WEBVTT

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Day 2 at Distributech, and as we see
the maturity

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of the electric utility industry
in the US, there's an obvious question.

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With the smart meter situation
already conquered and digitalization

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being so advanced, what comes next?

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Where I see the need for technology to begin to
come into the space is we're seeing

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a lot of implementation of the hot ticket
items of inverters, solar or battery

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sitting both at the distribution side
but also beyond the meter.

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What's needed is a connection,

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some sort of a bridge
between the two of those things.

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So whether it be the implementation of IoT
back beyond the meter or something

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sitting at the panel
that can start to bridge that gap between.

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The need to make informed decisions
on both sides based upon

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what's happening in one section to be able
to make better decisions on the other

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side, it’s going to be very huge
I feel like in the next few years.

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You're starting to see a lot of line
sensors out there, whether it be

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current voltage metering or measurements.

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You're seeing some devices
that can actually go out

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onto skate equipment
at the RECLOSER level

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or at the breaker level
to start reading some of that information

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without actually having to tap
into the skater system itself.

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The big thing, too, that I'm seeing

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is the idea of operational technology
and security at the substation level.

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I think what we're
doing now, we're using state of the art

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lighting technology
with the smart controls now.

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And so I think we're going to be set
for a while with that.

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I know there's a lot of opportunities
around some specialized fixtures

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that are completely integrated
to have the controls inside of it

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that have the cameras inside of it.

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So we'll be taking a look at those.

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Obviously,
we won't need those at every location,

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but where does it make the most sense?

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For example, traffic optimization.

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You know, maybe we just put those
at the intersections

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or where would it make sense so we can
then leverage new technologies

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and new opportunities
to improve our business

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and improve our level
of service to our customers.

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So we need to figure out a new way
to harden the grid

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that is consistent with all the challenges
that are coming at it.

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So it's going to be new equipment,
it's going to be new designs

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that are required for equipment to make
the interoperability of the grid easier.

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Well, the thing I've noticed is if you
look at everybody's booth, everybody says

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intelligence to improve grid
reliability and resilience.

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Everybody says that now.

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It used to be communications,
and then it was smart meters

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that everybody has, there's a wave of this
this need for intelligence

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and the focus being on grid resilience
even more than reliability.

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So how does the grid respond
to things going on?

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And that'll be the future, I think.

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A lot of people have smart meters
and there's a big progression

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to the next wave of information
that all of these distributed devices

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create, which is data.

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So the world of AI,

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based on all of this great information
that we're receiving,

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is going to make a tremendous difference
in the way things happen on the grid.

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And we don't mean AI to talk to the human.

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We mean AI to interpolate

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the actions that are happening.

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So in our world
and in the space that we're in

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we use AI to understand
how a customer uses their vehicle

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to help provide the most efficient
charging programs to them.

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So I believe the introduction
of AI into these systems all up and down

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the grid is going to be hugely,
hugely valuable.

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So most of our applications

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at the residential scale
are focused on power and energy.

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So we are really interested
in faster phenomenal.

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You know, there's concerns about,
there's always been, about

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voltage rise at the edge of a feeder
when there's a lot of solar.

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So I do think there's a place
for fast time sampling of voltage.

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You know, there's problems that are
specific to each part of the grid.

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But for our application and I think

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I know Landis+Gyr is probably doing
lots of research in that area,

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but for us, we're really focused
on, you know, energy power

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and really trying to enable those things
first and foremost

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and leave that kind of voltage
sampling to more corporate operations.

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Even though the industry is mature
when it comes to digitalization,

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it’s clear that there’s always room
for improvement and new smart solutions.

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Grid resilience has been a hot topic

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at Distributech, because,
the world is looking to decarbonize

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through electrification,
so utilities will need to up their game

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to produce enough energy
while building a strong network.

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Like the smart city industry,
the utility world is also keeping

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an eye on the possibilities AI will bring.

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Something that we saw during
the event was the concept of the grid edge

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and how there’s a potential there.

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It’s important to monitor, tap into
and understand the grid edge in solutions

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like EV chargers
and it’s something companies like Itron

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are focusing on, a topic we’ll discuss
in one of our Distributech interviews.