Top Utility Technology Trends for the Next Decade

Utility technology trends are constantly evolving, and the pace of this evolution has certainly accelerated over the past 20 years.  But the billion-dollar question is, what are the new and emerging technology trends that utility leaders need to consider going forward – specifically over the next 10 or 20 years?  Well, let’s take a look!

Utility Technology Trends for the Next 10-20 Years

According to an article from CIO Review, the emerging utility technology trends that will ultimately reshape the industry revolve around data and analytics, renewable energy, grid security, and employee safety.  Here is a summary:

• Data and analytics will continue to converge to facilitate more informed decision making. Things such as AI, sensors, IoT analytics, cloud-based technology, and machine learning will coalesce to enhance operational effectiveness as well as emergency preparedness efforts.  For example, utilities are now able to better analyze the historical impact of storms on their infrastructure, helping to increase the future effectiveness and efficiency of restoration crews.
• Technology designed to incorporate additional renewable energy sources into the grid is another trend. Obviously, we’re currently in a period where more and more clean energy sources are plugged into the generation mix, but doing so is almost always easier said than done.  In addition, the increase in distributed energy resources (DERs) and IoT devices offers opportunities to gather and leverage incremental data.  The growth in electric vehicles (EVs), energy storage and microgrids are also key components of technology trends applicable to renewable energy.
• Grid security is another critical element of go-forward technology. Thanks to the exponential growth in the connectivity of systems and operations, system hacking is a real problem, and cybersecurity practices are constantly playing catch-up.  New technologies to monitor and analyze systems and equipment will be critical to reducing cyber-vulnerabilities.
• Above all, employee safety is paramount, and as such represents the last category of emerging utility technology trends. Employee training utilizing technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality is fast becoming the norm.

In the final analysis, nothing stays the same – utilities are either evolving or devolving, they never remain stagnant.  Proper consideration and deployment of the utility technology trends discussed in this post will help ensure continuous improvement over time.