Challenges Facing the Grid & How Grid Orchestration Software Can Help

It’s time for a complete shift away from grid management to grid orchestration.

Why? Because today’s grid has become increasingly complex and the energy market more volatile. And problems such as heightened security risks, frequent outages, and fluctuating energy supply can’t be solved with traditional grid management.

Before explaining what a better approach looks like, it’s worth briefly reflecting on the three big challenges impacting the grid — and why change is so needed.

1. Increasing Distributed Energy Resources 

Electricity has become bi-directional as consumers generate and sell energy back to the grid via home-based solar panels, EVs, and other Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). This places new demands on the grid, such as the requirement of these energy sources to be balanced and putting tariffs and processes in place to pay for this energy.

2. Frequent Extreme Weather Events

Adverse weather events are now increasingly unpredictable and commonplace. From destroying power lines to flooding electrical grids, these events lead to costly repairs and disruption to customers — and the problem will only get worse unless preventative measures are taken now.

3. Rising Cyber-Attacks

With the digitization of the grid, cyber-attacks have become a growing concern.  To combat a higher number of coordinated attacks from sophisticated outsider groups, we need to build a more secure and resilient grid .

Faced with the convergence of these three grid challenges, legacy systems are cracking under the strain. Adding to that burden, an aging and retiring grid workforce is creating skills gaps and a loss of institutional knowledge.

The utility industry has reached a critical inflection point. So, the obvious next question is, what’s the best way forward?

It all starts with having the right software.

Yes, the utility industry has more than its fair share of software. But point solutions that served the industry well for decades now have the potential to lead to confusion. There are simply too many grid-wide challenges, and these can’t be dealt with effectively in silos.

Instead of grid management, we need grid orchestration.

To illustrate how an orchestrated approach can be beneficial, it’s worth looking at penetration of DERs. As more DERs are integrated onto the grid, complexity grows. You can’t keep sending all that data directly up to the control center for grid operators to figure out. It’s inefficient and overwhelming.

A better approach is to orchestrate DERs downstream, then work out what subset of that downstream data needs to go upstream. Put another way, you need a smarter way to help answer the question: “how much data do we really need?”

That’s a challenge that the right software can help address.

Modern grid software tools can do more than solve tech challenges. They can also help utilities attract a new generation of talent.

For instance, members of Gen Z have grown up using intuitive, connected technologies in their everyday lives. When trying to recruit talent from this generation, you’re competing with start-ups and Big Tech. Therefore, you need to be offering them the chance to work with cutting-edge tools.

More than any other generation, Gen Z also wants to work for organizations that offer them the opportunity to contribute to a cause they really care about: saving the planet. In fact, one-third of Gen Zer's say they want a job aligned with their environmental values¹.

In the battle for future talent, being seen as an active leader in the climate crisis can put you at a distinct advantage.

To succeed in a clean energy future, you need to take the right actions today. That means addressing the issues of an aging workforce, and also finding ways to deal with an increasingly unpredictable and complex grid.

Grid orchestration, rather than grid management, is the way to deal with this rising complexity — and GridOS ® is the first software portfolio designed specifically for grid orchestration. It’s a software suite and partner ecosystem that enables utilities to create a grid that’s more secure, integrated, and ready for the energy transition.

To find out how it could transform your utility, contact us today. We’d love to hear from you.

^{1. KPMG research 2023: “Climate quitting - younger workers voting with their feet on employer’s ESG commitments.”}