MentorAPM Deploys AI-Data Tracking to Boost Northern Marianas Grid Preparedness
Cloud-based software company MentorAPM and the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation (CUC) are deepening their 10-year partnership in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Under a new agreement, CUC will deploy MentorAPM's enterprise asset management platform across its electric power generation facilities, creating a unified approach to managing critical infrastructure across essential services.
According to a release, MentorAPM, which claims its platform is engineered for critical utility infrastructure, will also deploy AI-powered data collection software engineered to help cut utility operating costs for asset inventory and condition assessments across utility operations.
Since 2014, MentorAPM has supported CUC's water and wastewater operations. The expanded goal now is to provide CUC and other independent systems operators with greater visibility into asset conditions, helping them prioritize maintenance and reduce operational risk of critical utility infrastructure.
These deployment efforts will support five power generation facilities—three on Saipan with a combined capacity of 36 MW, one 20-MW facility on Tinian and one 6.5-MW facility on Rota. Together, these sites operate roughly 30 power generation engines, supporting approximately 12,000 customer accounts in the region.
"Some of the world's most resilient utility organizations operate in places where infrastructure must perform under extraordinary conditions,” said Tacoma Zach, co-founder and CEO of MentorAPM, in a statement. “Whether serving island communities in the Pacific, coastal utilities throughout the United States or remote systems around the world, our mission is the same: to give operators the asset intelligence they need to make confident decisions, help utilities recover, strengthen resilience, protect critical infrastructure and deliver reliable service to the communities that depend on them.”
Island and coastal utilities face a unique combination of aging infrastructure, constrained resources, supply chain bottlenecks and growing exposure to disruptive weather events. In July, CUC managed the aftermath of Super Typhoon Bavi, the Category 5 storm that struck the Northern Mariana Islands.
CUC notes that the extensive damage severely impacted areas across Rota, Tinian and Saipan, forcing utility operators to balance immediate restoration efforts with the long-term objective of strengthening infrastructure for the future. MentorAPM notes that by deploying these data collection and management resources, utilities can better assess asset systems, enabling operators to improve preparedness before disruptions occur.
CUC joins a growing network of utilities using MentorAPM to modernize infrastructure asset management and strengthen resilience. MentorAPM's platform already serves coastal and island utilities across the U.S., including Santa Monica and Monterey One Water in California, as well as Indigenous communities in Australia.
This collaboration reflects a broader shift across the utility sector toward data-driven solutions to help system operators strengthen resilience through strategic asset management.
