Accenture plc announced that it is providing Canadian utility Hydro One Networks Inc. with an analytics solution to improve how the utility plans investments in its transmission and distribution assets. The asset analytics solution uses a risk-based approach to prioritize capital and maintenance expenditures, which will help Hydro One manage and identify operations, maintenance and administration requirements. Accenture is helping Hydro One to access and integrate historical asset data and information from multiple databases and business applications that were either inaccessible or not integrated into the utility's information technology and operations technology networks.

With the implementation of the asset analytics solution, the utility's asset management, engineering and planning workforces will have information on the performance of transmission and distribution assets that is time-based and locational. By pulling together the data and information, Hydro One expects to have both improved data quality and advanced predictive analysis capabilities to define the requirements and forecast expenditures needed to maintain the electrical grid at an optimal level. Hydro One anticipates that, when the analytics solution is fully deployed, it will use data that can be combined with other statistical modeling, forecasting and optimization techniques to enable the utility to better anticipate its grid performance.

Its managers will be able to access integrated asset information to help them further identify and plan for short- and long-term investment scenarios and deliver performance outcomes that mitigate power system and on-going investment risk.