| | December 202020CentureanUsing AI and Data Analytics to Manage Energy Distribution Energy is becoming increasingly distributed. Utilities sector, therefore, is experiencing a daunting task of integrating multiple sources of energy into their grid operations, including utility-owned wind and solar, customer-owned assets, community and rooftop solar, and electric vehicle (EV), and storage assets. National Grid, on the other hand, is progressively working on providing its customers with safe, reliable, and cost-effective energy. This is presenting a perfect Gordian Knot to balance the energy demand and supply while taking into account massive amounts of data from a variety of sources for real time decision-making. Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to automate distributed energy management poses tremendous potential here, and at the helm of making this happen is Centurean-- an AI and analytics software company.Centurean offers the industry's most comprehensive distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) application that connects and manages all types of distributed energy resources (DERs). Its machine learning algorithms tap into smart inverters, storage, combined heat and power units (CHPs), and other distributed generation resources to process data from millions of energy assets and predict demand patterns, which ultimately help in improving grid reliability, ensure power quality, and enable ancillary distributed energy management functions. Apart from DERMS, Centurean also runs a collection of applications that matches the energy supply of user demand and manages the distributed energy resource, helping customers to easily create value from their own energy assets. Underpinning this tool is Centurean's Energy Internet Platform (EIP) that helps energy providers win the future by harnessing flexibility to deliver reliability. This platform also acts as the unified technology foundation for all other Centurean's other applications, namely demand response optimization and management system (DROMS), virtual power plant (VPP), and energy storage management system (ESMS). They are used to provide state-of-the-art energy data science, speed, and scale needed to predict, optimize, and control tens of thousands of DERs and millions of participants, using trillions of data-points, in real time.Even that's not all! Centurean's AI solutions are now making headway for New Energy management. For instance, Centurean Flex is an industry-first platform providing a trading solution combining large utility-scale assets with behind-the-meter DERs to maximize revenues for asset owners. "The platform also enables co-optimization across all value streams, benefiting end-customers with resiliency, energy and demand charge reductions while supporting network needs with distribution flexibility and ancillary services." says Joanna Johnson, CEO. Fleet operators can also use Centurean Flex to deliver charge management and meet daily transportation requirements to drive the lowest cost of operation. In fact, Centurean Flex might be the only platform in the market now that can manage the full ecosystem of assets for an electric vehicle (EV) fleet, charging infrastructure, and optimizing DERs behind the meter. With such promising AI-backed applications, Centurean is indeed harnessing energy data to optimize the grid and turn the world's energy data into more power. TOP 10 SOLUTION PROVIDERS 2020SMART GRID Joanna Johnson | | OCTOBER 202319CXO INSIGHTSAmy Carstens, Director, Transmission Services, Dairyland Power CooperativeByTechnology across the globe has seen extensive growth over the past few decades. Companies like Walt Disney and Lego embracing this shift found new opportunities that thrive and meet new expectations of their customers, which has not been the case for most prominent businesses. Once recognized, Blockbuster Video and Polaroid are great examples of entities that failed to develop business strategies that would adapt with innovation.Success with any business is primarily determined by the robustness of corporate strategic planning activities and a company's ability to flex when the environment around them reaches a strategic inflection point. The electric utility industry is not exempt from the impacts of technology's growth. The strategic interests of utilities once focused on the development of the plant to serve an ever-growing load base where reliability improvement and expansion were the basis of most utility strategic plans.The consumer wants and needs to drive utility value. For example, being good stewards of our planet is a desire that impacts today's utility. We must understand what trends will influence the ability to utilize more renewable resources without deteriorating the electric grid's reliability. Wind and solar, energy storage, smart grid, and smart home trends are key focus areas for utility strategic planning teams. In addition, environmental legislation, electric vehicle adoption, and equipment supply volatility are influential trends that need to be monitored.There are multiple inflection points that a utility strategic planning team may want to identify that are linked to corresponding changes in their business plan. Scenario planning can be an excellent tool for understanding what impact those changes will have on a company's current business plan. It is also helpful to examine the amount of risk and reward associated with the timing and the scope of any potential adjustment. A possible business strategy may be a two-step approach for meeting the renewable energy demands of the consumers. Some changes may be more disruptive than others, and the disruption may be positive, negative, or both depending upon the utilities' current operating environment and structure. For instance, the strategic planning team may create a scenario that accelerates battery storage using a new battery breakthrough design. While also experiencing supply chain issues with new solar panels and turbine blades due to political unrest in the countries that supply such materials. In this scenario, reliability issues associated with non-dispatchable renewable energy resources are mitigated as storage progresses, yet the generator supply chain is compromised and will in turn slow adoption rates due to the lack of resources and increased prices. The team identifies that if a certain inflection point for the battery technology is met, a new line of business will be launched focusing on selling behind-the-meter battery storage as a reliable backup to the utility source and a load shifting tool optimizing time-of-use rate. When sourcing issues resolve or a new source is found, and another inflection point is met, the company business plan changes again. Renewable resource buildouts are included in the utility generation plan. The original battery business can be leveraged for the pairing of batteries and renewable generation, eliminating some of the reliability risks associated with adding non-dispatchable renewable resources.Suppose strategic planning is not considered a priority for a business. In that case, that business will become a future Blockbuster or Polaroid. The world around us will continuously evolve, and strategic planning helps ensure a company can be sustainable in that new operating environment. Since we are not sure what that environment will inevitably look like, we can use trend monitoring and scenario planning to help build different views of that future to test the robustness of our business plans and prepare to handle the "what" and "when" when it happens. MODERN ENERGY TRENDS AND ITS EFFECTS ON UTILITY COMPANIESWe must understand trends like environmental legislation, EV adoption, and equipment supply volatility. They must be monitored and how they will influence the ability to utilize more renewable resources without deteriorating the electric grid's reliabilityAmy Carstens | | OCTOBER 202319CXO INSIGHTSAmy Carstens, Director, Transmission Services, Dairyland Power CooperativeByTechnology across the globe has seen extensive growth over the past few decades. Companies like Walt Disney and Lego embracing this shift found new opportunities that thrive and meet new expectations of their customers, which has not been the case for most prominent businesses. Once recognized, Blockbuster Video and Polaroid are great examples of entities that failed to develop business strategies that would adapt with innovation.Success with any business is primarily determined by the robustness of corporate strategic planning activities and a company's ability to flex when the environment around them reaches a strategic inflection point. The electric utility industry is not exempt from the impacts of technology's growth. The strategic interests of utilities once focused on the development of the plant to serve an ever-growing load base where reliability improvement and expansion were the basis of most utility strategic plans.The consumer wants and needs to drive utility value. For example, being good stewards of our planet is a desire that impacts today's utility. We must understand what trends will influence the ability to utilize more renewable resources without deteriorating the electric grid's reliability. Wind and solar, energy storage, smart grid, and smart home trends are key focus areas for utility strategic planning teams. In addition, environmental legislation, electric vehicle adoption, and equipment supply volatility are influential trends that need to be monitored.There are multiple inflection points that a utility strategic planning team may want to identify that are linked to corresponding changes in their business plan. Scenario planning can be an excellent tool for understanding what impact those changes will have on a company's current business plan. It is also helpful to examine the amount of risk and reward associated with the timing and the scope of any potential adjustment. A possible business strategy may be a two-step approach for meeting the renewable energy demands of the consumers. Some changes may be more disruptive than others, and the disruption may be positive, negative, or both depending upon the utilities' current operating environment and structure. For instance, the strategic planning team may create a scenario that accelerates battery storage using a new battery breakthrough design. While also experiencing supply chain issues with new solar panels and turbine blades due to political unrest in the countries that supply such materials. In this scenario, reliability issues associated with non-dispatchable renewable energy resources are mitigated as storage progresses, yet the generator supply chain is compromised and will in turn slow adoption rates due to the lack of resources and increased prices. The team identifies that if a certain inflection point for the battery technology is met, a new line of business will be launched focusing on selling behind-the-meter battery storage as a reliable backup to the utility source and a load shifting tool optimizing time-of-use rate. When sourcing issues resolve or a new source is found, and another inflection point is met, the company business plan changes again. Renewable resource buildouts are included in the utility generation plan. The original battery business can be leveraged for the pairing of batteries and renewable generation, eliminating some of the reliability risks associated with adding non-dispatchable renewable resources.Suppose strategic planning is not considered a priority for a business. In that case, that business will become a future Blockbuster or Polaroid. The world around us will continuously evolve, and strategic planning helps ensure a company can be sustainable in that new operating environment. Since we are not sure what that environment will inevitably look like, we can use trend monitoring and scenario planning to help build different views of that future to test the robustness of our business plans and prepare to handle the "what" and "when" when it happens. MODERN ENERGY TRENDS AND ITS EFFECTS ON UTILITY COMPANIESWe must understand trends like environmental legislation, EV adoption, and equipment supply volatility. They must be monitored and how they will influence the ability to utilize more renewable resources without deteriorating the electric grid's reliabilityAmy Carstens | | OCTOBER 202324The ability to help homeowners and businesses save substantially on electricity bills makes solar energy a financial incentive and a logical alternative to conventional power sources. Ongoing advancements in solar technology further enhance efficiency and sustainability.Clean Energy Advocates, a full-ser-vice solar energy solutions provider, stands out in the market by helping homeowners and businesses nationwide drastically reduce or eliminate the high costs associated with energy. Its team of independent, licensed solar consult-ants educates clients on the economic advantages of switching to solar power while designing and recommending the best solar solution to meet their require-ments. Clients can unlock significant cost savings and tax credits and ensure greater peace of mind. "From assessing solar requirements to helping clients take advantage of the best financial programs and credits, we offer affordable solar solutions. That's our main objective," says Eleu "Nick" Lee, founder and president of Clean Energy Advocates. It has long been a challenge for clients to lower their electricity bills and store energy if necessary for future use. Clean Energy Advocates provides prod-ucts and services tailored to their finan-cial and utility preferences. Its com-prehensive range of solutions includes solar panels and batteries. All products are made in the U.S., eliminating the logistical or supply chain issues in trans-porting raw materials or finished goods from other countries. Under the hood of robust products and services is its primary provid-er, Powur PBC, a leader in providing cost-effective and clean home energy solutions. Powur's innovative platform model enables Clean Energy Advocates to ensure consistency in price, products, support, service, and warranty. Part of its multi-faceted solution delivery approach is a complimentary solar analysis showing clients how much money they could save and how this renewable energy can increase property values, improve cash flow, and lower or even eliminate electricity bills. Solar power is especially beneficial as it does not require complex distri-bution systems powered by fossil fuels. Clients can self-generate and consume solar energy by leveraging panels and batteries, saving up to 50 percent in energy costs. The generated solar power can be used for various purposes like powering the lights, refrigerators, and electric cars. Since all the energy is produced on-site, within the home, performance degradation can be completely prevent-ed. Clean Energy Advocates teaches people how utilizing as much energy as they generate in their homes can create a higher ROI. By relying on renewable energy, clients can gain more control over their costs and avoid future infla-tion associated with prices that utility companies charge annually. Homes installed with solar panels are also attractive to potential buyers, which can increase property values.Through its offerings, Clean Energy Advocates has crafted numerous client success stories. In one instance, it engaged with a homeowner spending $450 a month on their electricity bill. It helped them go solar with zero money out of pocket and shift from renting their energy from the utility company to owning it by self-generation and consumption. Spending as little as $220 for monthly installation, their monthly savings resulted in $230, which will sum up to $2700 savings a year and $27,000 for ten years. In another decade, they will save tens of thousands of dollars simply by switching to clean energy. "For every client whose properties qualify, we do our best to help them save money with clean and sustainable energy. What makes us different is that we truly work for our clients," says Lee. "We provide them with a transparent pricing model, and that is unique to our company and our provider. There are no hidden fees, and it is all about transpar-ency." By equipping clients with energy in-dependence and the financial benefits of transitioning to solar, Clean Energy Ad-vocates continues reinforcing its efforts to make the planet cleaner, greener, and more sustainable. TOP 10UTILITIES SOLARSERVICES PROVIDERS 2023ENERGY TECHFrom assessing solar requirements to helping clients take advantage of the best financial programs and credits, we offer affordable solar solutions. That's our main objectiveClean Energy AdvocatesBoosting Cost Efficiency with Solar Energy SolutionsEleu "Nick" Lee, Founder and President
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