WEBVTT

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Electric utilities in the US are very advanced

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when it comes to the digitalization
of their distribution.

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Back in 2009, President Obama
allocated $3.4 billion

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for the Smart Grid Investment Grant
to modernize the country's electric grid,

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funds many utilities used for smart meters.

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In 2023, the US Department of Energy announced
another $10.5 billion in grid resilience

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and innovation partnerships to help
make the grid more reliable and resilient.

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Fast forward to 2024, and around
70% of utilities

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have already deployed an advanced
metering infrastructure, meaning that

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unlike what we see in the smart city
industry in the US,

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where most projects are pilots, smart
utility solutions are deployed at scale.

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And when projects are widely deployed,

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that's when deployers see the benefits.

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In regards to digitizing Dominion Energy’s main
focus has been in regards

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to enhancing operations
and customer experience.

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So we transitioned many of our,

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almost all of our meters in the state of Virginia
to smart meters.

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In doing that, it really saves
not only saves us money, but

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makes us more efficient.

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With the grid reliability
stability of the grid.

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What we're focusing on in outdoor
lighting is installing

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smart lighting
controls on our 2.5 million fixtures.

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We began installing those in late of 2022.

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Today, we've installed about 150,000
across our footprint.

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We see a lot of benefits for our customers
for example, self-reporting of outages,

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where our customers will no longer
have to report their outages for us.

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We also see
a lot of operational efficiencies

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in our repair side through digitizing, such
that our techs can go to the exact light location.

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Now, with digitalization
they’re able to have real time sensors

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that are able to be
put out into their feeder circuits

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whether be distribution or transmission,
this real time information provides data

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and they can make modifications
as needed to make sure that they're

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getting their reliable service,
those outcomes that they want to have

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and do it in a cost effective manner

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and be able to do it
in a safe environment

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for their employees and their customers.

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Now that the basic benefits
of digitalization are covered,

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the question is how to take it
a step further and leverage the network they have.

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That's where smart city solutions
come in, bringing

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the utility and city environments
closer than ever.

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In the US, a large portion
of streetlights are owned by the utilities

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and to connect them, they need to

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install a communications network
that can be used for other solutions.

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So utilities are exploring
smart city projects.

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Dominion Energy, for example, has created
smart city positions

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within its team and is to launch
five pilots.

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Four are funded by Dominion
and will test smart solutions

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like a smart bus stop,
smart parking and a smart park.

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The last one will be funded by a grant
and in partnership with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

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and the City Air Force Church,

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where they'll install cameras
with computer vision,

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noise detection and even dynamic lighting
thanks to a dimming feature.

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We're actually looking into
doing some pilots where we're going to be

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utilizing our streetlights infrastructure

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to attach smart city sensors
such as air quality control sensors,

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flood sensoring,

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cameras, wi-fi, noise detection.

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So, a lot of different technology

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that we're looking to pilot
with various vendors

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and really understand, what all this technology can do

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and how it can help the cities better
make informed decisions.

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At Duke Energy, Outdoor Lighting

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we've also been able
to deploy 5G towers

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for carriers to improve that.

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We also provide attachment space
for wildfire and broadband and

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those types of things for any carriers
who want to deploy those areas.

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So we’re basically a mechanism to facilitate
that, we're already at full deployment.

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We already have over
1600 5G sites around our service territory

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and we're installing

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hundreds of the what I call
the smart attachments, the wi-fi

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and the other types of IoT devices
like cameras and those types of things.

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Smart lighting controllers can serve
as the communications network

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or the data aggregation points for sensors
deployed around

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or on the streetlights,
or can even manage power usage

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to have enough energy
for both the light and sensors.

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And since streetlights are everywhere
in a city and can communicate,

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they become an incredible already deployed
infrastructure for smart city solutions.

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So definitely, as utilities
expand their communications network,

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they can partner with the city
to be able to take advantage of that

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and it doesn't require
redundant investments in communications.

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They can leverage
the utility communications

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either via a private network
of some type of communications.

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For you to have a smart city, you need
to have a utility that's supporting them.

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Utilities
bring existing infrastructure in place.

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A great example is streetlights,

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so they might be providing
the street lights for the city.

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And that street light gives the city
the opportunity to attach sensors.

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In some situations, you may be able to put 20 plus
applications onto a street light.

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Again, utilities is the foundation
because utilities have the power source,

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they have the streetlights and they have
a vested commitment to the community too.

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Street lighting
is kind of the backbone of smart cities.

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And so by providing smart lighting
controls, we're kind of providing

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the platform
for cities to do more and attachments,

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for example,
we'll be able to provide attachments

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for our customers,
for our cities, for cameras and such.

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And  that's just an
iteration of the smart lighting controls.

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Of course, one of the reasons
for having smart city technologies is

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to improve the quality of life
and services for residents.

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But there also needs to be a return
on investment as at the end of the day,

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the utility is a business
that needs to keep its lights on.

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Dominion Energy is very much interested.

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You know, we're all about
helping our community, our customers.

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They've come to us actually, and asking us
like, hey, do you offer cameras?

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Do you offer ways to do
license plate recognition?

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They're coming to us

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and they're asking for these types of technology.

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So it's like, you know, why not?

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Why not get into it and look into it
and see if this is a way

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for us to generate additional revenue.

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In addition to our LED lights

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offering cameras or noise detection
just providing additional,

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additional products and services.

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Everything we're doing from an attachment
part is regulated.

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So the revenues we're charging basically,
like you have an apartment and charge

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space for the apartment, we're charging
for the power in the space on our poles.

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And so the revenue is coming in through
our outdoor lighting revenue streams.

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In the case of Dominion Energy,
they're doing the pilots to understand

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better how they could offer

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smart city solutions,
whether by partnering with third party

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vendors and offering new products
to the municipality or having cities

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deploy the solutions themselves
using the utility infrastructure at a cost

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in their exploration of partnerships,
cities are looking to leverage

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utility networks
to deploy some solutions more than others.

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The main ones
they're asking for, according to Dominion

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and Duke, are public Wi-Fi, cameras, noise
detection, gunshot detection,

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license plate recognition, flood
monitoring and air quality sensors.

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As we've seen in cases like EV chargers,
utilities will be key in deploying

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smart city solutions
as they'll be able to provide the power,

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the pole and the connectivity for cities
to gather and act according to data

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to make services more efficient
and decisions more accurate.

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So utilities are set to become
a major smart city enabler.

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As we saw at Distributech 2024,
selling to US utilities

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can be key for smart city
vendors looking to scale their solutions

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in North America, as well as a great actor
to talk to for cities and utilities

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around the world looking to gain
insights into the industry.