Association of Edison Illuminating Companies
Elizabeth Cook is Vice President of Technical Strategy at Association of Edison Illuminating Companies.
The electric utility sector is in a critical era marked by rapid technological advancements and a paradigm shift toward a more sustainable and efficient energy economy. The key to successfully navigating this transformation lies in having a clear and compelling vision — or a North Star — and assembling the right team and processes to continuously refine and enhance this vision.
This crisp vision involves modernizing the grid to handle an influx of intermittent, on-site, new energy sources, integrating advanced technologies like smart (such as communicable) assets and devices, and ensuring reliability and efficiency in energy delivery. The electric utility sector's North Star must be a blueprint that addresses current challenges and anticipates future trends and disruptions.
However, transforming a vision into reality is a complex and multifaceted journey that requires identifying needs in the electric utility space, highlighting the essential interplay of visionary ideas, dynamic teams, and robust processes to prepare the grid for the future energy economy.