Social Intelligence
Harnessing the true power of social media.
Customers expect their utilities to communicate as well as other service providers. This shouldn’t be considered a burden, but an opportunity.
Cybersecurity, Reliability & CIP
Correlation Processing
Big data at work – from plant performance to customer interaction.
Analytics technology isn’t just for customer service and distribution systems. Pattern recognition techniques are allowing utilities to wade through large reams of data and identify incipient equipment problems at power plants, avoiding costly failures and safety compromises.
Mobile Mindset
Meeting customers’ service expectations in the smart phone era.
Mobile data services play a vital role for utilities to better engage customers and provide vital information during outage situations.
Category Error
The trouble with treating grid projects as market players in New York’s capacity auction.
Transmission is not generation. Yet New York ISO makes grid projects qualify as competitive, like gen plants, to get to play in its capacity market.
What Price, Resiliency?
Evaluating the cost effectiveness of grid-hardening investments.
As with any investment, resiliency upgrades can reach a point of diminishing returns. Analyzing the costs and benefits can help guide upgrade strategies.
Modeling Storm Outages
New tools for enhancing utility preparedness and response.
Sandy and other major storms have raised the bar for outage management. New modeling systems help utilities predict effects and plan their response.
Manpower Strategy for Mutual Aid
Superstorm Sandy showed that when it comes to manpower, resources to execute normal operations are becoming scarcer. A new strategy is required to coordinate disaster response and recovery.
Where Did My People Go?
Today’s talent deficiency is tomorrow’s imperative.
The utility talent gap is widening. New technologies and evolving markets call for a more proactive approach to building the future workforce.
Walking the Ports and Services Gauntlet
An approach to complying with NERC’s new cybersecurity standard, CIP-007 (R2).
NERC’s new standards require utilities to lock down network ports and services. Compliance calls for a systematic approach to cataloging and tracking.
Low Tech Resilience
Portable small-scale generators could keep vital services on line during a major power outage.
High-voltage generation reserves cost more than would portable, small-scale units to keep critical services on line during a major power outage.