A Future-proofed Energy Partnership: GE Digital Grid Software and Infosys

Just a few years ago, discussions around renewable energy were future facing. But today, the unprecedented amount of renewable energy added to the grid on a daily basis, from solar panels to electric vehicles, tells a different story—the future is here. And it arrived fast and furious. The IEA predicts we’ll see as much renewable energy added in the next 5 years as we did the last 20.

This poses a major problem for energy companies. Or an even bigger opportunity, depending on which way you look at it. Historically, the energy industry has operated in fiercely competitive silos. But in order to keep up with the rapid evolution of energy applications, it too must evolve.

“Any vendor who believes they can solve everything by themselves is not going to be successful,” Stacey Moser, COO of GE Digital Grid Software puts it bluntly. “Trying to keep up with the pace of innovation and change around thousands of use cases…we’re just not going to be able to do that alone.”

That change Moser is referring to is a total grid transformation. And the solution GE designed is called GridOS^® Orchestration Software - the first software portfolio designed specifically for grid orchestration.  In short? GridOS orchestrates all the moving pieces of an increasingly complex energy grid. It keeps things running amidst expanding DERs, cyber attacks, and even extreme weather events.

It takes a team effort to reach this level of sophistication, and a natural member of the partner ecosystem that is a part of GridOS is Infosys.

Infosys is a global-leader in next generation digital services and consulting. They are experts in digital transformation, and recognize how essential an open, collaborative network is to the future of energy.

“Energy transition is a team sport,” Srikanth Srinivasa, Infosys’s AVP of Energy & Utilities says. “There’s no one player who can actually dominate this market because it’s just so complex and emerging in front of our eyes.”

Part of succeeding in a team sport is playing off each others’ strengths, and recognizing when you need some help. “We need a more modern and open architecture that anybody can plug into,” Moser adds. “We see Infosys as playing a huge strategic role.”

Both Srinivasan and Moser have had a front-row seat for the rapid evolution of energy use cases, and understand what it takes to create a reliable and resilient solution at scale.

Srinivasan views grid transformation through three lenses—managing energy as a dominant currency, safety and reliability, and solving for evolving consumer needs.

“Customers are going to be demanding different things and the grid needs to be ready for all of this.”

The collapse of the energy industry’s walled garden will pose some initial challenges but is hugely beneficial for everyone. Working in silos, energy companies are often forced to use point solutions. But the GridOS partner ecosystem changes this. Harnessing the power of collaboration, GE’s partner ecosystem is the only grid modernization practice designed for grid orchestration. “It’s exciting to look at Grid OS and the open architecture and invite partners not only to play from a services angle but also to bring in applications and use cases,” Srinivasan adds. “When we bring all of that together… [there’s] faster time to value and greater innovation.”

It’s this innovation that will ensure a smooth transition to clean energy sources while at the same time maintaining the rapidly expanding energy infrastructure.

“The [renewable energy] adoption’s just accelerating. You think about 5 million, 10 million different end-points. How do you think about [those] being added to the grid?” Moser contemplates. “How do you forecast the load? How do you make sure that [it] doesn’t disrupt the rest of your energy?”

It’s a challenge partners say GridOS was built for—as it’s the first software portfolio designed specifically for grid orchestration.

Another great feature of GridOS is its ability to streamline the rapidly evolving energy applications by tapping into AI and machine learning technologies.

That’s something crucial for managing the endless influx of data, Stacey points out.

“With the endless use cases [and] all the different sources of data, trying to do this in a manual effort—at least the way a lot of us do it today—it’s just not going to be sustainable,” he says.

Something else that’s not sustainable? Trying to train and scale energy teams without support.

The partnership between Infosys and GridOS will help teams navigate this new energy landscape at scale.

“[Infosys] has the ability to train, enable, and develop talent,” Stacey elaborates. “[They] can go out to utilities and partners…that are trying to come up on this journey and we see a huge value in that.”

GridOS is the path forward for energy. It combines the best of OT and IT to provide a seamless, end-to-end solution for energy management. It takes a once restricted, complex industry and makes it easily accessible to everyone.

“Commercial customers are not going to be able to deal with all this complexity,” Srinivasa concludes. “They’re looking for, “Can you deliver a simple charge as a service?” And to be able to do that for different actors, to take control of their own destiny…[that’s] the exciting use case we’re going after.”