Understanding Renewable Energy Integration Tools for Utility Managers

Utility managers face a unique set of challenges when it comes to integrating renewable energy sources into their smart grids.

Over the next decade, energy utility organizations will lose over 50% of their workforce to retirement. Managing that loss of expertise, combined with the demand to adopt new, sustainable practices, places a huge strain on managers. 

This blog shows how the right renewable energy integration toolset can simplify the complexities of managing renewables.

While finding the most effective ways to integrate renewables, utility managers are presented with an array of challenges:

1. Navigating the inherent intermittency of renewable generation while maintaining grid reliability.
2. Storing renewable energy and determining the optimal mix of sources to manage peaks in demand.
3. Accommodating and managing new energy sources and distributed energy resources (DERs).
4. Adapting to changing policies and regulations.
5. Hiring and retaining talent with specialist expertise.
6. Balancing the energy transition with current energy demands.

But, with the right renewable energy integration solutions, you can revolutionize grid operations while future-proofing your organization.

Below, we break down how to do this using three grid-specific solutions, all of which are underpinned by GE Vernova’s innovative GridOS® Orchestration Software portfolio:

• Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS)
• Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS)
• Advanced Energy Management System (AEMS)

DERMS: integrating and managing DERs

Utility managers are no strangers to the challenges of accommodating more and more DERs on the grid. Capacity concerns, complex electrical flow patterns, and evolving regulations are just a few. 

GridOS DERMS offers an end-to-end orchestration toolset to navigate all these DER challenges and more. It acts as the bridge between your control center and the fleet of DERs connected to your grid, giving you the power to monitor, manage, and control DERs for maximum efficiency and efficacy.

By providing real-time insights into energy generation and consumption patterns, DERMS empowers you to safely operate the grid while continually integrating new DERs, all at minimum cost.

It is an integrated, modular and standards-based platform that scales along with your operation into the future.

ADMS: ensuring grid reliability and resiliency

Optimizing grid distribution is challenging on its own, and even more so when high renewables penetration is involved. Advanced Distribution Management System equips you with the tools to cut through that complexity and optimize the grid – beyond the rudimentary functions of SCADA, DMS, and OMS.

ADMS’ powerful technology makes it easy to maintain reliability throughout your distribution network by drawing on new energy sources (DERs) and controllable loads to balance the grid. It is fully DER-enabled, ensuring that you can leverage DERs to maximum effect in times of need. With ADMS orchestrating your distribution grid you can achieve true distribution optimization, maximum resiliency and reliability, and better metrics (especially CMI, SAIFI, and SAIDI).

AEMS: simplifying renewable management at scale

When it comes to  integrating renewable energy into the grid and orchestrating  it, advanced energy management is essential for maintaining the delicate balance between supply and demand from the transmission end of things.

GE Vernova’s Advanced Energy Management System serves as your strategic ally in this endeavor. By leveraging high-quality data and predictive modeling, you can forecast energy generation from renewables, more precisely identify grid inertia needs, and more quickly recover from disruptive weather events.

Essentially, AEMS empowers transmission grid operators to manage, control, and optimize operations with high renewables penetration.

Part of the beauty of these advanced toolsets lies not only in their technical prowess but also in their ability to empower your existing teams and attract fresh talent to your organization.

As the energy landscape evolves, you can equip your teams with the capabilities they need to navigate the challenges of managing and integrating renewables into the grid . By fostering a culture of innovation, self-learning, and proficiency through implementing these cutting-edge technologies, you'll be better poised to both retain skilled employees and attract new talent (drawn in by the promise of the latest technology).

Here are just two examples of how utility managers across the globe are already reaping the benefits of these solutions.

Northern Powergrid

By coupling its smart meter algorithm with ADMS, Northern Powergrid was able to optimize voltage delivered to customers, with savings of up to £500 million when used at a national level. With ADMS, real-time data from local smart meters could be used to manage voltage delivery for optimum efficiency. 

Bahrain Electricity & Water Authority (EWA)

By implementing a solution that included AEMS, EWA was able to optimize asset and network utilization and minimize outages for 430,000 electricity customers. AEMS enabled the authority to integrate multiple monitoring, control, and analytics systems into a modular solution to improve the efficiency of energy transmission.

The journey towards  the integration of renewable energy sources in the smart gird is undoubtedly challenging, but with the right tools, it becomes a transformative opportunity.

At GE Vernova’s Digital business, we’ve developed our DERMS, ADMS, and AEMS solutions to form a comprehensive toolset that empowers utility managers to navigate the complexities of renewable integration, enhance grid operations, and attract top talent.

By adopting these advanced solutions (all of which are underpinned by GridOS), you not only ensure efficient and sustainable grid operations but also secure your organization's position at the forefront of the sustainable energy transition.