Electricity

Industry transformation is critically dependent on smarter spatial data intelligence

The journey from a linear energy flow to a smart, two-way exchange of energy and information has  begun. You will need to scale up distributed renewable generation, build demand-side management and embrace more competition and choice.  Your challenge is to do more than merely plug gaps in enterprise information, it is to completely rethink how the business uses knowledge. Is your geospatial data fit for purpose?

The benefits of accurate, complete, and timely spatial data

• Increase resilience – identify assets at risk of flooding and natural disaster
• Reduce carbon footprint – cut network losses and increase efficiency
• Improve safety – reduce uncertainties in live working
• Increase client satisfaction – speed up new connections for both supply and generation
• Mitigate risks – improve knowledge of adjacent networks and assets.

Data-based knowledge and insight provide a platform to address the challenges

Electricity networks are transforming. More frequent control means the need for faster responses; smart metering multiplies the quantity of data and communications; new forms of generation require additional telemetry, alarms, and event logs.  The implications for the volume, velocity and variety of enterprise spatial data are dramatic.  Historically information has been communicated with relatively high latency, often using batch processing.  This has been sufficient for the traditional linear energy model, but the smart network demands much more.  The need to be more agile is driving businesses to become much more information intensive.

In many cases, existing systems fail to meet current operational needs for safe, reliable, and efficient network management.  Asset data is often inaccurate, out of date or simply missing.  Data is held in multiple silos, often in different formats, limiting the intelligence that would otherwise come from bringing datasets together.  Geospatial data is often held against different referencing systems, with varying levels of positional accuracy. Management of change is labour intensive, causing delays and backlogs.

Electricity networks now need to move forward on two fronts:

1. Improve the quality and management of data to reliably deliver business as usual
2. Build the enterprise geospatial data needed to create the transformed business of the future

Many will choose new solutions that not only address business as usual challenges, but also provide a robust platform for the smart energy network as it evolves.