Grids of the Future

As part of my life's work on software engineering and renewable energy, I am going to be looking at some businesses and what they do. I hope that that's alright. I am not profiling them or doing any work on them in any professional capacity. 

I am just approaching this like a Uni student. I am just trying to learn as much as possible about the renewable energy transition and the role that software engineering can play in supporting this. 

An interesting topic that I have found for another time while searching for images is the challenge of cybersecurity in the smart grid. Another time. As that is most certainly a software engineering problem.

Schneider Electric UK

While googling "software solutions to the smart grid" (which is kind of just my plan at the moment, along with a list of resources I have compiled), I came across this website for a company called Schneider Electric in the UK. I  would like to take a bit of a look at what they are doing. 

They are "leading the new energy landscape"

They talk about "optimising supply and demand" and they speak of finding "new ways" to do this. They refer to the "evolving complexity of the energy value chain" and I wonder what on earth it is that this means. 

I don't mean that to be rude; I am just genuinely wondering. That might be a thing for me to look up tomorrow or later this week. They also describe a "changing energy landscape" and I would like to know what they mean by this specifically. Is it the shift to renewables? Is it the increase in the demand for electricity, which is 100% guaranteed, whether that's due to EV's and heat pumps, or the shift away from gas? Or is it the increase in DERs i.e. in home energy generation devices, on the customer's side of the meter?

The page then says that "utilities must break down silos", but what do they mean by this? Silos between different businesses, between different public and private actors in the industry, or most importantly of all, between private homeowners and those that manage the grid, as a truly smart grid will require those with home energy generation devices to be fully on board with sharing this with the grid. And then Schneider Electric say that they "offer the industry's broadest, end-to-end software and services for managing the lifecycle of the grid" which I think is so cool but makes me question what I have addressed recently: are we competing to see who can produce the best software to make the grid smart? I know that competition drives innovation. But if we want to save the planet then is it possible that we might need to work together to have the best possible software? 

I have only ever worked in the private sector in my career and thus I understand how these things work. But I wonder is there a way for companies to information share for the good of the planet? I don't know.

Schneider Electric's Smart Grid Software

NOW we're onto the bit that I'd really like to talk about. This is the bit that I'm really interested in. They talk about operations management solutions. So what does this mean, then?

Well, apparently, it says here that the resources that Schneider Electric provides do this:

• "optimise resources and operations
• simplify and integrate workflows for improved grid operations, and 
• mitigate power disruptions for increased reliability and resilience and improved operational efficiency."

I have to admit that I don't understand everything in this description. And I would like to, especially from the technical side.

I do know however: the video in this section of the work in Italy that they have done for the Italian grid is so inspiring and beautiful and I will watch it again just for the wind farms.