A few decades ago, nobody could have foreseen a day when progressive initiatives—such as the adoption of distributed energy resources (DER) and battery storage systems, decarbonization, electric vehicles (EVs), and legalized marijuana— would dominate the headlines. Although each initiative represents a form of “progress,” they all lag in one crucial aspect. They rely on the assumption that existing, aged infrastructure can accommodate the unplanned, never-imagined energy demand burdens that accompany new industry sectors.

Essentially, the initiatives are exerting tremendous stress on the power grid. While EV charging stations have created unplanned grid-edge loading on aged transformers, hydroponically-grown marijuana consumes a ton of electricity. Consider that growing just four cannabis plants adds 29 refrigerators of power usage, and a solitary EV charging station amounts to 2.5 homes of energy demand. Likewise, with DER being emphasized and mandated across various U.S. states, the grids are facing the unique dilemma of “reverse overloading” of transformers. Imagine driving your car in reverse at 70 miles per hour for 4 hours per day. That is what DERs and excessive clean energy production are doing to aging transformers.

Clearly, existing grid infrastructure is unable to support said initiatives. So grave is the situation that electric utility operators are unable to predict a power outage until it is reported.

Determined to flip this script is GRID20/20, a smart grid solution provider that supplies best-in-class distribution transformer monitoring devices along with valuable analytics offerings. Through a groundbreaking Advanced Transformer Infrastructure (ATI) solution, GRID20/20 provides “reliable, unique, timely, accurate, and granular intra-grid data” to enhance the distribution grid management capabilities of electric utility operators across the world. “We flip the historical reactive grid management efforts into a proactive, ‘hands-free’ grid management process through our solution,” says Alan Snook, the president of GRID20/20.

The “hands-free” aspect of the solution truly stands out since GRID20/20 is focused on giving utility operators a superior level of power and control over the aging grid infrastructure.

So, how do operators gain unparalleled intra-grid awareness via the ATI solution?

It’s a rather straightforward process. Through a user-friendly software, operators can establish their desired intra-grid tolerances before GRID20/20’s patented sensor suite (i.e., OptaNODE®), and robust software platform kicks into high gear. Thereafter the OptaNODE-powered solution delivers automated alerts when intra-grid conditions go awry and pinpoints outage notifications to accelerate restoration efforts. By leveraging actionable data to identify existing and manifesting intra-grid problems, utilities gain critical grid visibility intelligence and accurately identify adverse grid-edge impacts. Rather than supplying voluminous, useless information, the solution delivers only critical, actionable data. “The unique capabilities presented by ATI to capture and report a host of data points within the most dynamic and vulnerable segment of the grid is becoming a versatile game-changer for utilities around the world,” declares Snook.