Itron Advances Grid Reliability with Dynamic Grid Connectivity Modeling Service
January 25, 2017 at 07:15 pm IST
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Itron, Inc. is helping utilities improve grid performance with its new Itron Grid Connectivity offering, which is now commercially available. The repair of distribution infrastructure following a power outage can sometimes lead to meters being reconnected to the wrong transformer or phase, which leads to issues with grid balancing. Delivered as a service, Itron Grid Connectivity helps utilities quickly and accurately identify meter-to-transformer and meter-to-phase connectivity using hourly interval voltage data and sophisticated machine learning algorithms, without the need for expensive hardware or field labor. The offering was developed by Itron Idea Labs, an organization within Itron that accelerates business innovation. With accurate knowledge of meter to transformer and phase connectivity, electric utilities can enable a balanced grid and achieve better outcomes from their applications, such as outage restoration, revenue protection, load balancing, system planning, voltage optimization and asset optimization. Itron Grid Connectivity is a cloud-based offering that helps achieve this by applying algorithms to determine the precise connectivity from every meter to its distribution transformer as well as the feeder phase supplying the power. This helps utilities eliminate the substantial costs and risks associated with sending personnel into the field to trace the circuit of every meter to its distribution feeder as well achieve operational efficiencies and reduced truck rolls for unplanned outages.
Itron, Inc. provides energy, water, smart city, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and intelligent infrastructure services. The Company operates in three segments. The Device Solutions segment primarily includes hardware products used for measurement, control, or sensing. Its Networked Solutions segment primarily includes a combination of communicating devices, network infrastructure, and associated head-end management and application software designed and sold as a complete solution for acquiring and transporting application-specific data. Its Outcomes segment includes its value-added, enhanced software and services, artificial intelligence, and machine learning in which it enable grid edge intelligence and manage, organize, analyze, and interpret raw, anonymized data to improve decision making. It is also engaged in embedding real-time, high-resolution grid edge data into the grid planning, operations and engineering process. Its solutions include technology, software and services.