SERVICES – GridIntellect

GridIntellect provides consulting services for next generation, disruptive energy infrastructure solutions. We serve government agencies, non-profit organizations, Independent System Operators, utilities, and commercial businesses with strategic, technology, business, program, and project design and management related to Smart Infrastructure, Distributed Energy Resources (DER), Energy Resiliency, the Energy Cloud and Internet of Things (EnergyIoT), and Distribution System Operators. We not only understand the “big picture,” we have been pioneers in formulating it.

GRID DISRUPTION ARCHITECTURE

Our electric power infrastructure, especially the distribution networks, is being disrupted by the rapid adoption of DER and a “call for action” by climate activists to “bend the curve” to meet global decarbonization goals. Our team has been thought leaders as strong believers in addressing climate change issues immediately, and offering real solutions for electric grid stakeholders to embrace the disruption and grow their businesses with the enormous opportunities being presented for those that want to play offense instead of defense.

Grid Architecture and EnergyIoT Architecture Services: Grid Architecture is a new approach to solving our most pressing energy transition issues and was developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the DOE. Grid Architecture is the application of system architecture, network theory, and control theory to the electric power grid. A grid architecture is the highest-level description of the complete grid and is a key tool to help understand and define the many complex interactions that exist in present and future grids. It can be used to solve some of the most complex challenges facing utilities, energy market participants and market operators today.

Our grid architects are PNNL Department of Energy certified experts, making GridIntellect a company having one of the most concentrated in the country with this honor and capability. Let our experts support your architecture team to understand networks of structures, the relationships between them, and the systemic issues to overcome with the architecture.

Need grid architecture training? We can do that, too. Contact us to schedule training for your architecture team.

EnergyIoT Reference Model: In addition, our leadership are the authors of the award-winning EnergyIoT Reference Architecture series published by Energy Central with over 30k reads. This reference model addresses decarbonization, the economics of DER, and incorporates today’s modern technologies, including virtualization, containerization, and orchestration.

This form of disruptive architecture is closer than you think. Platform companies like Microsoft and Amazon Web Services are looking at their solutions to determine how to enable a much simpler, bottom-up, decentralized, event-driven, data-centric, that incorporates modern software and DevOps techniques to provide elastic scalability and rapidly integrate renewables and other Distributed Energy Resources.

This is a much different paradigm for utilities, Independent System Operators (ISO), and traditional grid vendors. Let us help your team understand the underlying principles and help manage the disruption. Or, if you would like training in the EnergyIoT Reference Architecture, contact us to schedule training.

Tech Company Energy Architecture, Software, and Engineering Services: Our energy experts have a deep understanding of how the electric industry operates as well as the major issues that disruptive technologies are poised to solve. Our architects and domain experts are here to help technology companies create new business applications and services that will revolutionize how stakeholders interact with a clean energy grid.

Our architects and domain experts are here to assist in developing cloud architectures and solutions, whether it is to simply get an expert third party opinion or to work alongside you as part of your team.

DECARBONIZATION AND DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES (DER) INTEGRATION

Decarbonization Workshop Series: The team at GridIntellect has seen the same decarbonization pattern while working with numerous utility and Independent System Operators (ISO) clients.

Stage 1 VISION AND STRATEGY: DER is affecting planning and operations

What granularity of DER visibility and situational awareness is required how do we integrate into planning, operations, and markets?

Stage 2 REAL TIME TECHNOLOGIES: New technologies are needed to coordinate DER

What technology improvements are needed to gain necessary visibility and coordinate DER with other assets?

Communication systems will need to support much larger numbers of assets

What are the optimal affordable communications solutions to support more data throughput faster?

Stage 3 ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS: New and better business services are required to support our organization and customers

What services would be valuable to ourselves and our customers?

The organization is no longer optimized for high penetration DER and decarbonized economy

What is optimal organizational structure and which parts of the ecosystem do we want to “own”?

Stage 4 SCALABILITY: Digitalized representations of assets are required to support larger numbers

How do we digitalize large numbers of assets and electricity commodities (molecules and electrons) to support transactive energy?

The existing top-down, highly centralized architecture will not scale

What is the architectural approach to support a high penetration DER distributed ecosystem?

As a result, we have designed a workshop series to guide ISOs and utilities towards a decarbonization future to include strategy, real time technology upgrade needs, optimized organizational structures, new business models, and scalability planning.

Distribution System Operator Strategy: Our team developed the foundational paper used by many utilities and Independent System Operators (ISO) to define the spectrum of DSO organizational models available for different locations. This paper can be found today and downloaded for free on the Black & Veatch website.

Our team is ready to work with your organization to help define the optimal DSO organizational structure for you, identify affected processes, and create a pragmatic strategy to become a highly-functional DSO.

SMART INFRASTRUCTURE CONSULTING

Our team helps infrastructure firms and technology providers bring intelligence (Smart) to their existing and future infrastructure for electric, gas, and water systems and services.

Critical Infrastructure Modernization Technology Consulting: Our technology experts provide the necessary technical knowledge to ensure successful implementation of critical infrastructure technologies. We provide expert support for a wide variety of critical infrastructure technologies including Smart Grid, Smart Water, Smart Transportation, Smart Waste, Smart Oil and Gas, demand response, electric vehicles, advanced metering and communications, and renewable energy just to name a few.

Our founder led the formation and operation of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) under contract to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) effort for 6 years under the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007.

Critical Infrastructure Market Analysis: The traditional grids that your parents knew are quickly becoming “Smart” with a vast array of sensors measuring and helping to control every aspect of generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption and communicating in ways never considered previously. As new products and innovations enter the market, investment money is flowing as investors attempt to capitalize on the ongoing changes. GridIntellect provides the market analysis to understand commercialization requirements, customer demographics, market size and demand, R&D and production cost estimates, barriers and challenges, risks and rewards. From simple SWOT analysis to technology road-mapping to detailed business and marketing plans, our staff has the expertise to provide a thorough understanding of the market for new technologies and services.

Strategic Management Consulting: Our senior staff provides strategic consulting services to executives, line managers, and program managers. Vast experience in implementing grid modernization strategies and technologies provides us with a unique perspective and lots of lessons learned. Our expert advice will help you navigate the challenging, changeable world of critical infrastructure modernization strategies and help you to eliminate costly missteps along the way.

Our team has led or supported five utility and state Smart Grid technology and business road-mapping projects working with utilities, state agencies, federal agencies, universities, local stakeholders, consumer advocacy groups, and private companies in building consensus for paths forward to better infrastructure reliability, financial performance, and emissions reductions.

Program and Project Management Consulting: Our Project Management Institute award-winning, certified project management staff is available to assist you no matter what stage of the project you are in. Whether you need support for the planning, implementation, control, or close out of your project, GridIntellect has the deep, broad experience to help you manage risk, cost, resources, and schedule effectively. We provide contracted program and project management services to support you at any time in the project lifecycle – from the very beginning, when you need Program Management Office (PMO) oversight for large contractors, or when your project is broken and you need a seasoned professional to help bring it under control and capture the expected benefits.

Our team is constantly helping new technology firms find their business and technology role in the Smart Infrastructure future. Past and current firms include communications infrastructure, distributed energy resource controls, energy storage, and grid equipment vendors.

ENERGY RESILIENCY

Our team is working across the energy spectrum helping the US government, states, utilities, and commercial businesses understand energy resiliency and the implications for the nation’s infrastructure. As the data shows that the number and severity of storms are increasing, the industry is formulating new strategies for hardening and recovering from storms, events, and attacks.

Resiliency and Energy Assurance/Surety Consulting: GridIntellect partners have the skills and experience to develop Local Energy Assurance Plans, Disaster Response Plans, and other related resiliency planning documentation. We can identify and prioritize the “low hanging fruit” water/energy-saving and energy-generating projects for public and private entities that optimize tight budgets. Whether developing fuel delivery plans, upgrading traffic lights to LED lamps, installing dual-fuel generators at sewage pump stations, or developing Community Resiliency Microgrids – our team can help your government organization or company optimize its plans for hardening the critical infrastructure systems, providing basic services, and reducing outage recovery times from natural or man-made disasters.

Cyber Physical System and Technology Consulting: GridIntellect has the deep domain and systems engineering experience to plan, design, and support the implementation of the complex world of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). Our disciplined systems engineering and project management processes and deep experience in communications, computer-based command and control, security, and physical infrastructure provide our clients with personnel and experience that can draw from lessons-learned and provide innovative solutions to effectively develop and manage these highly-complex systems of systems.

Physical and Cyber Security: Our cyber security partners are a breed apart. Luckily, they wear the “white hats” and work diligently to protect our customers’ assets and information. Whether you need bench-work penetration testing, physical security assessments and planning, cyber security standards support, enterprise cyber policy strategies, or corporate cyber and physical security strategy, our experts have the capabilities and experience to minimize security threats and maximize your “peace of mind.”