plant Performance
The wealth of data available for today's power generators is supporting more efficient
electricity production, and more reliability and resiliency for the grid.
Darrell Proctor
T
here are many reasons utilities and
power plant operators need to enable
advanced analytics to better
utilize data. It could start with better load
forecasting with real-time updates, supporting
both power plant operations and
the electricity grid.
Data also is important for operational
efficiency, including the ability to be
more proactive with maintenance, which
can include ways to better anticipate
threats to system performance and reliability.
Detecting anomalies, along with
stronger outage prediction and analysis
of system loads, also is supported by the
gathering of data.
Then there's the use of data as part of
customer engagement, including targeting
of information for specific users, as
well as revenue management (Figure 1).
That's more important today as utilities
install smart meters, smart thermostats,
and other technologies designed to provide
better insight into where and when
electricity is being used.
" The energy transition is creating a
smarter, more-informed customer who
has evolved past 'an envelope in the
mailbox' and now determines their energy
needs across price, environmental,
and reliability platforms, " said Trey Thornton,
EY Americas Power and Utilities
Leader. Thornton told POWER his group
calls this customer an " omnisumer. "
Said Thornton, " This underscores the
sense of urgency for power and utility
companies in becoming more data-driven.
Our research found that more than 40%
of U.S. consumers are thinking about purchasing
rooftop solar panels and looking at
electric vehicles (EVs), and 89% want to
learn more about renewable energy and
self-generation in order to reduce reliance
on other markets, fossil fuels, and energy
providers. The more engaged customers
become in understanding and managing
their power and energy needs, the more
interaction and mutual education will be
required of the utility. "
Don McPhail, vice president of Product
at Uplight, a group that connects
power providers with their customers
in support of clean energy initiatives,
said, " With approximately 70% of electric
customers in the U.S. now having
advanced metering infrastructure [AMI],
utilities have begun using these to understand
the energy flows and state of
the power system, and the grid edge.
As the role of customers becomes more
important in delivering load flexibility in
the power system, utilities are using this
AMI data to provide accurate forecasts
and verification of the load shift occurring
during demand response [DR] events,
making the aggregation of these customer
programs as bankable as a centralized
natural gas peaking plant in their
grid planning and operations. "
Integrating DERs
Data utilization is important for both centralized
and decentralized power generation,
particularly as more distributed
energy resources (DERs) are added to
the grid. Balancing the power grid, as the
use of energy storage and renewable energy
continues to grow, requires the use
of data. The same is true of programs
aligned with DR and energy efficiency.
" More than ever, utilities are looking to
leverage hardware that increasingly exists
in the customers' side of the meter, "
said McPhail. " The data from distributed
energy resources, ranging from smart
thermostats to water heaters, to EV
chargers and the EVs themselves, gives
them greater understanding of the adoption
of these smart/connected loads, how
they are being used by customers, their
potential as a load flexibility resource [today
and in forward-looking forecasts], and
in aggregate provide utilities a circuit or
feeder-level view of the distribution grid's
energy flow, which they couldn't get from
traditional grid monitoring alone. "
McPhail told POWER, " As the grid
1. Utilities around the world are interacting with customers in more ways than ever, using
connected devices and communications technologies to help power generators, grid
operators, and electricity consumers gain insight into how and when energy is being used.
Source: Shutterstock
26
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capacity grows to accommodate all this
new load, grid edge flexibility becomes
critical and could account for up to 20%
of the overall grid load, according to estimates
by Brattle Group. "
Data from equipment both at a power
plant and in the field is helping utilities
make operational decisions, which
becomes more important as power
reliability and resiliency are prioritized.
" From an operational perspective, utility
companies depend on data to understand
root causes of outages, plan for
peak energy demands despite volatile
weather, get ahead of asset maintenance,
integrate renewables into the
generation mix, and mitigate damage
to the grid by more quickly knowing the
POWER | May 2023

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POWER May 2023

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