Schneider Electric, Itron team up to improve grid management for utilities
Schneider Electric and Itron, Inc. are collaborating on an effort to improve energy and grid management for utilities as homeowners and businesses increasingly adopt distributed energy resources (DER).
Through this partnership, the companies will integrate their intelligent grid and distributed energy resource (DER) management solutions to digitalize the demand and supply of electricity.
Due to the electrification of transportation, heating, and more, Electricity demand is rapidly increasing. By 2050, the U.S. grid’s capacity will have nearly doubled compared to 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In Canada, grid capacity is projected to reach 226 GW by 2050. This will lead to more DER — like rooftop solar, battery energy storage, electric vehicles and microgrids—at the grid edge.
With more DER comes more data generated at the grid’s edge. It also brings an unprecedented opportunity to harness, aggregate and analyze that data to produce actionable insights. Utilities can leverage this awareness to optimize grid planning and operations by integrating Itron’s Grid Edge Intelligence solutions and Schneider’s Digital Grid solutions to increase grid capacity while deferring infrastructure investments.
“At Schneider Electric, we’re committed to delivering solutions for utilities that connect everything from grid to prosumer, and this collaboration with Itron is the latest expression of that commitment,” Ruben Llanes, power & grid segment president for Schneider Electric, said. “Utilities today need an interoperable, fully connected foundation for intelligent grid operations, and it is inspiring to pursue this future with Itron—one of the most innovative forces in the industry.”
Itron and Schneider are working on dozens of integrated use cases that will deliver value across asset management, grid planning and operations, and DER management. Further, they will work with utilities to integrate their solutions.
“We began collaborating with Schneider Electric to simplify grid management and enable a new generation of applications for utilities that recognize the dramatic changes and escalating demand that await all of us,” Don Reeves, senior vice president of Outcomes at Itron, said. “This collaboration will help us realize Itron’s vision for the grid edge—one where meters, transformers and feeders negotiate amongst themselves to achieve localized distribution outcomes, dynamically adapting and configuring sections of the distribution grid while enabling consumers to participate and benefit from these transactions.”.
By bringing together distributed and centralized intelligence, grid operators gain greater situational awareness and real-time insights, including key measurements, notifications, and events like downed wires. With this collaboration, utilities can extend energy orchestration to behind-the-meter assets, enabling proactive management of grid constraints when and where needed.
