Enhancing the transmission and distribution of electricity is a priority to ensure a reliable and resilient power supply, as demand increases and grid challenges mount.

Providing more electricity to meet growing global demand for power has put a spotlight not only on adding more generation to the grid, primarily through construction of new power plants, but on improvements to the grid itself. Enhancements to support power grid reliability include investments for a variety of technologies, such as battery energy storage systems (BESS), advanced transmission lines, smart grid infrastructure, and distributed generation. Upgrades also focus on improved grid monitoring and control systems that allow for better and faster response to fluctuations in demand and disruptions caused by weather, equipment, or other issues.

“Needed enhancements span across condition monitoring, advanced data analytics, fire mitigation, and improved system control mechanisms,” said John Russell, senior director, Solution Consulting at AspenTech, a provider of software and services for the process industries. “Reliability in these systems is crucial not only for preventing downtime but also for ensuring that power is consistently delivered to consumers with minimal disruptions. Specifically, key areas for enhancement include the implementation of condition-based maintenance, improved data collection with smart meters, AI [artificial intelligence]-powered asset management, and advanced control technologies for both transmission and generation systems. By integrating modern technologies, these systems can proactively address failures, optimize performance, and respond to real-time conditions.”

“Reliability is central to the modern power grid, especially as we integrate more renewables and electrify transportation and heating. Much work has been done in generation and distribution, driven by smarter hardware, predictive software, and data analytics,” said Brandon Young, CEO at Payless Power, a Texas-based electricity group. “On the generation side, predictive maintenance technologies become game-changers. IoT [Internet of Things] sensors and AI are monitoring equipment like turbines and transformers in real time to pinpoint potential failures before they occur. That way, downtime is kept to a minimum, and power generation stays efficient.”

Utilities and grid operators are studying a variety of ways to improve the reliability of power generation and delivery, with data at the heart of much of the research.

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“Reliability enhancements should be approached as a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy that addresses design concerns and utilizes new and emerging technologies for improved data analytics,” said Michael Bennett, chief transformation officer at Powin, a battery energy storage company. “Up front, suppliers need to design and engineer components with reliability as a core principle. This includes using advanced materials, robust designs, and high-quality manufacturing processes.”

Bennett added, “Ensuring transmission, distribution, and generation assets are equipped with IoT sensors for real-time data collection, monitoring, and reporting capabilities has become a core focus over the past few years as well. These sensors provide operators with actionable insights into system performance and potential issues, allowing them to leverage both cloud and on-premise data to uncover complex insights, correlations, and predictions.”

Thomas L. Keefe, vice chair and U.S. Power, Utilities & Renewables Sector leader for Deloitte, said, “Increasing visibility and control through advanced grid technologies” is a major part of increasing grid reliability. “Sensors embedded throughout the network, including smart meters, automated control systems, and advanced monitoring tools, can provide real-time data on energy flow, equipment health, and grid stability,” said Keefe. “Analyzing sensor data can allow operators to anticipate equipment failures before they happen, preventing outages, enhancing the utilization of existing resources, and ultimately increasing grid reliability.”

Efficiency a Key Part of Upgrades

Upgrades to transmission infrastructure (Figure 1) are just part of the work being done to improve power grids. The need for maintenance, particularly during a period of transition to digitization of energy systems, is evolving as well.

1. Power grids across the U.S. and throughout the world are in need of upgrades to handle increased loads. Those enhancements also are needed to help integrate more renewable energy resources into electricity transmission and distribution systems. Courtesy: Salvatore Ventura / StockSnap

“There are several proactive maintenance solutions to improve grid reliability, such as implementing distributed intelligence [DI] systems for real-time monitoring and diagnostics,” said Matt Smith, who leads the global business and product strategy for the grid management business at Itron, a global group helping utilities develop innovative solutions for their operations. “Additionally, predictive analytics and edge intelligence can identify trouble spots below the substation, enabling utilities to automate fault isolation and repair processes, reducing the need for manual intervention, which leads to faster recovery times and improved grid stability. This integrated approach allows for a more efficient, resilient power grid, especially during times of increased demand or extreme weather events.”

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Smith listed what he called “key enhancements” to improve the overall reliability of electricity transmission and distribution, including decentralizing grids.

“Traditional centralized grids are vulnerable to cascading failures during extreme weather events, like major hurricanes and heatwaves, which are becoming more prevalent. Switching to a decentralized model, which includes incorporating distributed generation resources [such as renewables] closer to demand points, improves resilience,” said Smith. The Itron executive also noted the importance of leveraging intelligent grid edge solutions. “Integrating distributed intelligence into utility systems enables grid sectionalization, allowing power to be rerouted automatically. This reduces outages by leveraging real-time data to detect anomalies more efficiently than manual inspections.”

The use of distributed generation is helping provide additional power apart from centralized power plants. Advanced metering infrastructure is helping monitor power usage in real-time, and supporting demand response programs. And then there are efforts to combat the problems associated with keeping the lights out during extreme weather events.

“At the top of the list for transmission and distribution is grid hardening and modernization,” said Young. “Utilities are replacing aging infrastructure with weather-resilient materials, and deploying smart grid technologies such as automated reclosers, which isolate faults and reroute power almost instantly, reducing outages. The growth in smaller energy sources, such as rooftop solar and batteries, has been supported by distributed energy resource management systems [DERMS] that aggregate them to provide stability to the grid in times of peaks or emergencies. Future technologies, like grid-forming inverters, will stabilize grids with high renewable penetration, controlling voltage and frequency independently and acting as virtual power plants.”

Itron’s Smith said, “EV [electric vehicle] charging stations are an increasingly valuable resource that can be quickly repurposed before and during grid failures to provide grid services and backup power, respectively. Additionally, EV batteries within vehicles, specifically within larger vehicles like buses, offer a robust source of energy storage. These batteries can be tapped during outages to enhance grid resilience and maintain power for critical operations, making them an essential component in modernizing grid infrastructure to cope with outages.”

Deloitte’s Keefe said that reinforcing physical infrastructure is another important step. “Strengthening, upgrading, and hardening key components, such as power lines, substations, and transformers, can not only help handle higher loads but also reduce transmission losses and improve resiliency and energy delivery efficiency,” said Keefe. “A few states have signed bills mandating that utilities consider grid-enhancing technologies as a shorter-term solution in their IRPs [integrated resource plans]. Replacing outdated transformers with high-efficiency models can cut energy consumption by up to 12%, further boosting grid efficiency.”

Keefe added, “Deploying grid-enhancing technologies and advanced conductors to add capacity and flexibility to the existing transmission system [improves] transmission reliability. These technologies offer a cost-effective way to expand capacity compared to rebuilding transmission lines. Upgrading to high-efficiency conductors can minimize transmission line losses by 10% to 20%.”

Keefe also noted how model predictive control (MPC) technology can support reliability. “MPC uses a mathematical model to predict future system behavior within a set timeframe. It is popular in power electronics for managing constraints, multiple inputs and outputs, and nonlinearities. Unlike other control methods, MPC explicitly considers system constraints and optimizes control actions over a prediction horizon. This results in better performance, lower energy consumption, and increased reliability in power electronic applications. In renewable energy systems like photovoltaic [PV] and wind energy, MPC can optimize power extraction and facilitate maximum power point tracking [MPPT]. It also coordinates multiple energy sources, storage devices, and loads to ensure optimal performance and reliability.”

Grid Projects

Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., in December began construction on infrastructure upgrades designed to enhance electric reliability for customers in three Morris County communities in New Jersey (Figure 2). The work, scheduled to be completed in October of this year, is part of JCP&L’s New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project, which is an element of the company’s rate review settlement approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in February 2024. Equipment enhancements will take place along more than five miles of power lines in Chester, Washington, and Roxbury townships.

2. Upgrades to the power delivery system in Morris County, New Jersey, got underway in December 2024. The construction is part of Jersey Central Power & Light’s New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project. Courtesy: First Energy / Jersey Central Power & Light

Doug Mokoid, FirstEnergy’s president for New Jersey, in a statement said: “The upgrades we’re making under the New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project are part of our commitment to providing safe, reliable electric service for all our customers. These improvements, in particular, target areas where customers have experienced some of the most frequent outages in recent years.”

The New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project is a two-phase effort to enhance reliability for customers on high-priority lines selected based on historical outage data. The first phase, which includes at least $95 million in upgrades, is set to be completed over the next three years, according to FirstEnergy. The second phase, which includes longer-duration projects, is expected to be completed by year-end 2028.

The upgrades include replacing existing infrastructure with thicker, stronger wires and poles that can carry more electricity and provide more resiliency in storms. The work also includes upgrading fuses, and installing additional devices and reclosers that allow power to be rerouted to adjacent lines when an outage occurs, minimizing the number of impacted customers.

Several projects are underway or planned to build new high-capacity transmission lines to facilitate power transfer across long distances, often to move renewable energy resources from remote, rural areas to the grid. Advanced conductor materials are being used to reduce transmission losses. Smart grid tech is being deployed for dynamic load management, and battery storage is being installed along the grid (often at substations) to help with grid flexibility and balancing.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last year awarded $2.2 billion to eight electric transmission and microgrid projects across 18 states, with a goal of adding electricity delivery capacity and strengthening the grid against extreme weather. Jennifer Granholm, the Energy Secretary during the Biden administration, at the time said the money was part of a program to add 1,000 miles of transmission lines and 50,000 MW of electricity to the grid. Granholm at the time said, “and there’s much more to come,” although it’s not known how the Trump administration will approach funding for electricity transmission and distribution (T&D).

The DOE said $700 million would go to the North Plains Connector project, a high-voltage direct-current power line that would create the first large-scale grid connection between the Eastern and Western interconnections, the U.S. grid systems divided by the Rocky Mountains. Minnesota-based Allete Inc. and transmission builder Grid United are developing the project.

3. Deployment of renewable energy across the U.S. has been slowed by issues with integrating wind, solar, and other clean energy resources to the power grid. Courtesy: Shutterstock.

The Utah Office of Energy Development was awarded nearly $250 million to install 250 miles of advanced conductor cables, increasing line capacity to support delivery of 500 MW of renewable energy (Figure 3) across six states.

Another grant, for $30 million, was made to the New York Power Authority for its Clean Path New York project. That strategy is designed to deliver 1,300 MW of renewable energy from upstate and western New York to New York City, which the DOE said would help reduce reliance on coal- and natural gas–fired power generation.

Handling Increased Demand for Electricity

Technology innovations to improve power generation, transmission, and distribution have brought more complexity into power networks. That means utilities and grid operators are rethinking some of their earlier practices to adapt to a changing energy landscape.

Jon M. Williams, CEO of Viridi, a battery energy storage company, said, “The energy system is on the brink of a paradigm shift that will profoundly reshape energy transmission and distribution. After decades of relatively stable demand [no load growth], the grid must now manage an enormous demand increase resulting from industrial onshoring, the growth of data centers and AI, and, perhaps most significantly, the electrification of heat and transportation. Complexity has also been added as distributed generation resources, like rooftop solar, complicate system management. These antiquated 19th-century grids are decentralizing, and the transition must be accommodated.”

Williams told POWER: “The solution to this challenge will not be to redesign and rebuild the grid of the 19th century. Instead, we must use new advances that prioritize safety, reliability, and enhancing system level efficiencies while focusing investments on technologies that provide layers of benefit. There is no greater technology to benefit power grids as we electrify everything than intelligently managed distributed energy storage. Distributed storage can enhance the value and operability of on-site generation. With advanced connectivity, it can be leveraged as a ‘virtual power plant [VPP]’ to better enable host facility loads for grid support through constraints and failures in real time.

“Behind-the-meter distributed energy storage has the potential to improve resilience, support decarbonization, shave peaks, enhance value of behind-the-meter generating assets, enable utilities to pursue beneficial ‘non-wires’ alternatives, and avoid the massive costs that a replacement of the old grid would entail,” said Williams.

Utilities have developed programs to support a reliable power supply. The American Public Power Association (APPA) has a Reliable Public Power Provider, or RP3, program “that recognizes utilities that demonstrate high proficiency in reliability, safety, workforce development, and system improvement.” The group’s list includes utilities, both large and small, from across the U.S.

Said Young, “Real-world examples show the benefits: Florida Power & Light’s ‘Storm Secure’ program—undergrounding power lines and deployment of smart grid—has reduced outage durations after a hurricane like Irma. Similarly, Pacific Gas & Electric is now using AI to predict the risks of wildfires by analyzing weather, vegetation, and grid conditions in order to take action before disaster strikes.

“This brings, in short, today’s enhancements in reliability toward the goal of making the grid smarter and more resilient as AI and other power-hungry needs increase the demand for energy. Advanced software, durable hardware, and data-driven systems are revolutionizing how we manage and distribute electricity for future needs,” he said.

“The process of monitoring and setting up a system to proactively maintain assets to extend their lifecycle and prevent malfunctioning is also known as ‘asset lifecycle management (ALM)’,” said Terry Saunders, Worldwide Utilities and Industry leader at IBM. “As organizations continue to look for ways to conduct more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable operations many are turning to ALM. For energy equipment specifically, ALM practices may include installing sensors and using cameras for immediate eyes on equipment to identify factors affecting performance, and using AI-infused software that recommends specific maintenance directed by the data. By approaching maintenance and operations management from a preventive, data-driven approach companies can ensure that their systems are performing optimally for longer, ultimately maximizing their return on investment.”

Tyler Lancaster, partner at Energize Capital, a group that invests in climate technology, including renewable energy, told POWER: “A big shift in the power sector has been moving away from cycle-based maintenance programs to data-driven, proactive maintenance programs. Some aspects can also be automated to drive further efficiency and reliability. This is true across every form of power infrastructure.

“For example, historically, utility poles were inspected on a cycle once every five to 10 years. Over time, utilities and their service providers have built up a large amount of data and information on common failure modes for utility poles,” said Lancaster. Increasingly, analytical models can be applied to estimate the probability of failure for each pole based on the type of wood, environmental factors like moisture, location, etc., and can tailor maintenance activities to inspect and repair higher risk poles sooner.

Lancaster said it’s difficult to standardize operations to improve reliability. “This is a key challenge for the power sector, as operations tend not to be ‘one-size-fits-all.’ Different grids, with different environmental factors and natural systems, with different power infrastructure configurations—generation mix, T&D system setup, consumption segmentation and load profile, etc.—require tailored operations to ensure reliability. Where operations can be standardized is through the use of modular and adaptable technologies which can be easily configured to the unique needs of a specific power plant or grid operator’s context.”

“Standardization can play an important role in power system reliability as it promotes consistency, predictability, and interoperability,” said Keefe. “It can help reduce human error, and improve communication and coordination—especially during emergencies, with faster response times, etc.”

Combating Failure

Working to eliminate grid failures, or at least mitigate their impacts, is a goal of those working with utilities and grid operators. That can involve gathering data, knowing how to interpret it, and also having systems in place to deal with issues as they arise.

“Reliability at the equipment or component level is driven by two key factors—probability of failure and impact of failure. Enhancements that address one or both these factors are key to improving reliability,” said Steve Morris, a managing director with FTI Consulting’s Construction, Projects & Assets practice. “Whether it’s a power plant or the grid, reducing the probability of failure comes down to maintaining the assets in good operating condition through preventive and condition-based maintenance. Reducing the impact of failure is reliant on having redundancy in the system so that the failure of a single asset or component doesn’t reduce plant or system performance.”

Morris said, “For a power plant or electric substation, this is typically achieved by having spare capacity that can be used if there is a failure. For example, instead of having one power transformer in a substation running at full capacity, you would have two running at 50% or less capacity. If one fails, you can switch the other with no impact on the system. For the transmission grid, in most cases, if a single transmission line fails, there is sufficient capacity to switch to another transmission line, which has spare capacity. For the distribution grid, redundancy is achieved by interconnecting circuits and having auto reclosers, which can automatically restore after a fault is cleared, and sectionalizers that can section off parts of the system to reduce the number of customers impacted by an outage.”

Sally Jacquemin, vice president and general manager, Power and Utilities at AspenTech, told POWER: “Redundancy plays a vital role in maintaining the reliability and stability of both power plants and power grids. As the energy landscape shifts toward greater integration of renewable sources like wind and solar, the variability of these resources increases the importance of backup systems. Redundant infrastructure, including reserve generation and microgrids, ensures that power continues to flow smoothly during both planned and unexpected disruptions, such as outages or system failures, minimizing the risk of blackouts.”

Jacquemin said, “Historically, utilities maintained excessive reserve generation to protect against worst-case scenarios, ensuring power availability in case of failure. Today, however, there is a balance between maintaining enough redundancy to prevent outages and avoiding over-investment in reserve capacity. Modern systems focus on understanding the critical threshold of necessary redundancy, ensuring operational efficiency while still providing reliability in the face of unexpected events like sudden generation loss or extreme weather conditions.”

Jacquemin added, “Microgrids and localized redundancy solutions are increasingly important as they allow certain areas to maintain power even when the larger grid is disrupted. Powered by local generation sources like solar or batteries, microgrids can operate independently, providing resilience during storms or grid failures. The integration of renewable energy further highlights the need for redundancy, as renewables introduce variability that requires additional backup systems, such as storage or traditional generation, to ensure a reliable and stable power supply.”

“Redundancy is most important for the transmission system as North American Electric Reliability Corporation [NERC] requires that the transmission system must be able to handle the failure of a single component without causing a significant outage,” said Morris. “Therefore, transmission lines and substations are designed with redundancy. Redundancy is less important for power plants as typically a single unit of a power plant only produces a small portion of the power on the grid. In addition, power grids are required to have reserve capacity to be able to handle unit unavailability, maintenance, and higher than normal demand. The distribution system is similar to power plants in that most equipment serves a small number of customers, so a failure has little impact on the overall grid. Therefore, there is little redundancy in the system, other than in substations.”

Morris listed several ways to enhance reliability of power generation and the transmission and distribution system. He noted that advanced distribution management systems can automatically detect faults, and also identify the impacts of anomalies. He also noted a distributed energy resource management system “monitors, optimizes, dispatches, and manages all types of distributed energy resources including black start for grid shutdowns. Dynamic line rating calculates real-time transmission capacity of a line to optimize capacity usage to reduce congestion.” Meanwhile, an “asset performance management system monitors real-time equipment condition to identify [any] need for maintenance or indicate increasing risk of failure.” Morris also noted what he called “non-intrusive inspection,” which can help operators “understand power plant equipment condition without taking it apart. [This] includes technologies such as ultrasonic, radiography, eddy current, magnetic particle, acoustic emission, dye penetrant, leak testing, vibration analysis, and thermography.”

Lancaster said there are programs that can be implemented to enable proactive replacement and/or restoration of older equipment—both software and hardware—in power plant and power grid systems. He referenced his earlier comments about power poles, and said, “Another example is for transformers. Transformers are a key piece of equipment for the electric transmission and distribution system. They convert high-voltage electricity down to the lower voltages, eventually to the 120V type that we commonly use in our homes and businesses.

“There are several methods that have emerged to predictively identify transformer failure through sensor technology and data science or machine learning techniques,” said Lancaster. “For example, sensors that measure the accumulation of dissolved gas particles in the oil contained within a transformer can prevent transformer failure before it causes broader damage to other power grid equipment nearby.”

Utilizing Digital Twins and Energy Storage

Ildi Telegrafi, a policy fellow at the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure, said digital twins—often used to study power generation equipment—can also be a vital part of understanding electricity transmission and distribution.

Cybersecurity and Grid Reliability Shankar Somasundaram is CEO at Asimily, a risk management platform that secures Internet of Things (IoT) devices for healthcare, manufacturing, public sector, and other industries that depend on numerous connected devices. Somasundaram talked with POWER about how enhancements to support grid reliability also should address cybersecurity issues (Figure 4), especially with more digitization in power plants and along the transmission and distribution system. 4. Global and U.S. energy infrastructure, particularly the power grid, has become a major target for both physical attacks and cyber threats. Grid operators and utilities are responsible for protecting their systems from risk, with the federal government and national laboratories supporting those efforts as part of their mission to protect national and economic security. Courtesy: Asimily “Cybersecurity has become an increasingly fundamental variable for power system reliability as utilities digitize operations and add more network-connected devices and equipment,” said Somasundaram. “As headlines in this industry continue to show, a more interconnected power infrastructure—particularly its operational technology [OT] systems that directly control physical equipment—means that cyber vulnerabilities can directly impact system reliability. “In transmission and distribution systems, cybersecurity measures need to protect essential OT components like supervisory control and data acquisition [SCADA] systems, smart meters, and automated switches through authentication, encrypted communications, and continuous network monitoring,” said Somasundaram. “Power plants require additional protection for their digital control systems, including distributed control systems [DCS] and programmable logic controllers [PLCs]. This necessitates network segmentation, regular security patching, and strict access controls to prevent equipment damage or forced outages.” Somasundaram told POWER, “Supply chain security and the human element are equally crucial for reliability. Utilities must verify the integrity of software updates and new internet-connected equipment while maintaining comprehensive training programs for personnel who operate and maintain OT systems. Building a culture of cybersecurity awareness cannot be glossed over.” Somasundaram said as more automation enters maintenance programs, more vulnerabilities to cyberattacks are exposed. “From a cybersecurity perspective, every component in a power plant and the grid is potentially vulnerable if it has an access port. Historically, physical protection and maintenance have provided a strong defense. However, as network access and its many benefits are deployed more, this physical security is becoming less effective,” said Somasundaram. “Cybersecurity maintenance for power plants is like the price of democracy—it requires constant vigilance. This vigilance involves always detecting potential and current attacks. This requires processes backed by software that continually look for evidence of such weaknesses and attacks. When evidence is found, it’s important to act quickly to close security gaps or, in the worst-case scenario, terminate a successful attack.” Somasundaram added, “Fortunately, much of this has been automated by the software industry. Implementing people and processes to leverage this technology effectively and act quickly, however, is not always in place. Ensuring this implementation is key to maintaining automated maintenance and reliability.”

“The clean energy transition is driving the energy industry toward a new dynamic with vast renewable energy resources that can supply a high volume of energy over the year but with high intermittency,” said Telegrafi, who is also an analyst for New York-based utility Con Edison. Telegrafi said the need for bidirectional power flow management, and the inclusion of energy storage onto the grid “to stabilize intermittency and flatten the peak,” means “the tools necessary to manage this continually changing dynamic are digital. Balancing an ever-increasing power dynamic that must satisfy inconsistent load with intermittent generation supported by storage components requires the creating of a digital twin of the grid.” Of course, cybersecurity must also be considered whenever digital technology is added to a system (see sidebar).

Telegrafi said the digital twin “models the components individually and the systemic constraints binding operation via mathematical formulas. These mathematical formulas allow for optimization of the dynamic from the current dynamic to the future clean energy equilibrium that industry establishes. The digital twin can be manipulated freely to add or remove components into the digital emulation of the grid’s dynamics, enabling ‘what if’ scenarios for application toward strategically planning investment and policy.” Telegrafi said Optit S.r.l., an optimization and solutions group, has been working on these projects in the U.S.

Powin’s Bennett also noted the importance of digital twins to “enable continuous monitoring, simulation, and optimization of power plant or grid equipment, providing a real-time view of asset health.” Bennett said having “virtual replicas of physical assets” is just one of “several components of an effective, automated maintenance program to ensure the reliability of power plants and grid.” He cited condition-based maintenance, or CBM, which enables “transitioning from predefined maintenance schedules to dynamic, condition-based programs that rely on real-time monitoring and performance data. SCADA [supervisory control and data acquisition] systems and IoT devices provide the necessary data for this approach.”

Bennett said predictive maintenance also is important. “Using AI and machine learning algorithms to analyze historical and real-time data from sensors, enabling the prediction of failures before they occur… [where] data sources can include environmental conditions, operating history, and current performance metrics,” he said. There is also automation, where “automating data correlation in the cloud allows predictive insights to be seamlessly integrated into control systems or maintenance scheduling tools. This reduces response time and ensures resources are allocated efficiently to address the highest-priority issues.” Inspections of power plant assets, and the power grid, using robotic systems and drones “can automate inspections of hard-to-reach areas, reducing the risk to personnel and minimizing downtime,” said Bennett.

FTI Consulting’s Morris said, “To enable proactive replacement/refurbishment of older equipment requires understanding several elements. First, there is a need to understand the condition of the asset and what the probability of failure of that asset is. Second, there is a need to understand the consequence of failure in terms of its impact. Third, the probability and consequence of failure need to be combined to understand the amount of risk. Once risk is known, it can then be assessed against the cost of replacement/refurbishment to determine the appropriate time for an intervention.” For example, a well-informed user can plan to replace equipment when the risk value exceeds the cost of replacement.

Morris continued, “In order to understand the condition of the asset, there is a need to invest in condition monitoring hardware, which varies based on the application. These are typically wired or wireless devices, which can be placed on equipment to collect different types of data. In addition to the hardware, there is a need for asset performance management software, which takes the data from the monitoring devices and performs analysis to identify the risk of failure. It does this by creating a digital twin of the asset and analyzing the data being provided by sensors and monitors to simulate the impact on the asset’s condition. This software typically can also determine the consequence of failure and calculate the risk value.”

Viridi’s Williams said the use of BESS can address several grid-related issues. “By charging batteries when energy is abundant and lower cost—in many parts of the U.S., this occurs during peak solar production—and discharging when energy is at a higher price or when the grid is operating at a higher carbon intensity, distributed, behind-the-meter storage has the capacity to provide significant benefits to the host site,” said Williams. “These benefits include active management of on-site generation and cost reduction through peak shaving, while also supporting the grid by releasing energy when needed—all for the benefit of the battery owner. However, fulfilling these roles requires that the BESS be absolutely safe, and they must have advanced communications and controls capacity so they can be monitored and managed from anywhere and leverage real-time opportunities to provide forecasted return on investment.”

5. Twelve lithium-ion batteries, installed in a dedicated room, provide 500 kWh of usable power for resiliency backup and demand charge management for the Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute, located on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Courtesy: Viridi

“A good example of the diverse benefits from distributed storage is the 600-kWh Viridi BESS installation [Figure 5] in occupied space at the Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) in Buffalo, New York,” said Williams. “HWI had an undersized interconnection to support installation of a new cryogenic electron microscope. This need was satisfied by installation of the Viridi BESS, which charges in moments of lower power draw and discharges when the building is peaking to provide adequate power for this equipment whenever it is needed. However, when not used for this purpose, HWI uses the BESS in an automated fashion to peak shave, setting a kW ‘ceiling’ on operations that results in cost savings and reducing local grid strain. In this way, the BESS fulfills the promise of energy storage, which benefits both the host and the overall electric ecosystem.”

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.