EnerNex Announces Participation in the 2018 DistribuTECH Conference and Exhibition

Jan 9, 2018 | Press Releases, Utilities and Large Energy Consumers

EnerNex Announces Participation in the 2018 DistribuTECH Conference and Exhibition

The company’s leadership in helping utilities manage the changing energy landscape takes center stage at the event

Click here to view the full release via BusinessWire.

Knoxville, Tenn., USA, January 9, 2018 — EnerNex, a leading electric power research, engineering and consulting firm, today announced its participation in  DistribuTECH, one of the leading transmission and distribution trade shows in North America. This three-day event will be held on January 23-25, 2018 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas.

EnerNex’s team (#TEAMENERNEX) of over ten industry professionals are attending the conference, including Jeff Lamoree, CEO, co-founder, Bob Zavadil, EVP, co-founder, Ron Chebra, VP of Grid Modernization and Jeremy Laundergan, Vice President of Consulting Services.

“Our attendance at DistribuTECH underscores our dedication to helping utilities reshape their strategies and best practices to adapt to the dramatically-changing energy sector,” said Lamoree.

Vice President of Grid Modernization Ron Chebra: Chair of the Internet of Things (IoT)/Smart Cities Track

A visionary and expert in the area of grid modernization, Chebra was selected to Chair the IoT/Smart Cities track. The sessions in this track will look at some of the technologies and trends that will allow utilities to live in the interconnected world of smart cities that is being created through IoT and Grid of Things (GoT). The convergence of technologies that support modernizing the grid is also bringing significant value to many communities. Communications networks, intelligent end devices and being able to extract actionable information through analytics is helping cities to better manage their assets. Citizens are starting to see tangible evidence with more and more communities installing systems to support smart street lighting, provide assistance with parking space availability and enhanced security monitoring. Utilities and cities are natural partners to bring mutual value to customers and citizens.

Chebra will be moderating the 90-minute panel session “Smart Cities, it Takes a Village” on January 23 at 1:00pm. The smart cities movement continues to gain momentum, linking connectivity, power, transportation, water, public safety and IoT to bring value to the populous. Establishing a champion who can muster all of the diverse needs of the stakeholders, examining financing options and redefining processes is no small undertaking. This panel will feature city and utility champions who will discuss how they were able to make it happen and share their resulting outcomes. Utilities and communities alike will be able to hear about lessons learned in bringing these sectors together.

More information on all the sessions and speakers included in this track can be found here.

Helping Utilities Manage the Changing Energy Landscape

Recently featured as one of Energy CIO Insights’ Top 10 Smart Energy Solution Providers of 2017, EnerNex understands the industry is undergoing some of the most radical technology, economic and regulatory challenges in decades.

Exhibiting this year at booth #908, EnerNex will present its expanding portfolio of leading grid modernization engagements around the world, including projects in California, Louisiana, Hawaii and Saudi Arabia to name a few. Aging infrastructure, regulatory changes and an increasing array of distributed energy resources are driving a massive charge towards grid modernization efforts across the nation. Each and every case is totally different and must be analyzed and approached according to their specific circumstances. EnerNex has been front and center in these efforts, including strategy development, project planning, regulatory engagement, economic analysis, lifecycle management and technology deployment.

EnerNex representatives will be available at the booth for additional inquiries and in-booth presentations throughout the event. An appointment can be made in advance by calling 865-218-4600 or visiting the company website. As a contributor to the book Smart Grids: Advanced Technologies and Solutions, Second Edition, EnerNex will be giving away ten free copies at the booth.

About the Conference

DistribuTECH is considered the utility industry’s largest conference and exposition, covering automation and control systems, energy efficiency, demand response, renewable energy integration, advanced metering, T&D system operation and reliability, power delivery equipment and water utility technology.

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About EnerNex

EnerNex, established in 2003, provides research, engineering and consulting services to the electric power industry. EnerNex focuses on providing services around the development and application of new and emerging electric power technologies to engineer a cleaner, smarter energy system of the future.

 Media Contact

Carrie Owens, Interprose

+1 931.456.0962

carrie_owens@interprosepr.com

 

Smart Metering (SM) and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)

Smart Metering and AMI is a transformational process addressing multiple business and technical needs of the utility enterprise. This is more than just smart meters and communications networks; it includes all of the back end applications that can leverage the meter assets, such as outage notification, demand response, call center optimization, disputed billing process handling, pre-payment opportunities, and service connection management methods and procedures, to name a few.

Implementing SM and AMI faces the same business, engineering, and operational challenges as any other across-the-utility information technology endeavors – most notably risk associated with embracing proprietary technology, missing functionality and early obsolescence. Effective SM and AMI development, implementation, and operation relies on a marriage of electric power engineering with information technology expertise: a key component of EnerNex’s expertise and experience.

EnerNex provides an array of engineering and consulting services geared towards intelligent and effective implementation of SM and AMI. This covers all phases of project development, starting with capturing system requirements where our experts leverage a “Use Case” centric view of activities needed to be accomplished and their interaction with systems and other users. Subsequent project steps typically examine other critical areas, such as: modeling of business cases, building inter-department consensus, assembling and assessing system functional requirements and non-functional requirements, developing a system design, hardware and software specifications and standards, complete procurement services including RFI and RFQ process support, supplier rating system, response evaluation methodology, deployment management, and training of office and field personnel.

Demand Response (DR)

Demand response can be as simple as load interruption directed by the energy supplier in response to severe demand requirements, to complex customer defined load management in response to price signals. DR is one of the components of a “Non-Wires Alternative” that many utilities are effectively using to avoid expensive distribution fortification or upgrade.

 

Often the success and/or failure of demand response programs can be linked to program implementation challenges such as rate/tariff design rate structures communication (e.g. price signals) or ineffective incentives used by utilities to encourage customers to accept operational change. The issues of program design, rate structure and customer impact have a tremendous influence on the success or failure of load management initiatives. Demand response has traditionally been used as a tool of the energy industry to ensure system stability. However, the introduction of microelectronics, communications, home automation and the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to the development of cost effective solutions that have the capability to allow the consumer to take control of managing their energy load and ultimately, the price they pay for energy.

EnerNex has the experience and skills to turn your DR program into a successful operational asset and customer engagement process that can deliver value to all parties.

Energy Assurance Planning

Natural and man-made disasters cause an estimated $57B in average annual costs for all parties; large single events have resulted in losses of $100B or more. Events, such as the World Trade Center disaster, Hurricane Katrina, and most recently Hurricane Helene, have demonstrated an acute need to revisit, revise and implement an effective energy assurance plan. Energy assurance plans assess the functionality and interdependencies of buildings and infrastructure systems and the role they play in sustaining service and rapidly restoring critical services to a community following a hazard event.

 

EnerNex assists our clients in developing comprehensive energy assurance plans that mitigate and minimize the impact of energy disruptions. Our experts assess critical infrastructure risks and evaluate appropriate mitigation strategies and can help in developing an effective business continuity/disaster recovery (BC/DR) plan for utilities and your customers.

Microgrid Development

As the electric grid becomes more distributed and interactive, microgrids are playing an increasingly important role in our energy future. Decision makers at military bases, corporate and institutional campuses, residential communities and critical facilities across the world are exploring and implementing microgrids to meet economic, resiliency and environmental goals. Utility-grade microgrids are being deployed to meet transmission constraints, reliability requirements and safe-havens in the event of a significant storm event.

Microgrid_development Graphic steps to support grid modernization

Bringing together a portfolio of distributed energy resources into a controllable, islandable microgrid comes with its own set of challenges. The key to solving these challenges is in architecting a system to support information exchanges between components across well-defined points of interoperability (interfaces) in a technology independent manner. This interoperability ensures that the system is resilient to technology change. Modern systems engineering techniques must be employed to ensure that individual sub‐systems are clearly identified, their functions enumerated, their data requirements known, and the points of interoperability clearly specified, along with the commensurate monitoring, command and control that is needed to ensure grid stability. With such architecture, we can apply best of breed technology available today to support those information exchanges at interface boundaries but be free to upgrade / change the implementation technology later without causing a ripple effect throughout the system.

Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise Architecture focuses on aligning an organization’s business strategies with its anticipated, desired and planned technology enhancements. Enterprise Architecture provides a framework to cost-effectively transition from a current “as-is” technology to future enterprise-wide technological solutions. An effective Enterprise Architecture program aligns business investments with long-term business strategies while minimizing risk and providing superior technological solutions. EnerNex’s key asset is its highly skilled and experienced staff who are closely connected to both the smart grid and EA standards and practices. We provide clients with the insight necessary to operate a fully functioning smart grid, which is flexible, scalable, and vendor independent.

Grid Modernization Roadmap

Utility companies across the globe are continually modernizing their grid. Each company often has different rationales, objectives and priorities. Frequently, smart grid plans are developed for individual, incremental initiatives, rather than as a part of a whole, intelligent and interoperable infrastructure. Planning may be developed around technology choices rather than business and technical requirements. The result of incremental and flawed planning leads to increased cost and risk, lost opportunities, disconnected expectations and dead ends.

 

EnerNex’s approach to grid modernization roadmap development follows a proven, industry-standard approach to grid modernization planning by collaboratively working with the utility to develop a set of prioritized and time-phased grid modernization initiatives unique to its business strategy and objectives. The roadmap developed is holistic, requirements-based, business value driven and actionable. It often builds on and leverages existing applications and infrastructure, and incorporates industry standards to ensure interoperability, flexibility and reduced cost and risk.

Utility Communications

Utility communication and control systems are increasingly interconnected to each other and to public networks and as a result, they are becoming increasingly more susceptible to disruptions and cyber attacks. EnerNex has experience with the various issues relating to development, implementation and optimization including feasibility analysis, design, software development and customization, project management and acceptance. Our expertise extends from being involved in the development of the fundamental standards that support utility communication and automation, through deployment and securing of those resources. EnerNex personnel were heavily involved in development of such standards and protocols as IEC 61850, IEC 60870-5 and DNp3. Our staff played a key role in the EPRI Utility Communication Architecture (UCA) project and the IntelliGrid Architecture effort.

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