Brand new technology can open doors to new possibilities. However, sometimes technology that’s tried and true is just waiting for the moment when it will make the leap from a small to a starring role. Sometimes it takes time for a star to have their moment in the spotlight. Lucille Ball didn’t make her splash until 40 when she started stomping grapes in black and white. Steve Carell didn’t make it big until he was 43 when he got a role on a little show called "The Office." And Samuel L. Jackson was largely unknown until he landed a part in Pulp Fiction at 45. The same is about to happen for a technology that has had a quiet role in the power industry for two decades: Location intelligence is going from a supporting role to absolutely mission critical for the most important initiatives that our industry is facing.
Location data and the insights generated from it are not new in our industry. This technology has played a small but vital role behind the scenes in electricity transmission and distribution for more than two decades. Every utility has a geospatial department of professionals who diligently work with complex location-based data to support operational functions like equipment maintenance, vegetation management, public safety, emergency response and more. Those departments typically fly under the radar, but they play an important role in keeping electrical grids up and running and safe thanks to their complex work using digital maps, remote devices that produce location-related data, archived information about infrastructure, and daily reports from work crews to provide information. But that support role is just a warmup for what comes next. Simply put, it’s an overnight sensation two decades in the making.
T&D World has published a couple of recent articles that discuss why location intelligence is important. “Why Location Intelligence Matters” is a great primer about why location information has a critical role to play across utilities’ operations to ensure uptime and safety. “How Utilities Can Protect Distributed Grids from Increasing Extreme Weather Events” is an excellent discussion of the role that location data and analysis is starting to play in preparing for and responding to the increasing number of natural disasters that affect T&D infrastructure. This technology will play an equally indispensable role in enabling utilities to expand their use of renewables, deploy and manage microgrids, reduce their carbon footprint, and achieve ambitious sustainability goals. Every aspect of the way electricity is delivered to customers will be impacted by location intelligence, because the challenges that utilities face in each of those areas are only solvable if they give location intelligence a major role in their technology strategy.
This new indispensable role is driven by a number of factors that are thrusting it into a starring role. One key factor is the democratization of location intelligence software, which used to be too complex for anyone without advanced degrees in photogrammetry and geospatial sciences to use. That difficult-to-use software required hard-to-find specialists, which put limits on how big a role location intelligence could play in organizations. But the newest generation of location data tools uses AI to automate analysis, and its features and reporting can be used by non-expert users across utilities, dramatically expanding use of the technology in the process.
Another factor in this “overnight sensation” moment is rapid expansion of data sources that make a wealth of information widely available, affordable and easy to use in the next-gen analysis tools I mentioned above. That wealth of data is coming from more and more wireless and IoT devices like equipment and environmental sensors that utilities are deploying, and it also comes from third parties who deliver complementary information that make insights available to utilities that have never been possible before.
The last factor I will mention in this new starring role for location intelligence cannot be overstated. It’s the pressure on electricity companies to simultaneously tackle multiple massive challenges, including weather emergencies, climate change, carbon reduction mandates, demand for renewable power, managing distributed energy resources (DERs), and pressure from customers to have more insight into and control over their energy consumption.
The only way that utilities can collectively solve these interwoven challenges is with a forward-looking location intelligence strategy across their organizations. This is not a nice-to-have. It is a must-have. The technology is ready for this moment, and the organizations that give it the spotlight it deserves will be setting themselves up for success in solving the most difficult challenges they face.
