Energetica India 89 - May 2020

Both investment and prioritizing deci- sions can be aided with analytics. On the regulatory side, concerns are likely tied to the uncertainty of the utility model itself. Net metering has been a bone of contention for years, with some states in the USA — Hawaii and Indiana, for ex- ample — shutting down the policy for good. Still, the downward trend in solar and storage costs are making these op- tions more attractive than ever, partic- ularly in areas where power prices are high. That’s decreasing the rate base for utilities to maintain infrastructure. One large municipal utility in California is trying to even things out by imposing a fixed charge for all customers so that less revenue must be made through sales volume. Others are still looking for solutions because even with depart- ing load, utilities must pay for wires and substations. Bottom line: We all know something must change. Nearly 50 percent of respon- dents said their future would be less regulated. This uncertainty may be what is leading to expanded planning timelines. Years back, utilities focused on one-year rate cases. More recently, planning horizons have typically looked forward for around three years. Now, almost 70 percent of respondents are looking at four-to-sev- en-year planning horizons. Along with emerging regulatory models, utility workers are grappling with new ways of working together. Grid automa- tion and modernization are forcing the convergence between IT and operations technology (OT) in what has traditionally been a highly siloed work environment. Now, distribution system engineers, IT and communications experts, genera- tion workers and operations folks work together. A preponderance of utilities is embrac- ing such cross-functional teams to get grid modernization done. More than half (56.3 percent) of respondents have the CIO, transmission, security, IT/communi- cations and operations working togeth- er toward the smarter grid. Pull out the CIO’s involvement, and you still have more than 70 percent with a strong IT/ OT team on the job. One US Midwestern investor-owned util- ity started their modernization efforts by first creating a high-level vision of what they need to look like in the future as they become a digital utility. They plan to incorporate that vision on a day-to-day basis into decisions being made about infrastructure technology and more. To oversee this effort, the utility created an independent group that is evaluating everything underway and deciding on priorities. This group includes IT, generation, transmission, distribution and even cus- tomer-facing people, all of whom are on this project exclusively to be the link be- tween the utility’s vision, its daily opera- tions and its forward-thinking technology decisions. This impressive approach is also a smart one because grid modern- ization will be pricey. More than a quarter of the survey re- spondents are looking at spending be- tween US$100 million and $200 million over the next three years. Roughly one in five respondents expect to top the $200 million price tag. That’s a considerable amount of mon- ey to spend – even more eye-popping when you consider that much of it will go toward accommodating DER that the utility won’t even own. POWER SECTOR 49 energetica INDIA- May_2020 Globally EV charging is among the most significant DER components