While much more T&D will need to be deployed in order to meet growing electric load, that utility CapEx will be increasingly borne by LIDAC customers as wealthier customers reduce load via DER and efficiency investments.
The single best way to improve affordability for ratepayers is to provide the same energy services with the least amount of incremental T&D and the most advanced grid orchestration.
Utility partnerships with AI and ML technology companies have started to squeeze more out of this growing infrastructure, but some AI solutions are window-dressing while others are transformational.
Utilities must conduct a clear-eyed assessment of existing and burgeoning technologies, focusing primarily on those that address the biggest cost centers of the utility in coming decades, starting with the CapEx associated with the >100,000 miles of T&D that will need to be installed in coming years for a true net zero transition. AI can widen the path toward that future.
And where solutions don’t exist today, utilities have a timely opportunity to partner with technology companies to co-develop those solutions.
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