Industrial Talk is onsite at DistribuTech 2025 and talking to Matt Burton, Vice President at Siemens Grid Software about “Grid solutions that improves resiliency and reliability“.

If interested in being on the Industrial Talk show, simply contact us and let's have a quick conversation.

Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2025. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

MATT BURTON'S CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burtonm/

Company Website: https://www.siemens.com/global/en/products/energy/grid-software.html

PODCAST VIDEO:

THE STRATEGIC REASON “WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST”:

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us

Hexagon: https://hexagon.com/

Arduino: https://www.arduino.cc/

Fictiv: https://www.fictiv.com/

Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html

Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/

YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX:

LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/

Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link

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Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader):

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TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

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The post Matt Burton with Siemens appeared first on Industrial Talk.

Industrial Talk is onsite at DistribuTECH and talking to Miguel Morales, Commercial IoT Lead with Software AG and Ty Roberts, Vice President of Marketing with Itron, Inc. about “Grid Edge – How utilities will manager their distributed energy assets.“.  Here are some of the key takeaways from our conversation:

Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Marketing Process Course” for Greater Success in 2024. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

MIGUEL MORALES' CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moralesamiguel/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/software-ag/

Company Website: https://www.softwareag.com/en_corporate.html

TY ROBERTS' CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ty-roberts-13b5ab6/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/itroninc/

Company Website: https://na.itron.com/

PODCAST VIDEO:

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us

Hexagon: https://hexagon.com/

Palo Alto Networks: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/ot-security-tco

Palo Alto Networks Report HERE.

Fictiv: https://www.fictiv.com/

Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html

Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/

YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX:

LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/

Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link

Social Jukebox: https://www.socialjukebox.com/

Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader):

Business Beatitude the Book

Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? Live your business the way you want to live with the BUSINESS BEATITUDES…The Bridge connecting sacrifice to success. YOU NEED THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

Reserve My Copy and My 25% Discount

The post Miguel Morales | SoftwareAG and Ty Roberts | Itron appeared first on Industrial Talk.

Industrial Talk is onsite at DistribuTECH and talking to Jim Thomson, Vice Chair – Power, Utilities, Renewables with Deloitte Consulting about “Smart strategies for decarbonizing the power industry and grid investments”. Here are some of the key takeaways from our conversation:

Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Marketing Process Course” for Greater Success in 2024. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

JIM THOMSON'S CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-thomson-77796b5/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deloitte/

Company Website: https://www2.deloitte.com/sg/en.html

PODCAST VIDEO:

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us

Hexagon: https://hexagon.com/

Palo Alto Networks: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/ot-security-tco

Palo Alto Networks Report HERE.

Fictiv: https://www.fictiv.com/

Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html

Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/

YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX:

LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/

Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link

Social Jukebox: https://www.socialjukebox.com/

Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader):

Business Beatitude the Book

Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? Live your business the way you want to live with the BUSINESS BEATITUDES…The Bridge connecting sacrifice to success. YOU NEED THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

Reserve My Copy and My 25% Discount

The post Jim Thomson with Deloitte Consulting appeared first on Industrial Talk.

On this week's Industrial Talk we're onsite at Distributech 22 and talking to Bryan Sacks, Global CTO and Solution Lead at IBM. about “Improving grid insights and asset management for greater utility efficiency and reliability”. Get the answers to your “Utility” questions along with Ty's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2023. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

BRYAN SACKS' CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brysacks/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ibm/

Company Website: https://www.ibm.com/us-en/

PODCAST VIDEO:

THE STRATEGIC REASON “WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST”:

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us

AI Dash: https://www.aidash.com/

Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html

Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/

YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX:

LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/

Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link

Social Jukebox: https://www.socialjukebox.com/

Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader):

Business Beatitude the Book

Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? Live your business the way you want to live with the BUSINESS BEATITUDES…The Bridge connecting sacrifice to success. YOU NEED THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

Reserve My Copy and My 25% Discount

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

industrial, technology, asset, people, utility, Bryan, grid, copenhagen, building, challenges, find, tie, happen, renewables, solving, data, work, ibm, energy, industry

00:00

Industrial Talk is brought to you by Armis. Yes, you were in the digital transformation game. Yes, you need to find trusted companies, trusted individuals to help you along with that journey. The Armis platform delivers complete asset intelligence, you know what that means, insights into your connected assets, you're in the digital transformation game, you have to have that insights into what is connected, go to armis.com. Find out more, you will not be disappointed. Industrial Talk is brought to you by Arduino the original all in one IoT platform. That's right, go out to arduino.cc. And you will find documentation you will find devices powerful boards to help you with your digital transformation journey. It's all there. Go out to arduino.cc Find out more see how you can connect with these professionals to help you along with your digital transformation journey arduino.cc.

01:07

Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge Industry Focus innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So good on your hardhat, grab your work boots. And let's go once

01:25

again, I have my coffee in hand because I need my coffee right here in hand and we are on site right now at distribute tech 22. This is in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, you might have heard that small town, and we're having a great time. And you know, you're listening to industrial talk, you know, let me just tell you, Bryan, it's the number one industrial related podcast in the universe.

01:48

In the universe and the universe, I have data to back it up. You're all into data. That's remarkable.

01:52

It is it is it's bigger than the Galaxy. It's the universe. That's what we're all about. Because you know why? Because you're solving problems. And many within industry are solving problems and making my life better, and therefore making the world better. And I can't prove your own. No, no, no way. It's all backed up by data insights. It's just science. Alright, let's get cracking. You can tell I've been talking for a long time. After a while you just sort of, hey, what about this I, Bryan Sacks he's with IBM, you might have heard that company too. And you're having a conference, or

02:21

fantastic conference. So it's great to see people out here this career humans here which is fantastic. Really, really great to see people again,

02:29

it perfectly is because I'm enjoying I haven't even had a chance to sort of tootle around because I've been stuck in the salt mine of industrial cut because it is the most important thing in the universe in the universe. But it's just it's good. It's good. And you know what was interesting, even though we had this pandemic, and we've been shut down for a couple of years, and we didn't and and you finally meet and people that you've met virtually, and you're saying oh my gosh, you're taller than I thought you were you're uglier than that. But it's it's the fact that technology hasn't stopped. The innovation hasn't stopped. In fact, it's, it's it seems like it's accelerated. I can't keep up with it. I'm just maybe I'm just complaining.

03:12

No, I think you're spot on. People still need power. And still at home. What it revealed was a lot of the gaps and challenges that we had was in areas like automation, use of data in order to do things like you know, forecasting, a lot of the models broken. And you know, what we expected to happen didn't happen anymore.

03:33

Yeah, I see that guy. That's a whole another conversation. But before we get into the conversation I want to have with you give the listeners a little background on who you are.

03:43

Sure. So my name is Bryan Sacks, based out of Toronto, Canada.

03:47

Oh, hello, before we just, you can't go. You know, my family lives in grew up in Dundas. Hamilton, and Burlington. That's right.

03:57

That's right. He's back in the hood.

03:58

Have a tie? Can

04:00

you still go back for games?

04:02

No, I haven't been back in a little while. But just it's I always liked that. So there you go. Excellent. Keep on going. You're in Toronto here from Toronto.

04:11

I am I am I so IBM, I'm actually part of our global team. And what our focus is on is energy. And so what we look at is how do we help our clients adopt technology in order to solve some of the key challenges and problems that they have and to do it at scale? That's really what we're

04:30

what sort of is highlighted there. As I know, for me, personally, I need help, then, yeah, we could all get personal about it. But however I do, if I was in the business, I need help for somebody to sort of navigate it. It's a it's a human equation. But the technology is a technology. I don't even know where to go. I do work with people.

04:51

We do and I mean, there's multiple different avenues that you can take you know, there's there's a whole consulting angle where you can figure out what your most pressing problems are. I'm going to roadmap to get there to solve it, what we see a lot is kind of random acts of solutions where, you know, people will pick up certain technology, they'll try it out, they might get some results they might not. And what really our clients are looking for is how do I put a program together? And how do I have that, you know, real foundational technology. So I'm not just playing, I can build things that I can then scale, and it can have a real material impact on my business.

05:24

So when did when did this start to happen? I mean, I know that utilities but there seems to be a velocity with the the innovation, the technology that exists today and impacting the grid, the generation distributed all of this stuff that we're talking about here at this particular event, when did it really start to ramp up? And say, oh, my gosh, we got to get going? Are we gonna figure it out?

05:48

I'm gonna say there's been waves, right? And if I look at, you know, some major trends, look at smart metering, am I right? That was a trend that started 1015 years ago. And what that did is it changed the landscape that utilities are now I've got network communications, I've got endpoints across millions of my clients. And I've got all this data. And so what it's really been, it's been challenging, but it's now an enabler got this data. Now I can do some really interesting things with that data. So that would be one set of capabilities that we really see happening. I think the second set we see now is within sustainability, and everything that we're doing around the area of the energy transition. And so in pockets of the globe, you know, particularly in Europe, we're seeing interesting work in Australia and some other territories. You know, five, seven years ago, we really started to see that upswing. And now in some of the other territories, like in the US, we're starting to see much more activity and much, much more uptake happening in the last few years.

06:42

So it was interesting when I was with Southern California Edison, many years ago, I would negotiate these power purchase agreement with all these renewable alternative, whatever generation technologies, we didn't have, at that time, all of this other mad innovation that could go on, and it was just pretty straightforward. So to your point, a wave, we had it then. And now we're having another wave. And then and then I think it's bold.

07:10

Well, let me give an example. We're doing a project in Copenhagen city of Copenhagen,

07:15

which has the best airport, it's like wood floors, it's all warm and nice. It just feels does. It's like a big ol, like historic.

07:28

What's really cool, though, is we partnered with the city. And so the city of Copenhagen. And what we essentially do is tie into all of the building management systems. And now what we can do is actually control all of the building resources, each bag cooling, pumps, refrigeration, and certain facilities that happen. And what we can do now is aggregate that and bid that back into the marketplace as an alternate or alternative to spinning reserve. So it's a new mechanism for providing flexibility into the energy market. And it's something that we see starting to percolate across Europe. And we're seeing a lot of attention now coming over to the US.

08:04

So you'll see that again, you're saying hey, I'm gonna be managing the demand of those these assets. Yeah, so it's greater flexibility within the matching supply demand. So you can, so the demand of that asset is theoretically physical to

08:21

go absolutely. And what we what we now have the ability to do is control that on mass. And so what becomes really interesting is, we're not doing it out of the goodness of our heart, this is a new market structure that allows us to aggregate that and put that back into the market. So now the utility has new flexibility within how they're actually going to do the balancing. And all of the building owners now have a revenue generating opportunity. So we're getting greener, but people are getting paid for it. And it's really about providing that market structure that allows a more participatory environment for consumers.

08:54

Yeah. Because, yeah, if I'm in a building, and I can manage my, my, my load my whatever, and be able to help the utilities and, and, and incentivize to do that, that, to me is great.

09:09

I always look at it. Pretty cool. You know, my dad would always say, turn the lights off. And I never would if you said I'll give you a nickel every time you do it, I would have done it more often. Right? We're doing that now a lot on scale.

09:19

And it's because you're able to use the technology to be able to do it before it just didn't make sense back in the old time, whatever, five years ago, I don't know. But it just didn't make sense. Well, it makes sense. It does.

09:32

And so we've got IoT to tie into the building such as we've got artificial intelligence that can do our modeling and our building. And it's all based on blockchain. So we have full transparency and that's what gives you the day go let you tie into the marketplace. And so really, really cool tech. We didn't have

09:47

see. And now you're you're actually doing it where you're actually you've got a blockchain layer there. You're doing it to get to transfer transparency into transactions. You see it it's happening in real time, exciting stuff, oh, geez, I don't even know where to go with it. Where do you see it going? I mean, I mean, that's Copenhagen, they're pretty progressive. When it comes to this stuff, they're pretty aggressive, too,

10:11

they are. And throughout Europe, you're seeing this activity, and a lot of it comes to the penetration level for renewables. And so as we see more jurisdictions around the globe, hitting some of the challenges, we're going to see more and more demands for this flexibility within market system, which will drive more of the need for that type of technology.

10:29

And I see all of these components, these digital, you got the grid, and it's really me personally, I'm, I'm the guy that wants to flip that light switch and, and get my power. And I don't want it to flicker, I don't want it to do anything, I want it to do it. And I don't want to be exposed to that. But companies like yours, and in you and your team, you're pulling in all aspects of the what's happened, the dynamic nature of that grid, demand, the batteries, all of that stuff that gives that that ability to be able to manage?

11:06

That's pretty cool. Absolutely. You know, it's an exciting area. And so what we're seeing, we've been a strong focus on what we call grid resilience. And if you think about what's happening now with, with renewables, the energy transition, yeah, I mean, what you're gonna see is, right now, when you know, we all personally know when the power goes out, we're, it's inconvenient, right? We, you know, some of our food could spoil, we can't watch your favorite show. That's,

11:29

that's a, that's a subtle way of putting it, but convenient. Imagine when

11:33

every piece of transportation is relying on that energy. Imagine when every piece of infrastructure and industry is relying on the technology. So the challenges to manage the grid are becoming increasingly complex, but the need for resilience in the creator is becoming more and more important is becoming more and more of a critical asset.

11:50

So putting on my old hat. Now, when I was with Edison, I was talking to an old lineman. And he said, Scott, we would have these interruptions, these little blips, but nobody would ever see them, until people started buying digital clocks. And then all of a sudden, you get a blip, then all of a sudden, that thing starts blinking 12. And then people come home. And they said, there was just this wave of calls when the digital clock came out, like, hey, what, I had a power outage, you know why I'm just complaining, you got to protect against that port, all of this is going to be challenging.

12:30

Absolutely, customers are used to flipping a switch and the power work is you plug it in your iPhone is charged. That's what the expectations are in that that can diminish,

12:39

you can't. But if you guys are able to do it in such a way where where we do have storms, let's say down in Louisiana, you have you have hurricanes, when we were out for 910 days, whatever it might be, and some even more than that, be able to have that resilient grid to be able to sort of minimize that pain. I'm all in

13:00

well, and that's a big chunk of what we do, right? So we look at it, you know, asset management, for example, as part of what we do. We've got Maximo as a foundation Maximo everyone is familiar with enterprise asset management. But on top of that, it's all the the asset health and predicting what the health of an asset is going to be. Now, what we've got is augmenting that with visual inspection. So at our booth, if you stop by, we've got spot the robot from Boston Dynamics, and we're doing projects with utilities. We've got walking around transmission substations with thermal cameras, we've got drones, doing inspections over transmission corridors, but all of that has to flow through into an appropriate maintenance. Right? So if you go off in we were talking before about small parts of of technology. Well, this is all about how do I get all of these technology fitting into a business process? Right. So now I can use drones. I can use robotics, but now I can see holistically what my health picture is, and go from there. You're awesome. It's been a pleasure.

13:58

It's been a great time. How do they get a hold of you? Because you're such a great guy. I'll give you my answer. Give it away. Not only get a hold of you already you out on LinkedIn. Are you active out on LinkedIn?

14:09

I am active out on LinkedIn, you can find me. I'll provide you my handle if I remember it. Really? It's been a long conference.

14:18

Very good. All right. You were fantastic. listeners. Thank you very much for joining industrial talk. We're going to have all the contact information. Even if Bryan can't remember his contact information. It'll be out on industrial talk.com You need to reach out to this gent because he's, well, he's bringing the lumber when it comes to grid stuff and utility stuff. Thanks, man. Been a pleasure. All right. We're gonna wrap it up on the other side. So don't go away. We will be right back.

14:46

You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network.

14:51

Wow, let's put that one in the can another great industrial conversation with an incredible professional Bryan Sacks. IBM is the company and you just have to recognize that the utility energy industry is changing, it is going to just continue to move forward and you're going to need technology you're going to need individuals like Bryan and team IBM, to be able to sort of help you with that journey. I've got a stack card out here, go out to industrial talk.com. Reach out to him, become part of his network, and find out more because we're all about that education, collaboration and innovation. This is exactly why industrial talk is here. Collaborate with Bryan, and find out more what's taking place within the utility space. All right. DistribuTECH 2023 is right around the corner. I highly recommend that you look into attending that event. I believe it's in San Diego this time, but go out to distribute tech 2023 Find out more and be a part of that. And if you have any interest whatsoever, I mean, any interest whatsoever to get on the podcast to talk about what you do, how you're solving problems, how your company is looking into the future, contact me industrial talk.com And let's get you on the podcast tell your story. All right, be bold, be brave, dare greatly hang out with people like Bryan and you're gonna change the world. We're gonna have another great conversation coming from DistribuTECH shortly so stay tuned.

The post Bryan Sacks with IBM appeared first on Industrial Talk.

On this week's Industrial Talk we're onsite at Distributech 22 and talking to Charlie Nobles, Vice President with Ubicquia, LLC about “Smart utilities and resilient grids”. Get the answers to your “Utility” questions along with Charlie's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2023. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

CHARLIE NOBLES' CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-nobles-954661/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ubicquia-llc/

Company Website: https://www.ubicquia.com/

PODCAST VIDEO:

THE STRATEGIC REASON “WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST”:

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us

AI Dash: https://www.aidash.com/

Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html

Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/

YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX:

LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/

Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link

Social Jukebox: https://www.socialjukebox.com/

Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader):

Business Beatitude the Book

Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? Live your business the way you want to live with the BUSINESS BEATITUDES…The Bridge connecting sacrifice to success. YOU NEED THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

Reserve My Copy and My 25% Discount

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

utilities, pole, streetlights, industrial, coverage, people, charlie, cities, spotlighting, fast, jimmy stewart, leveraging, question, light, raleigh, conference, issue, city, lte networks, solutions

00:04

Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots,

00:21

and let's go right that's right. You're listening to industrial talk the number one industrial related podcast in the universe. That's right, Charlie, don't don't don't even begin to question my. That's all day. That's all driven by data, believe it, I believe. And it is an ever expanding industrial ecosystem of professionals from around the world. It's quite a really quite a lot of mouthful, that are solving problems and making your life better. That's what they're all about. And we're broadcasting we're on site here at DistribuTECH 22. Dallas, Texas is the town. And it's great to see people milling about the place, and the slipping and tripping over technology everywhere. It's great. It's great to see this happening. Right, Charlie?

01:07

Sure. I love it.

01:09

To video conference, is the first one.

01:13

I went to another conference about a month, two months ago. I had to had to shave, clean up the hair.

01:22

You didn't have to look like Howard Hughes after years of being at the top of that Casino.

01:28

You slow hair product.

01:31

It's good to see everybody.

01:33

It is good. It just reminds me how much space is in the rearview mirror. Because I see so many people I've seen before over the years. And it's like reunion like a high school reunion.

01:45

Have you come across those people that you've only met virtually?

01:49

Yes. And the issue is, gosh, I thought you were taller. Or in my case. I thought you were taller. I'm not so,

01:57

so true. I've never cried. Yeah, that's but it's fun. And what's interesting over the past couple of years is the the level of innovation that is still I mean, it's still rapidly speeding, going fast as can be and trying to keep up so the pandemic pandemic didn't slow that down.

02:16

No, actually, it just went undercover. Just

02:20

just a bit. All right. For the listeners out there. Give us a little background on who Charlie is.

02:25

Oh, okay, so I'm head of our utility segment for a company called Ubicquia. I said that very clearly. That's

02:32

right. And for you listeners out there, I'm gonna have it out there on industrial talk. spelled correctly.

02:39

You bequia. It comes from the word ubiquitous, which means everywhere. That's right doesn't I'm dropping some truth he is reporting. That the reason we use that name is because we use existing available networks, LTE networks, if you are if you have a cell phone in your pocket, then you are using an LTE based network from a carrier. They can also be private, LTE networks and utilities can take advantage of those networks. They're secure. They're built out. They could use them for grid solutions, and they can use them for Smart City solutions. And that's why we're at DistribuTECH we have a suite of solutions in all these areas. connectivity, 5g small cell traffic congestion and cities grid monitoring holiday above, at our booth. Four one zoom three MC.

03:39

Wow. You nailed it. And I don't have any other stuff that no, we're down here. Wrapping up here because there is no. So you're at this. You're at this event. What are you talking about? What what is the topic you're sort of addressing?

03:54

So I have a presentation later today.

03:57

It's at three o'clock. So he's already reminded me of that.

04:00

So that's this is my practice for the presentation. So the presentation is around smart city applications. And how can we leverage the streetlight? Here the streetlight for Smart Cities is kind of like the Nordstroms the anchor tenant in this mall, you land the anchor tenant, and you build out from there. So much can be done. We start with spotlighting go back five 710 years and while Smart Lighting is power smart,

04:28

or whatever, you got to define smart lighting.

04:31

Imagine that you can control the light remotely when the light burns out. Someone knows they can roll a truck if there's a voltage issue at the light if you want to set the light to be brighter. Some cities like to over brighten parts of town for obvious reasons. So this idea of this make this go to elite these is a better life uses less energy and less control it must be able to fly should demand scheduling, look at alarms that come from the light and read and react to the alarm, not just truck driving around and wait for lights to fail. So this idea of spotlighting, is fairly basic has been around for 15 years or so. The question is, so what's next? What's in it for the utility? Can they get benefit out of spotlighting? And what other things can we attach to a streetlight that could further economic development for a city increase public safety, public safety, especially in the urban areas is a really a real issue. So yes, we want to enhance public safety with cameras, sensors, devices. And leads again, back to economic development, you want to live in cities that are thriving, they have crime under control, is evidence management. We'll talk about that a bit. How can you capture evidence around issues on the streets that you can use to resolve issues, but also you can look at to see where do we have potholes in the roads? Where do we have roads that are undersized for the traffic, and we need to expand lanes here, we don't need so much there where to place that important municipal spend. That's more targeted. So it's kind of all of the above. Now, I'm a utility guy who used to work for utilities. So I also think of it in terms of

06:26

what what utility,

06:28

I worked for progress energy back in the day based out of Raleigh, North Carolina, if you can tell I'm a southerner. And progress now is part of Duke Energy. Yep. So headquarters went from Raleigh to Charlotte about three hours away. So my background is utility operations. So the question is, half the streetlights in this country are owned by the utilities on behalf of the city. So a city wants to put digital signage up on a pole. If they don't own the pole, they have to get permissions from the utility if they want to add smart lighting, it has something utility would do if they want to enhance the economic development in make other taxes, that certain that the utility has to weigh, you know, so. So the question is, what else? What else can be a benefit to the city but also be a benefit to the utility? And that's an area that I don't think that's ground we've cloud.

07:25

So I get it, there's a lot of lights out there. There's like there's a heck of

07:31

there's a huge dump. And and

07:33

one of the questions is, are we able to, you know, are we leveraging those physical assets in a way that achieves what you're, you're talking about it because they're out there? So what can we hang off of it? What can we

07:46

and it's not just the things that we can hang off the pole or the light. One of the things I mentioned in my talk in about 45 minutes is because it's at three o'clock, it's at three o'clock is small cell 5g. Everyone talks about 5g, all the commercials on TV about 5g. Well, 5g cannot be provided from a cell tower. It's very fast, but it has a much shorter range. Whoa, see that's heard that word. Yes. So 5g is going to have to be provided on the back of lights, streetlights, or utility poles, because it's a block to block thing. The faster the speed, the shorter the range, the less the more interruption, you can get to the signal. For instance, 5g cannot go around buildings can't go through trees, it's got to have line of sight from from the device to your phone, it's got to be a line of sight. slower speed traffic can go through and around. So just from a physics standpoint, you cannot deploy 5g without considering how you could use the utilities poles.

08:59

So so how are they doing it today? I mean, people are chirping about 5g. So with that definition, now they're doing it? Well.

09:08

If you look around, there are these things called fat poles. They're black. Typically, they have their fat. They have all types of embedded antennas, arrays, that is a 5g pole, you see them popping up. They're expensive. They require a new pole structure. So the way it's been done today is not leveraging the existing infrastructure. They're not leveraging the streetlights in the street light poles or putting new poles you fat poles, which, by the way, are ugly. And so there's this issue around deciding the pole but also do you want that pole in your backyard? In this nice part of town. That's the way it's done is experienced expensive is the slowest path to victory. If you could somehow leverage the existing infrastructure of existing poles the streetlights to build out at least a part of that fire. GE canopy, or then ill, 5g will happen much faster. And it'll happen much faster because it'll be cheaper to install.

10:12

It makes sense. Just I mean, I'm not I'm not finding any pushback on what you're mentioning, because I just don't have to, but so it's somewhat. Maybe I'm a naysayer, maybe I'm not that crotchety guy. The 5g exists out there, but it's still not a massive coverage.

10:33

Now it's not Yeah, there's different flavors of 5g, you hear about, there's actually three different I guess speeds, the really bullet down, like three different speeds of 5g. And a lot of the 5g that's out there is the is the slowest 5g speed, which is easy to deploy. But if you're not an NFL city, you're probably not gonna get good 5g coverage anytime soon. If you're if you're in middle America, I just don't think you're gonna get it. It's just too expensive for the number of users. So unfortunately, it's a bit like a regressive tax. Those that maybe need it the most now that we work from home, this whole digital divide is exposed that the big underbelly of America needs profit. As Jimmy Stewart said, in the famous movie, and most of living dining has been done in small towns, right.

11:35

Sure. That's a good one. And I just want to commend you for being the first person to quote Jimmy Stewart on the podcast. Well, congratulations. I wish I had a pen, but I don't know that.

11:48

Well, it's just a warm feeling inside. It's all on me.

11:51

So show of respect. So with to truly enable the the the smart city. Sure, I mean, 5g has to be a part

12:06

of, it has to be a part, if you think about the cities that are growing the fastest. And I saw a recent study that a lot of the midsize cities are growing fast like Austin, Raleigh, North Carolina, my hometown, because people were finding that if they could just work from home, if they can afford a house, if it was a safe environment, and proper infrastructure, we tend to think in terms of roads, and reliable power. But now people are asking for what's your coverage now? And you look at noon today. Back in the day, you say do you have a dining room nowadays, people that move in two areas? The first question is, where is the study? Where will I be working? Where's my studio gonna be in this house? What kind of coverage Do you have? You have good schools, we have good coverage? Those questions come up. So utilities are involved cities know that. If they really want to grow and attract talent, they've got to have broadband coverage.

13:05

I didn't realize that. That's a curse. I've lived in our house for a little while. So we didn't have that conversation when we first bought it.

13:13

Well, you know, when my kids went to college and came back, the first thing they said was, Dad, you've got to improve your coverage. Did they come home? All their laptops open up? And

13:21

and yeah, it just. But But and you're in a business that does that?

13:26

Sure. We support that. So that's, that's a great need. In in this context of cities. That's, I think that's a key impediment to economic growth.

13:40

Somebody was, you know, before we wrap up, where do you see it going? I mean, I get it, I understand it. I mean, it's gonna happen in some way, shape, or form. Where do you see it going?

13:52

Well, typically, my experience has been that the technology is always well ahead of the regulatory environment. Okay, interesting point. And so technology is available, but for whatever reason is not cost effective, or the current regulatory environment does not allow for now, let's go back to who wants to pose. Back when the whole attachment fees were created for the utilities, they did not anticipate a future world of small cell 5g, Wi Fi, other things that the kinds of attachments they envision might be, you know, traffic counters, etc. So they're having to rethink their tariff structures. Now changing tariff structures for large utilities has been like changing the tax. Yeah,

14:37

it's like me trying to grow hair. That would be a problem. It's a tough one.

14:42

Yes. So. So the issue with the utilities face are we have to restructure our tariffs, we have to restructure our pole attachment fees. Yeah, we have a whole new class of devices that need to be attached to our poles. So how do we do that?

14:59

I don't, I don't have an answer. And that's why you get paid the big bucks. You have you have the answers, right?

15:04

I don't have all the answers. No one does. But collectively, I think we have some options

15:08

in it is that back to collaboration? We have to collaborate. Without a doubt. How do people get a hold yet?

15:14

Well come by booth, by booth 4103. You can look at our website and you ubicquia spell it right. Ubicquia.com

15:26

Thank you, because I guarantee I would have spelled it wrong, but I don't because I've got your card and I will spell it right. And it will be out on industrial talk. So don't come to me and say, I can't get a hold up, Charlie. Yeah, you can go to industrial talk.com Find out more you will not be disappointed. I'm not disappointed.

15:45

This has been fun. Thanks.

15:47

All right, listeners arias. Charlie, Charlie, to my left. All right. We're gonna wrap it up on the other side. So stay tuned, do not go away. We will be right back.

15:58

You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network.

16:03

All right. Once again, thank you very much for joining industrial talk. And thank you definitely for your support. Charlie is his name. Ubicquia is the company talk in smart cities, solutions at distribute tech 2022. And you're saying Scott, it's 2023. It doesn't matter. 2022 had great conversations, great content, great information, solving incredible problems. And if you're in the industrial, utilities, energy space, that is a conference for you. I think it's in San Diego, and it's right around the corner. So put that on your calendar to attend because you just have to, you just have to it's a great conference, get to see some incredible solutions. All right. As you know, we're going to have all the contact information for Charlie, the company, everything out on industrial talk. Also, we're kicking off some great series series into utilities series that are in manufacturing series that are in oil and gas supply chain, and a whole lot more out on industrial talk. We're trying to pull it all together. We're trying to make the complex, a little simpler to understand. That's our goal. That's what we're trying to do. So remember to go out to industrial talk, find out more route around because we're all about education. Yes. Collaboration. Absolutely. And innovation. Yes, you must. And you need to find people that you trust to do that. So it does real talk. Great place to start. Thank you very much. We're going to have more coming from distributor we're going to have more coming from other conferences. So stay tuned. We will be right back.

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On this week's Industrial Talk we're onsite at Distributech 22 and talking to Kellie De Pooter, Director, Global Marketing Communications with G&W Electric Company about “Delivering innovative power systems in an ever changing utility landscape”. Get the answers to your “Power Systems” questions along with Kellie's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Kellie, people, isolate, industrial, transmission, line, utility, power, switchgear, pole, interruption, world, exciting, opening, installed, electric, kv, industry, fault, booth

00:00

Industrial Talk is brought to you by Armis. Yes, you were in the digital transformation game. Yes, you need to find trusted companies, trusted individuals to help you along with that journey. The Armis platform delivers complete asset intelligence, you know what that means? Insights into your connected assets, you're in the digital transformation game, you have to have that insights into what is connected, go to Armis.com Find out more, you will not be disappointed. Also, AiDash. AiDash is on a mission to create a greener, cleaner, safer planet from space. AiDash helps core industries become more resilient, efficient, and sustainable through the power of satellites and AI. Go out to AiDash.com Find out more

00:55

welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So good on your hardhat. Grab your work boots. And let's get

01:12

right once again, welcome to industrial talk the number one industrial related podcast in the universe. And Kellie that's backed up by data. So don't even begin to say, Scott, that's a bunch of baloney. It's it's data.

01:23

I don't trust your data.

01:25

Got it. It's all data analytics. And we are broadcasting live from the DistribuTECH. Dallas is the town DistribuTECH 22 great venue, incredible people solving problems, of course, and making our lives better. That's why we celebrate you on this ever-expanding industrial ecosystem of problem solvers. That's right. Kellie is in the hot seat. G&W Electric is the company. We're going to be talking about distribution automation. So let's get cracking. Because doesn't it? I like it. I like it a lot. You have a good conference?

02:05

It's been good. Yeah. Very, pretty cool. Yeah. Lots of see. Lots to learn.

02:11

It never stops. So we've been out wet for two to two years or so two years ish. Yes. And the innovation just keeps on going and going. And people change. And one of the things I've been asking a lot of people have been talking to so these people that you connected with virtually? Was it a unique experience? Hey, hey, hey, you look, I only know you virtually

02:34

Yes, actually to give a hug to a guy yesterday, because it was the first time I've seen him in two years. And we've had zoom calls, he's lives in Singapore, and he was here in person. I was so excited.

02:46

Just like the same thing. I saw some people walking by yelling out. All right, for the listeners out there, Kellie give us a little background on who you are, and why you're such an incredible professional.

02:59

So so I'm Kellie, and I'm the Director of Global Marketing Communications for GW electric. I've been with the company for five years this year, and focused on transforming our marketing function into driver of sales. So it's super exciting. We've made a lot of headway. And our organization manufactures power grid solutions. We've been around since 1905.

03:23

Yeah, no. Power, because you guys are right in the thick of it.

03:27

Yes. Yes. Which is exciting. It is lots of opportunity.

03:31

Yes. A lot of innovation, a lot of creativity, a lot of a lot of problem solving, because I just because if you've been around since, well, 1905 1905. So you're you've got that that pedigree and traditional grid management, right. And it's there's that legacy thinking that goes on. And now you have to as a company, pivot, do whatever is necessary for this brave new world out there. Absolutely. But you can do it because you guys are leaders. Yes. That's great. Yeah, you can use that. All right, let's talk about this, this distribution, automation.

04:09

I mean, it's really kind of the core focus of what distribute tech is about. So it's a great show for us to attend. One of the solutions that we offer, GW Electric is our laser automation program. So basically, it's a software program that we program into the relay that allows us to have control remotely with our reclosers that are installed on the on the poles and then also within the switchgear that can either be in the underground situation or on a pad mount. And then it allows you to find out where that fault is remotely, you can isolate it so that you can actually allow more people to keep their power on in certain situations and power from other areas and only isolate where that fault is.

04:53

So the reality is is that and correct me if I'm wrong. I'm gentle laid on out. So there's is an interruption on the line? Yes, people are out, you're able to identify where that that disruption occurred, open up the switches, do whatever need isolate it and then bring back the power on on the other feeders that are impacted. So you just narrow it down. Right there.

05:15

Yes. You don't have to send your linemen out to go drive miles to find out where that tree branch might be, or where that fault is, you can do that remotely through the software. And then the software works with the reclosers. And it opens and closes the line. And if you're lucky enough,

05:30

so that's it. It does it automatically. Yes. So you don't even have to the system says, yeah. So that brings back memories. I'm opening up switches outside, I'm on the pole opening up. Opening up the pole. It's like, you don't have to do that either. Like it's getting called out. Yeah, go to this pole. There's, excuse me, go to this poll. Open it up to this and you're going through all this rigmarole because you're not just opening up anything. It's got to be anything that is spectacular. Yes. I kinda like that.

6:07

It is exciting. It is definitely exciting. And so we gave a presentation on it today. And then last year, we were awarded two patents for a newer version of fuzzer. Are you familiar with lizard? No, why not? Do you want to know what it means? Like do its fault location, isolation and service restoration?

06:29

Another term that I gotta rub down a lizard.

06:31

It's a pretty common one. So yep. Stick that one. In your head.

06:37

Not not when you're an old guy like me. And you know, my world is just a little bit narrower than your world. That's lizard. I love that. See, that was always that's a lot of time. The old way of doing that. That's a lot of time patrol it figure it out. There's the problem. Okay, you can do that. Can you shut it down? And you're just going through all of this. But you have automated that. Right? So it's like, okay, this line is out. There's the fault. Open up these these switches, boom, isolated, and energize the other areas. Exactly. Yes. People like that. Yeah, I don't know that they like it. But they like it.

07:10

Well, definitely the end users like it. Yeah, but utilities are really like, Okay, I

07:14

got the utilities like and it because they're not getting the complaints. Yes. But I guarantee the standard Joe six pack me. Like, I don't know that. All I know is I just had a bit of an interruption of powers back on. Okay, I'm good. I'm good. It's it's pretty binary. Hey, what's got all I'm okay.

07:34

Yeah, I'm good. Everything's wrong.

07:36

It's so funny. That's so true. And I do. So here's here's the funny thing. And this is a this is a human side. So my dad was alive. And we we lived in Barstow, California middle of nowhere. And we get these wind storms. And he was in distribution. And, and windstorm would come and then you'd see the lights dim a little bit. Yes. So you get a little delay. And then my dad would just stop it. And then he listened again, then another and then another one, and then putting the phone would ring lock out whatever it is. Yeah, don't answer the phone. Exactly. I do the same thing. Still. I do I'll just sit there and go was that here's another one.

08:22

Oh my gosh, but when you see it go on and on and off and then it stays on that means you know that the equipment on That's

08:29

exactly right. I am a I'm a better person because of this conversation because exactly right. Yeah. And the interruptions. I think that's brilliant.

08:38

Yeah, and the best part of of what we have over at our booth right now is in February we launched the first ever in the world 69 kV, KV recloser that's on the pole top get shot or automation software program and allows you this functionality now at a substation level and it's and you don't have to build your you know, circuit breakers your substations and have a lot of maintenance with that equipment now you've got your medium voltage technology up on the pole at the 69 KV level.

09:11

You're blowing my mind on that one. Because you know once again, it's transmission that was like the transmission voltage and and no, you you almost went from CB to CB and you isolated that line and and because the the relays were set so quickly, you couldn't even see that they would lock out in a chat second, right? And it was like six cycles. He couldn't even see the mark. But you had to try to you had to patrol the line at church telling me that you'll say this span this band there it is right there.

09:43

Yes. At a sub transmission level.

09:47

What sub transmission voltammetry what is it?

09:50

Well, the equipment that we have is up to 72 KB.

09:54

Okay, good. We call that Sub Sub Sub transmission

09:59

and some liking Canada, they look at 44 KB and this particular product goes up to 72. At this point in time,

10:06

what does that look like on a poll? You

10:08

have to come see it. It's in our booth. You missed it.

10:12

Well, I was too busy just running by I'm in a salt mine right here. Yeah. Kellie, it's just is what it

10:17

It's probably as tall as you. One might one phases probably as tall as you really? Yeah.

10:24

Can you stick it on a tower? You have to stick it on some steel structure? Are you sticking? You're not sticking it on wood?

10:30

No, it's not. Now they're they're cement, full structure holes.

10:36

I gotta run over there. Yeah,

10:37

we installed, we installed our first ones out in the Northeast with a utility last fall.

10:44

Wow. That's cool. And I'm sorry for coughing just because I've been talking forever. And it is just tickled. And I'm not going to sit there and coughing my mic.

10:51

Too much that's making me giggle and

10:53

get all giddy about this whole conversation. It's like, oh, I can't believe it. No, this is insane. So

11:00

if you think about all the transmission lines that we have in the art, you know, antiquated system that we have now we have better ability to, you know, isolate that certain parts so that you can keep more more end users more distribution lines, running power.

11:16

You know, what's interesting? I don't think the end user, the customer realizes how brilliant that is. Because they don't it's just one of those things like they just don't they take it for granted. Yeah,

11:29

well, and it's new. So you know, the technology is not new, right? So our medium voltage recloser. It's based off of the same technology, same functionality. So it's not new, the technology is not new, but it is new at that level. And so you have a new customer base, you've got your transmission customers now that we get to educate and teach them and get them excited about it.

11:52

God, I'm telling you, man, I'm always I just I constantly think of the time when I'm out on a pole and opening that switch, right? I'm on it. And we were always concerned about the whip, right? You hit the whip, and then you start this, you pull it and then you just gotta pull it down fast. And you just hope it doesn't just are there are a couple of times that we just aren't. Oh my gosh, what do we do? Show me? Screaming grandma, and that doesn't happen. Yep. Helps

12:17

from a safety for safety. Big time. Yes. Yes. And less maintenance. Yes, everything. Yes.

12:25

This is a brave new world.

12:27

It's exciting. It

12:28

So tell me some new stuff that's coming down the pike that you guys.

12:34

Well, so the the Viper HV that we just talked about 69 KV recloser that we just launched, we acquired a company out of Italy in 2019 that manufactures high accuracy sensors. So we've got current and voltage sensors that are indoor and outdoor that can be integrated into your switchgear that will help you also from a visibility around what's happening within your current your voltage within the system and help you to make some adjustments so you can get smarter about how you're running your lines. And then probably more exciting. Or another exciting topic for us is that we're building our own micro grid on our corporate headquarters campus right now. And so

13:18

well, you got the tools you can do that. The gear

13:22

we do we have the gear, we obviously you need. You need to partner with some other corporations or other companies. You know, we've got solar, we have batteries that we've installed a flywheel that we've installed and you really

13:37

want to go there. Can I go there?

13:39

You absolutely can. We will be hopefully doing a nice media event to bring in a tour of our control center. That will be later this year.

13:51

What do you guys call home? Where's that microphone gonna be?

13:54

So it's in Bolingbrook, Illinois, just the south suburb of Chicago.

13:59

I was just up there. Okay, we're gonna make that happen. Yes, we have to make it happen. This was this was a great conversation. I am not disappointed whatsoever.

14:10

All right, me neither.

14:12

How do people get a hold here? Because this is just, I gotta run over there. Let's run over to your sponsor. Let's skip on over to check this stuff out. I know I'm going to be how did we get a hold here?

14:22

at our booth? 14. Oh, wait.

14:24

No, you, you. They want the human connection there. Kellie,

14:30

as in my email address.

14:32

I'll have it all out there. I'm gonna have your email address out there. I'm gonna have it out and I'm available.

14:36

Give me a call.

14:38

Oh, man, you got to connect with her. Because it's cool. Hey, we're getting our picture taken. Because that's how we roll. Alright listeners. Thank you very much for joining the industrial talk. Man. The future of utilities is bright public. I use bright sort of

14:52

light Well, pretty

14:54

smooth. All right. And we are broadcasting from DistribuTECH 22 Till and this is in Dallas. Texas a great venue great to have professionals, great innovators. Look at Kellie right here. She's amazing and G&W absolutely spot on. All right, we're gonna have all the contact information for Kellie at industrial talk.com. We will be right back. Thank you.

15:17

You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network.

15:22

All right, once again, thank you very much for joining industrial talk and supporting this particular platform because it celebrates you industry professionals all around the world, your message needs to be amplified because you guys are doing great things out there. And also, also big thank you to Kellie to booter. You can tell I geek out on that stuff just because with my utility background as a former journeyman lineman what they're doing at GE and double, G&W Electric fantastic stuff really geeking out on it. So anyway, you have a couple of action items one reach out to Kellie, if you are in the utility, energy, space, reach out to Kellie G&W Electric important action item for you. Also, if you are also in that industry, you need to attend distribute tech in 2023. It's going to be bigger, better and stronger and faster. Steve Austin that thing and you will not be disappointed. There is a lot of people solving really important problems happening within the utility and energy space. Great, great way of educating, collaborating, and of course, finding innovation to help you succeed in the future. All right, be bold, be brave. They are greatly hanging out with people like Kellie, and you're going to change the world. Thank you very much once again for supporting the does real talk. We're going to have another great conversation from DistribuTECH shortly so do not go away.

The post Kellie De Pooter with G&W Electric Company appeared first on Industrial Talk.

On this week's Industrial Talk we're onsite at Distributech 22 and talking to Patty Seifert, Ph.D. at Eaton about “Utility Innovations and Solutions for Future Success”. Get the answers to your “Grid of the Future” questions along with Patty's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2022. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

PATTY SEIFERT'S CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patty-seifert-ph-d-6a450b/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eaton/

Company Website: https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us.html

PODCAST VIDEO:

THE STRATEGIC REASON “WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST”:

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us

AI Dash: https://www.aidash.com/

Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html

Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/

YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX:

LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/

Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link

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Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader):

Business Beatitude the Book

Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? Live your business the way you want to live with the BUSINESS BEATITUDES…The Bridge connecting sacrifice to success. YOU NEED THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

utility, data, industrial, model, industry, analytics, solar, people, Patricia, vegetation management, happen, suddenly, put, power, measure, fast, professionals, interesting, outages, historical data

SPEAKERS

Scott MacKenzie

00:00

Hey industrial Talk is brought to you by CAP Logistics. You want to minimize downtime. Absolutely. increase reliability, you bet ensure operational profitability. Yes you do. That means you need 24/7 365 insights into your supply chain, look no further CAP Logistics, go to caplogistics.com. Or just call them. They're great people 800-227-2471 Also, AiDash. AiDash is on a mission to create a greener, cleaner, safer planet from space. AiDash helps core industries become more resilient, efficient, and sustainable through the power of satellites and AI. Go out to AiDash.com Find out more

00:56

welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots,

01:13

and let's Alright, once again, welcome to industrial talk the number one industrial related podcast in the universe. Patricia I'm not I'm not that's that's that's factual. By the way, it's all driven by data. That's why I'm the number one podcast in the world. And this is where we celebrate industry professionals from all around the world. Because you are bold, you are brave, you dare greatly. You solve problems. You innovate like nobody's business, and you're changing lives. And therefore you are changing the world each and every day. Why not celebrate. As you can tell, by the I guess the buzz in the background, we are broadcasting last scene live from DistribuTECH 2022. And incredible then you put this on your bucket list, because there are a lot of great professionals roaming around here. Again, solving problems. It's a great venue. I like it. All right in the hot seat. Patricia, say your last name petition was signed for cipher. eaten as the company. How are you doing? I am so thankful that you were so flexible to just pop on the podcast because you're busy person

02:22

will be eaten. And luckily we all I mean, everything changes at the moment in the utility industry. I mean, from you know, when I talked to my son, but 10 years ago, he was not like Mommy, I'm not really cool industry. But now oh, now I'm cool. And a cool mom. So that's I mean, the energy industry becomes really interesting. Also for the younger generation. They think about you know, global warming, the impact, how much energy should they use? What is the future? renewables? We have just installed solar, lots of them excited. And we have a battery at home. So

02:59

yeah, did you have a solar and battery? Yes. solution at your house?

03:03

I'm in the PSPS zone. So public safety power shut off multiple times last year. So I'm at the point. Well, I want to say

03:14

wouldn't mean you're out of California. Yes, exactly. I'm telling you. I don't know how to process this, that the utilities have to shut off power. Growing up in the utility my dad was with Southern California I was alignment. And that that conversation never happened. Oh, never. And now it's like, this is how we manage this is what we do. This is the expectations. It's just bizarre. Do you think that we'll ever get to a point where, I mean, we're transitioning and it's all you know, pretty dynamic out there. But shutting down power is just an interesting challenge. And

03:52

it's just a customer, you're absolutely not happy, especially when your sewer system or I happen to a pump doesn't work. You feel like you know, you're gonna feel dwells completely. So yes, it's it's frustrating, but I understand. I mean, we've had horrible fails in California. I think some of the utility maybe have not invested enough. And that's me as a customer speaking. But, I mean, you know, if it's a trade off not having electricity on your house building down, I will always take not having him. So it's up to you. Oh,

04:32

Yeah, that's, that's yeah, that makes sense. Definitely. But it's, it's, it's but but but what I do here, there are people talking companies like yours and others, talking about solutions on how to transition into this, this new thing. It's happening so fast, but they're able to, they're starting to think through that.

04:55

They'll definitely analytics I mean, you can measure it in different ways but you Um, one of the analytics I worked on, was looking at momentary outages momentary outages is when a branch hits a line or something like that

05:09

relays test that's exactly required.

05:13

And so you can begin to measure those and say, hey, well, where does it happen along the network. And when you know, wherever it happens, you can begin to more effectively cut to the bushes, and

05:26

you start talking about vegetation management. But the reality is, you're right. If you are tracking these interruptions, then you can also pull in some weather, you can pull in, you can pull in various sources of data to create that picture of say, get a Triq crew out there.

05:44

Get caught it early, you know, vegetation management is one of the most expensive costs or utility.

05:51

And it's, it's, it's, it's part of that whole delivery of service. And it's constantly having issues and it's expensive. And everybody's trying to figure out the best way to

06:03

do it exactly. In many ways. I mean, momentary outages, this one, putting sensors out there to measure these, or outages. And that's, that's fairly a way to do it. And I think that's, that's something we have to do. Otherwise, you have to undercount everything, which is also expensive. Yeah,

06:21

you can't do that too, because then you have all the other, can I underground here? Do I have to get the easement? Do I, what do I do here? How do I do? There's just so many other things? And that's not gonna

06:30

happen overnight? No. And then monitoring goes again, you don't see it anymore? No, you don't. If you do need more equipment in the field to monitor those lines to make sure what you don't see you still have some insights into it. And, again, analytics, and I think analytics is fairly well we go in with do you tell if

06:50

you're, I think you're spot on. And I think what I'm hearing clear, loud and clear that these this event is that utilities, and let's just be honest, utilities are the ones that are really driving, that they're the ones right, they're the ones that have this obligation to serve their territory, and therefore, how do we do it most effectively, they've got, you know, pressures on it. So they're going to drive this adoption in this this going forward. But what I do here is that there are a lot of, you know, arrows in their quiver to be able to provide that insights, data analytics, all of the stuff that is necessary to make sound decisions, tactical decisions.

07:29

Exactly. And especially people like me, suddenly, we say, I want to have my own electricity. And if I have too much, I will give it back to the network. And that's a challenge for utilities too. And I think that's something a lot of people don't realize, they all think it's the customer, it's the customer, the customer is very, very important. But having the distributed network, the distribution network is really up and running. It's a major challenge.

07:56

Again, I'm sort of old school, old school, when I say this, though, when I went to the system operators, for watching the system, and seeing how they app manage that. It was challenged back when you had the centralized generation, and they you know, now it's all distributed. And and you have a battery, they have batteries, and be able to do it in such a way that makes sense. And in fact, if I don't know how to do it,

08:21

and interesting data analytics to you see that? It is solar, it's clustering. So it's really, oh, my neighbor has solar, they had to add, let's get an EV. Let's get solar maybe to talk to each other. And they find out oh, that's really cool. Let's have to do you have this clusters. And that makes it difficult for utility to Because suddenly, an EV can use as much as your whole house and electricity. But the transform was not laid out for that

08:49

the infrastructure is not there. How do we do

08:53

that? Suddenly, it doubles your electricity consumption. So how do you build a network that it holds up that you're aware of it? What's happening out in the field? And solar very often you have to mention to the utility and you have to get a permit for that can't just plug it in?

09:10

You know, it's just like air. There we go. So let's talk a little bit about that bright layer. What is that

09:15

white layer is really our digital solution. Looking really at what we just talked about? Collecting the data mainly on the distribution network, collecting the data, looking at the data and making informed decision for the utility helped them. Well, like we have one planning tool. And well, do you want to put your solar installation, your wind installation? What will be the impact on your network? Information like that? So that that really helps you to think about what will be the impact? And where do you want to put additional resources in Dell? Or if you want to build an extra neighborhood, what will be the impact on the distribution network? How do I have to build it? What kind of cables do I need? What kind of transformers do I need?

10:03

Do you also speculate or look out into the future to and say, Hey, this is a growing community, therefore, you don't need three, you need 954 wire you need whatever, you need a bigger capacity because it's going to expand

10:17

exactly what customers forecasting. So you have to forecast you do at load analysis thinking as to what will be the future loading, then you can put in the planning model, and then you can calculate what is the infrastructure? And where do I best put it in without have the least impact on changing our infrastructure?

10:37

So you have this platform? Do I Do I put in historical data within a community? Does it learn does? Is there an AI analytics component or what? So I have to put data in to get some sort of information out? Yes, take us through that process. So

10:54

normally, when you don't different ways to do analytics, one is you fail the test the model, you get data, historical data, to look back up the future, that's really testing and informing the model. That is another way to just give the data and say, Hey, where are the outliers. So let's say put pictures of dogs and cats and, and the system will say, Oh, this, these are two legged, these are four legged, they look the same, but they will not say this is a duck, this is a cat. But when you do Bailey trained a model, you say this is a duck, this is a cat, and it will find the toxic cats and label it this is this is so different ways to do. Machine.

11:42

Because here's an interesting, you know, as well as I do utilities, there's been that sort of singular focus and the singular focus is deliver power at the lowest possible costs. For the consumer, they're sort of pretty simple. And it makes sense, reliable, right? Don't interrupt things like that. So that's pretty simple. And it's and your decisions all revolve around that from a utility perspective. Do you find that utilities as this, this journey begins and it's fast? It's just oddly fast? Able to sort of, do it be nimble enough, sort of retain that same sort of thinking, but do you find that, you know, are you getting good data to be able to do what you need to do? I mean, it's sort of interesting.

12:34

We looked at, you know, consumption to predict consumption, how, ultimately, you know, COVID consumption change quite a bit, because people begin to work at home. And Sunday, the coal consumption, pedal change. And so you know, you need weather data to predict what will be the consumption. And these models change over time, like, two years ago, in California, we had this huge piles. And suddenly, we had all the smoke in the air. And a lot of the solo didn't work anymore, because we almost had a nuclear winter, it got colder, and the solar didn't work. And so then we had to change our model again and say, Oh, we have to take this parameter. So and analytics is not just done, your environment changes, and you have to adjust to that.

13:26

But those are statistical outliers. You can, although you have to model it. Is it going to happen again? Or do you see this as this?

13:34

But you can you can, you know, you see, okay, Napa Valley, you have a fire, you know how the wind goes. So you can make some assumptions? Say, Yes, it could come in this direction, what would be the impact? You have another 20%, something like that, but still some certainty what could happen?

13:54

Yeah, you can do this. So you run simulations to absolutely he's like, okay, here, well, let's, let's use this and this. What does that look like? Okay, let's change this parameter. That parameter. Let's see what it looks like.

14:07

Yeah. So I will hold Sam software. It's all about planning. What if model? What if I do a put a tee? Or what if I do that? Yes, exactly. So that you make the best decision you can with the least cost.

14:20

So let's say I'm a utility. And I'm interested in having this type of data visibility. So I contact you. Then he says, Yep, got it. We can do something we see it we have. How long does it take for you to deploy a system like this? I'm sure it evolves. It sort of grows and learns and does what it needs to do. But just from a baseline perspective, being able to generate real information that helps them make tactical decisions.

14:53

That's not an easy question, because very often we need that historical data to thank them All and very often is how fast can utility providers? How often can they get people to get that data, gather that data? And then we have to cleanse the data first, and then analyze it very often, we can really work together for a proof of concept or something in the beginning to really, do we solve their pain points? Do we measure the right stuff? I would say, somewhere between three to nine months, depending on how big the project is, and how close we are. Yeah. And

15:28

what I hear is there's a human component, and if they had a major focus on saying, Okay, let's get the data. They're asking for this, this, this, this, this, whatever, whatever it is, but then we can do it much faster. That's exactly correct. And it's always but but this, this, this, this, this, and then I have to do that, that, that that that and then there's a there's a, but you bring up an interesting point that there's that necessity just to scrub that data? Yeah,

15:49

absolutely. I mean, you get the data and suddenly think, is that data like that? And then you go back and said, I had one example. Well, we measured phases, and one was 0236. And suddenly, we had a minus 180. And it's like, what is that? And I said, Oh, we have made of the measure plus 180 minus 100. I didn't say what two 360. So and simple case, but if you don't know that you think a negative value, but what's wrong here? But it's just a different medium. And so you have to normalize and clean the data.

16:23

And again, that's on a case by case basis most definitely because we've all been there.

16:29

Some there are still some very old needles out there as well. Infrastructure with

16:33

Yes, and each utility is different. Each service territory is different each every everything is different. Construction Standards, wiring, you name it, it's different.

16:44

And some devices don't give take on some gift data. So you also have often to estimate stuff. If I don't get data here. What is the estimation what is the best estimation I can do?

16:56

I hear job security. Because it never ends. I will never

17:01

end I think you know that people think that will be out of a job. No, I think that what's interesting chops. Yes.

17:07

That is spot on. All right. How did they get a hold of you? Patricia? They're saying that she is talking my talk. How do I get a hold you

17:15

just reach me at Patty Seifert.

17:19

Easy peasy. All right. Listen, this, we're gonna have all the contact information for Patricia out there on industrial talk.com. Once again, we're broadcasting from DistribuTECH 22, here in Dallas, excellent. Perfect. Like, like, like Patricia's professionals, follow on like her like they're Enjoy. Thank you very much for joining and we will be right back.

17:43

You're listening to the industrial talk, Podcast Network.

17:47

FireEye. Once again, thank you very much for joining industrial talk, and definitely your support. We truly appreciate it. And it is a platform. Industrial talk is a platform that celebrates you industrial professionals all around the world. You're making the world wonderful. And that's why we want to celebrate you, Patti, the interview, no difference. She's passionate, she knows exactly what's going on. She is a thought and industry leader right there with Eaton reach out to her contact information at industrial talk. So you've got to be about educating and collaborating and innovating. I think events like distribute tech and others is a wonderful opportunity to be able to collaborate with people who just just continuously think through these challenges, and what are the innovative solutions to be able to solve those problems, and you're just gonna have to be connected. So you can you're gonna you're always gonna have to learn. So reach out to Patti team Eaton doing marvelous things for the utility space because it is changing in a big way. All right, people be brave, daring greatly. And you're just starting out, you're hanging out with people like Paddy and you're gonna change the world. Thank you very much for what you do. And we're always here. So if you ever want to get a hold of me, you know where to go. Industrial talk.com Reach out. And just let's have a conversation. All right, we're gonna have another great conversation from DistribuTECH shortly so stay tuned.

The post Patty Seifert with Eaton appeared first on Industrial Talk.

On this week's Industrial Talk we're onsite at Distributech 22 and talking to Vera Silva, CTO at GE Grid Solutions about “The requirements for developing the grid of the future”. Get the answers to your “Grid of the Future” questions along with Vera's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2022. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

VERA SILVA'S CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vera-silva-67822220/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gegridsolutions/

Company Website: https://www.gegridsolutions.com/

PODCAST VIDEO:

THE STRATEGIC REASON “WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST”:

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

NEOM: https://www.neom.com/en-us

AI Dash: https://www.aidash.com/

Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html

Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/

YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX:

LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/

Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link

Social Jukebox: https://www.socialjukebox.com/

Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader):

Business Beatitude the Book

Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? Live your business the way you want to live with the BUSINESS BEATITUDES…The Bridge connecting sacrifice to success. YOU NEED THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

Reserve My Copy and My 25% Discount

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

grid, solutions, industrial, work, technology, ge, industry, collaborate, customers, changing, system, vera, continue, enable, people, connected, control, modernize, cybersecurity, journey

00:00

Hey industrial Talk is brought to you by CAP Logistics. You want to minimize downtime. Absolutely. increase reliability, you bet ensure operational profitability. Yes you do. That means you need 24/7 365 insights into your supply chain, look no further CAP Logistics, go to CAP Logistics.com Or just call them. They're great people 800-227-2471 Also, AiDash. AiDash is on a mission to create a greener, cleaner, safer planet from space. AiDash helps core industries become more resilient, efficient, and sustainable through the power of satellites and AI. Go out to AiDash.com Find out more

AiDash welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard head, grab your work boots,

01:13

and let's once again welcome to industrial talk the number one industrial related podcast in the universe that celebrates industry professionals all around the world. You are bold, you are brave and daring greatly. You're solving problems. And you're changing lives. Therefore you are changing the world each and every day, why not celebrate, you must be celebrated and we are mon sight distributech 22, Dallas, Texas is the place. And we're just having a great time because there are a lot of great people. It's fun talking about people who have met people for the first time and only knew them virtually. However, we have very in the hot seat. GE Grid Solutions is the company GE is a GE just grid solutions are G.

02:01

That's a big topic that everybody has a grid around the world. How

02:08

is the greatest industrial system done by mankind?

02:12

See, I never heard that one. That's a good one. You wrote about that? Right? Yeah, yes. Because when I was, again, when I was an old lineman, it was pretty simple. It was pretty linear. It was like generation down to me consumer flipping a switch, and it was good. Now it's completely different. It requires companies like yours.

02:33

Well, there's quite a big change, you start by you enable the energy transition. So we're changing the way we generate electricity. It's no longer predictable. dispatchable is gonna be renewables connected, the transmission connected the distribution, even connecting in the rooftops of the houses. So that's a massive transformation on what the grid needs to host and to enable

02:58

it that's a that's a technology equation. I mean, there's a human component, but but to be able to do that in a as real time as possible, and be able to match load, you know, you still want to be able to say, hey, flip the switch, it all works. You know, that's that's a challenge.

03:18

I would say there's a human component, which is society's expectation, yes, on energy transition on prosumers, being part of the choice on how they produce when they consume, wanting to support the system with demand side flexibility. But definitely the technology play will be critical to enable all this transformation.

03:41

So where do we in this whole journey? This? Again, it's it's the ability to be able to communicate with these these. I can't, I can't, I'm not saying disconnected. But if I have a car and it has a battery, I'm a part of the solution, theoretically. And then if, if my neighbor has a battery we do together are part of the solution of being able to make sure that supply man demand and we might be able to be called into action. With Where do you see it's starting? I mean, you mentioned something about pulling all of these elements together, can you sort of help the listeners understand what GE grid solutions is providing.

04:24

So we're helping to pull the elements together with quite of the hardware equipment, so the grid is and will be a physical infrastructure. But at the same time, we're working on the control and digital layer that orchestrate the different resources across the system to make sure we still have the lights on when we need

04:46

so definitely, so you're at the hardware of course yeah, you're G Come on. As I as I shrug my shoulder now absolutely. And then of course that digital later because But how do you see it sort of rolling out? What is your what? What's your expectation of this grid of the future.

05:09

Some of the key places that this we need to enable this transformation while we keep the system resilient, stable, reliable, that's, that's really an expectation from society, from our customers. And the grid, the digital layer, we'll be working in very strong coordination with the way we control the grid operations with how we digitize, we maintain, we run the assets, as well as how we operate it in real time. So I would say hardware controls are going to continue to be deeply connected communications infrastructure, so I would say is like, a multi layered grid, where everything needs to be interoperable, and work seamlessly together.

05:56

That's a bold vision. Now, as a utility, let's just say I'm an investor owned utility. And where do I even start? I mean, this. This has multi layers. And I don't know how to, can I do it incrementally? Can I? Does it have to be sort of all or nothing? How do you approach a project like that?

06:20

There is an incremental side to it, because we're we're building and transforming an infrastructure that has about 100 years, and that we're not going to restart from scratch. But it depends very much every system will have challenges that come first. So I would say systems with a lot of PV, decentralized resources will need to modernize the distribution grid, that comes from advanced energy management systems for distribution, for casting observability control. In many cases, where we have offshore, as well as the big wind offshore, you're going to have to bring this off sea infrastructure, the super grids and connect them to the shore. And that is a whole new challenge that needs to be addressing. And in all cases, we're transforming the physics of the grid. So making sure we have a stable system that we provide, somehow the same type of ability for the work that are operable operability of the grid as we had in the past, is going to be something that will be key across all the different systems.

07:29

And maybe it's me, but it's, it's challenging to know, because if you know the physical realities in the field, and I think of all the relays I think of all of the the equipment that's out there, in these boxes that are in the there's a box over there, and then 20, there's there's boxes everywhere, and to be able to do it effectively. And modernize the grid is monumental. And of course, you need to do it incrementally. I don't know how you and of course, the cost. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go out there and say, Hey, I gotta change this relay, I'll change that relay. And I just didn't just change relays. That doesn't make sense if that if, if you don't have that overall strategic vision of where you're trying to take that grid,

08:18

I think it's important to have this transformation roadmap and understand what are the different areas to modernize. And the strategy to do that modernization of protection and control is a critical piece of this evolutions to advanced software tools that are helping to orchestrate the grid. So this is very much areas where the customers are focusing quite a lot. And then in many cases, we are connecting with technology, high voltage, DC, bikes, devices to help stabilize the grid. So I would say this is a journey that we're only together.

08:54

That's an understatement, because I and you have to get it right. You don't have many bites at the apple, shall I say? Because if if, if I as a consumer have flickering lights, I'm not happy at somebody's going to know about it. And I'm not the only one that has flickering lights. And so you have to get it right the first time. How do you address the issue of just technology? There's a velocity that exists here today. You know, here's, here's version one, and then next week, there's going to be version 20. But whatever that looks like, and it's like one week, how do you how do you? How do you bake that into the strategy? You're saying, Hey, I just bought this and it's already obsolete. I need it. You know, how do you do that?

09:43

I think what we're trying to go to the customers is really having solutions that go from the monolithic solutions where you as you say you will need to replace everything into modularized solutions, microservices, ways that you can patch for example, cybersecurity up Rate software upgrade, remote device management. So all of these are critical things to enable the transformation, while making sure that we keep the cost and that customers will still be able to operate this grid that is becoming different. With many more devices connected devices that you need to visualize, you need to control you need to manage, making sure that we did this by facilitating that task.

10:28

Because as you continue to digitize this, this grid that we glossed over briefly, but there's that cybersecurity component, this is critical infrastructure, it has to be done delicately, I would imagine done. That's just one guy's opinion. But to be able to do it, and do it correctly, you have to secure those devices for you got an issue.

10:58

This is definitely something that industry has been working on ready for quite a long time, because digitization of the grid is not something new, and starting and it is in a way a new vulnerability to the grid. So something we need to control. And there's been quite a lot of work in terms of standards in terms of protocols in terms of architecture of systems to enable the cybersecurity, as well as quite a lot of investment to making sure that we have products that are secure by design, and that we can easily upgrade compatible systems because it's it's a constant, constant changing race, I would say

11:37

it's dynamic. There's no doubt about it. It's to some extent, it's like nailing jello to the wall. Because it's not just GE there are other companies that are creating new use cases that are coming up with new technology, new innovation, and and how do we how do we manage that properly? Wow,

12:00

this is definitely something we are working on. As an industry. There's an ecosystem of partners and ecosystem of solutions. And it's definitely not a problem that one company can claim to solve on its own and provide a one solution fits all. It's really a joint effort.

12:17

So you bring up an interesting point. And I've mentioned this, I think, although the challenges of the pandemic are obvious, don't get me wrong, I got God. But then there's this other side of the pandemic, where it really amplified the need for us to collaborate, where we don't have all the answers. And I need, I need trusted people like GE and others to come up with a solution. That makes sense. And I saw I don't like the bad side. But I think the good side is people realize I can't do it myself.

12:53

That's really something we've been becoming very clear to the industry, which is that collaboration will be absolutely critical for us going forward collaboration with customers collaboration, even between competitors, to making sure that we said technology fast, and we work on the solutions. And I would say that innovation collaborations, we have launched a Digital Innovation Lab, where we're working with customers on these future use cases, incubating solutions with making it very concrete going from the slides to use cases to test cases, to demos, and then expanding it and I see that this is something that we need to continue doing foreign we will bring Firstly, we really need to collaborate much earlier with our customers on technology.

13:41

Yeah. Yes. Because if you don't, and I make this recommendation, if you're thinking about getting involved, you need to do it now. Now. In fact, you need to do it yesterday, because you're gonna be behind the eight ball so quickly, because of people like you and G, you know, that you're just you're just constantly saying, this is the way we need to go. And it's always a human equation, right? Like the technology is the technology. It's that human element. All right. How do people get a hold of you? Because they need to get a hold of you. Because you're that good?

14:20

I wouldn't say but I'm quite available. I'm quite active on social network and very connected to the industry communities, research environment. So I think it's easy to get ahold of the

14:33

guy don't come complaining to me because I know it's gonna be out on industrial talk. That's one. So that's Vera Silva, CTO GE grid solutions. Absolute stellar. Your guy bad.

14:46

Thank you. Alright, listeners.

14:47

We're gonna wrap it up on the other side, all the contact information, prepare and then some. So stay tuned. We will be right back.

14:55

You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network.

15:00

Thank you once again for joining industrial talk the leader in industrial entertainment, I just came up with that. And it's an ever expanding ecosystem of problem solvers like Vera reached out to be or go out to her stead card on LinkedIn reach out, you will not again be disappointed because she knows what she's talking about. And in the space of utilities, it is changing and you need incredible leaders like Vera, like GE grid solutions to help you along with the journey, go out, visit Barra all the contact information will be out on industrial talk. As you can tell by the noise in the background, we were at DistribuTECH 22. Now you need to put that one on your calendar for next year or 23. It's going to be bigger, grander, and the way in the way technology is growing and expanding and the speed and the velocity. The only thing that I can recommend and suggest is that you get engaged, you begin to collaborate and you've got to educate just because it's happening and it's happening fast. And the only way that you're going to keep up with it is that you're involved and engaged, go out to industrial talk, find out more if you are interested in collaborating and getting your story on the podcast. All right. Be bold, be brave, daring, greatly say it all the time. That's what you are doing. You are changing lives and you're changing the world. The ecosystem is wonderful, get engaged, and you're going to continue to change the world. Thank you very much. Once again, thank you to Barra and we're going to have another great conversation coming to you from DistribuTECH shortly so do not go away. We will be right back.

The post Vera Silva with GE Grid Solutions appeared first on Industrial Talk.

On this week's Industrial Talk we're onsite at Distributech 22 and talking to Jim Thomson, Vice Chair – US Power, Utilities and Renewables at Deloitte about “De-Carbonization, NetZero Efforts and need for a Smarter Grid”.  Get the answers to your “De-Carbonization” questions along with Jim's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2022. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

JIM THOMSON'S CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-thomson-77796b5/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deloitte/

Company Website: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en.html

PODCAST VIDEO:

THE STRATEGIC REASON “WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST”:

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

NEOM:  https://www.neom.com/en-us

AI Dash: https://www.aidash.com/

Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html

Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

utilities, industry, solutions, industrial, collaborate, decarbonization, power, world, jim, people, Deloitte, utility companies, conference, customers, moving, talking, drive, rates, integrators, pragmatic

00:00

Hey industrial Talk is brought to you by CAP Logistics. You want to minimize downtime. Absolutely. increase reliability, you bet ensure operational profitability. Yes you do. That means you need 24/7 365 insights into your supply chain, look no further CAP Logistics, go to caplogistics.com or just call them. They're great people 800-227-2471 Also, AiDash, AiDash is on a mission to create a greener, cleaner, safer planet from space. AiDash helps core industries become more resilient, efficient, and sustainable through the power of satellites and AI. Go out to AiDash.com Find out more

00:55

Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hardhat, grab your work boots, and let's

01:13

carry on once again, welcome to industrial talk the number one industrial related podcast in the universe. It is backed up by data, Jim, so you don't don't even try to. Yeah, data is driving now. And it is a platform that celebrates industry professionals all around the world. Because you're bold, you're brave, you dare greatly. You're solving problems, you're innovating and you are making the world a better place. It is an ever expanding. I'm trying to get all the words there.

01:39

And you're not even reading this. No, I'm

01:40

not well off the top of my head ever expanding industrial ecosystem of problem solvers. How about that one? That's fancy. All right, Deloitte is in the house. Jim is his name Jim Thomson. And we're going to be talking about of course, decarbonization, as well as many other things. So let's get a car wreck. And I like it. Well, you know, I stayed at a Holiday Inn. So I feel like I can be a DJ too.

02:08

Gonna get a conference? Yeah, it's good. Scott, I think the coolest thing after two years of looking at two dimensional people through zoom and all the other technologies, it's just amazing to be back here. I mean, this conference is always a highlight for the industry every year. And it's been tough the last couple years. So it's just wonderful to have this many 1000s of people together again.

02:26

But you know, what's the interesting part? It didn't slow down the innovation? Not at all, everything's continue to move along? We just didn't have the, you know, shaking of the hands. Yeah, that's and it

02:35

has been incredible. Even just looking at the last two years, everything around the decarbonization journey and new technologies, new solutions, government funding and grants that are going to help continue to kickstart things. It's, it's a cool time to be involved in the power space for

02:47

sure. You know, I always think about this utilities will drive the the adoption speed, you know, there tend to be very pragmatic, because they still have to say, I gotta deliver power, it's got to be reliable. It's got it, it's got to have all the components that I'm, I've been living in for the past 7090 years, right, for sure. But what I see out here is our solutions that are just helping achieve, still maintaining reliability, still maintaining all of the things that are driving utilities, but doing it more efficiently, which is pretty doggone cool.

03:26

Yeah, agreed. And I think Scott, it's, it's interesting, because it's probably one of the only industries where they can't pick their target demographic. And so to have a very small, narrow niche, right, you have to be supporting 100% of the customers in your territory. So the solutions they have to come up with need to be flexible, to look at every residential customer class out there to look at large scale industrials to look at small, medium businesses. And so it's amazing to look at all of the breadth of solutions that have to target those different those different demographics. So

03:56

the question I would have is, where do I start? You know, I'm, I still have my obligation over here. But then I have people and companies say this is a decarbonization, this would be driven by Washington, DC, but you got to do that. But you also got to do this. And you got to do that. And I know the utilities, you're saying, like, what, what, what money? Well, I get this rate case here. And that's

04:17

the key thing. So when you look at now that we almost need a compact between regulators, utilities, the federal government and customers, right, and everybody has to be part of this because you cannot do it, if the regulators aren't going to be supportive and they are supportive of doing this. But on the other side of the coin, they obviously have to look at how do they support the needs of resident residential customers in their service territory, keeping rates low so on one hand, you need to invest a lot of capital. On the other hand, usually utilities get that relief relief through rate structures. Yeah. So does that mean rates go up? Hope not because we're trying to keep rates down. Right. So it's so it's it's a fascinating equation right now in our industry.

04:53

It's way above my paygrade because I'm telling you right now you that the market become becomes Really chirpy in a negative way? Once somebody say, is that my power bill, what? That and that my power went out and it just keeps on going, you're pulling on that string and and with that the risk is, if I'm screaming about the fact that you're not doing the job, then the utilities will do what they do. And they'll say, Okay, I hear you, I hear you, we're not going to proceed forward, which impacts a lot of other

05:23

the progress. Yep. 100%. And I think it's, um, you know, when you look at everything going on in, we're all familiar, whether you call it global climate changes, or future of energy, or decarbonization, or ESG, all of those related topics and buzzwords that weren't in our vernacular a few years ago, but they're all in all of our vernacular today. And you look at what all of the good societal good that comes from the broad definition of ESG, and everything, but all of this stuff is, is everybody is wanting to move very, very quickly. But you need to do it in a purposeful, rigorous manner, and not go too far. You don't want to take the two steps forward, and then realize next year, oh, my gosh, we did that too fast. Now we have to go back four steps to start doing it a different way. It's so this, it's so much dynamic change in our industry that again, it's a fascinating time, but a lot of challenges, but tons of opportunities

06:12

you're spot on. And you're absolutely right, there still needs to be that pragmatic approach. Because you don't want to go backwards. Right? You don't want to go backwards. And that the balance that I see is, there's a lot of solutions out here. And in like I said, I can get confused easily. Where do I go in I eat utilities different, you know, this is a priority. That's not but then you go to the next utility, though, that's a priority. And this is not. So it's almost cafeteria style solutions for each utility. And where they're at. Yeah,

06:44

which introduces obviously, from a solution vendor of which we have hundreds and hundreds here on this wonderful floor at the conferences here. But all of these solutions need to be still have some degree of standardization, because if you end up with Yes, the same vendor having 20 different versions of software for 20 different utilities, because of how they need to manipulate and manage the grid in their territory, then you're left in a case where the long term, getting out of standard and having the long term customized solutions. It's just not it's not long term viable to efficiently manage what utilities are doing keeping the lights on with all these systems. Right? So we're we're seeing more and more standardization, we're seeing more and more use of working with industry groups like epi and others that are bringing a true focus to to collaborate and have utilities collaborate on at least the maybe the 80 to 90% of the solution, and then just have some, I'd say configurations maybe locally for them. But other than that, we need that standard approach. Boy.

07:41

Boy, can I agree with you more? No, I can't. Because that is your I was telling somebody I said we need trusted standards. And it's it's sure there's frothiness out there of excitement and great and craquelin of this that and the other thing is solutions. But to your point, standardizing allows us to scale it better to have greater focus on what is truly needed. And yeah, delight does a great job at that sort of trying to create that clear vision.

08:11

Yeah, and we definitely try and we want to be part of it as the most of the large integrators on the planet today. Right. And we all want to collaborate as much as we can to bring the right change for the world. Right. It sounds, you know, it's a little bit of a kumbaya, but it's true, I mean, that what we're facing on the planet is unlike anything, and if you look, you know, what's going to be? What's it going to be like in 2035 2040 2050, we need the time for changes now, right? There's no choice in doing this. But we do have to make sure we do it again, in a very responsible, pragmatic manner, to make sure that things continue forward. And we don't go off the tracks left or right. And I think I love that, and our industry is about this power industry and the utility industry is is unique again, because there's for the most part, not a lot of competition in local geographies, for the for the utility companies themselves, not retail energy providers, but for the utility companies. So you are able to bring together at this conference, all these utility companies sitting in sessions together, and coming up with ideas together working together mutual assistance programs, which are such a big part of our utility ecosystem. All of those are possible because of the collaboration in the industry. And that's why a conference like this as unlike other conferences, it's truly a collaborative event. And networking is just wonderful to

09:19

I love it. Because I think that everybody understands what happened with the, the pandemic and the the, the problems and all that but I think that it pushed people to collaborate more. I don't have all the answers. And I love the fact that you're talking about standardization, and doing what is right. And good. I just that is a conversation. Now. One of the challenges that I see and I think I want you to touch upon it, because a lot of these utilities are being driven and they have to it's going to happen, let's just laid out, you participate. You got to figure out how to play in it, but it's going to happen and that is around decarbonization. What do we do? How do we progress and how do we achieve what we You need to achieve

10:00

Yeah. And I'd say Scott, it's interesting because the decarbonization journey and renewable integration that's not new for our industry right utility companies have been doing that for a couple decades. Yep. And have had plans to do that. This is a you know, use the analogy shot in the arm I guess I different meaning these days with with shots in the arm, but definitely. But, um, but it's definitely a time where we're able to look at now, how do we make sure we're coming together and again, working together for a better world long term. And I think that the solutions here around the conference, and I walked around and talked to solution providers and and other integrators for that matter, and everything everyone has now at a common journey that they're on. And everyone is focused on this. And the industry has, again, been doing this for decades gets a little bit of a bad rap, as we know, because people think, well, it's it's coal production. But no, it's that is some of it. That's the reality what it's been. But that's there's already a systemic progress plan in place to get off that, it's just that we're looking at now pulling the that end data in and planting that flag, maybe somewhere between 2035 2050 depending you know, what utility it is and what you might have, in terms of geography ways you can help that will be unique, and you might have hydro opportunities, but not all utilities have that. So they're gonna be more in, in solar and wind, with wind and areas like that. So it's again, it's a it's an exciting journey, but it's a lot of work to be done. And oh, by the way, it's not cheap. Right. So at the end of the day, that's that's a whole other conversation. Yeah. At the end of the day, you know, this is somebody's paying for this. See? And what's interesting,

11:29

we start talking about evey. Okay, cool. That's cool. Yep. And then I all I can think of these heavy trucks, these boom trucks that go to, you know, respond. And I said, how do you how do you electrify that truck?

11:40

But and you do, though, so fleet electrification, for even all the way up to class eight, vehicles, semis, and everything that's real. And that's happening, and it's moving. Obviously, the supply chain challenges these days, make it make it a little bit tougher for some of the components that are required some of the heavy metals that are in other parts of the world, the horrific stuff going on. In Ukraine, I mean, we sourced a lot of a lot of raw materials from there, obviously, components for renewables. So it's a it's definitely a challenging time. But the industry is pushing forward, man, every everyone's in this together. And it's, it's cool to see that our industry, everyone always comes together. Again, when you think of responding to storms, and the way that utilities have their folks drive across the country and just help get the power back on. This is, this is our industry. And so working together to solve a global situation, such as looking at climate change, and everything and going all in on it. That's not new for utility companies, utility companies have always done that is what makes the industry so so great to work in.

12:32

So a past life, I used to negotiate all the power purchase agreements, right? We were talking about that. And that's been going on for years. And even and even pushing the envelope when we made mistakes by trust me, we made mistakes. There's and they still exist today. But but but it's it's I'm a big fan of just moving forward. If you have to fail, you fail quickly, and then you adjust and you move forward, and you just keep on moving forward, because that's the only way. And a lot of these companies. The challenge I always see is how do you Deloitte, you and others are, are there's a velocity with this innovation, there's a velocity with this movement. But I'm still sort of old school, and I'm going to sort of take my time. And so like, there's like this timing issue. Like you're blazing the trail out here, but I'm where I'm at right here.

13:24

Yep. Yep. And it's and that's reality, right? And then it's the but, again, I think the key difference now is there'll be some things in the past even 20 years ago, and EVS started to come out when we had gas prices going up. Some people looking at him, right. And there's a big demand on certain models of cars, you couldn't get them and then things kind of quieted down and got back to normal. This one's this one is not going to go in reverse. So this No, no, no, no, no, no decarbonization. It's not a fluke. It's not a trend. It's just the way it is. So I think everybody, all the solution providers here, all the utilities that are here, they're all here because everyone's in this together. And they work so well together and they collaborate so well together. It's it's wonderful.

14:00

It is it really is rad, and I agree with you 100%. And yeah, I want I want to own decarbonization as a, I want to own that word so that I can pay for it. Because everybody is doggone talking about it. And they're trying to come up with some pretty major solutions. There you go. Love it. See you live in that world. I just talk in the world, but you live in the world

14:20

of come on back. Come on back has got the waters for climbing up holes again.

14:25

You want to have a heart attack. Anyway, Hey, how did people get a hold of you, Jim?

14:31

So Easiest way is through if you go to deloitte.com that's the easiest way to to reach me. And there's an industry tab there go under energy and look under power and utilities. And there's my smiling face.

14:43

Wow. He's famous. He's chip tons. He's, he's with Deloitte. That was a great

14:48

conversation. Well, thanks for joining.

14:49

Thanks so much. Very cool. All right, listeners. We're gonna have all the contact information for Jim and Deloitte out on industrial talk.com. Thank you very much for joining. Once again, we're broadcasting from distributed Dec 22, Dallas, Texas is the location. Great. But like Jim said, they're collaborating out here. They're solving problems and working together. It's a great time. Thank you very much. We will be right back.

15:15

You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network.

15:20

Once again, thank you for joining me on industrial talk. And as you can tell, we were on side DistribuTECH, Dallas, Texas, put that on your 2023 calendar to attend because you get great people like Jim and others, talking about real solutions, talking about how to collaborate to solve pretty, pretty big problems that exist in the utility and energy space. You do. You need to be on this journey. And you need to be working with companies and individuals that you can trust, Jim, without a doubt, thank you, Jim, for being on industrial talk, sharing your wisdom with the best listeners. And I mean, the best listeners in the universe. It's all backed up by data. All right, go out to industrial talk.com We are building a platform, a platform that is one entertaining, hopefully, and to that provides the education you need in this massive in this fast paced, industrial world, go out to industrial talk, get involved, be a part of the solution, be a part of the community, or the ecosystem because I gotta throw that in there. All right. Be bold, be brave. dare greatly as I always say, hanging out with people like Jim, and you are going to change the world industry does that. Thank you very much for what you're doing. Thank you, that we can celebrate you on industrial talk. We're going to have another great conversation coming from distributor tech shortly so stay tuned.

The post Jim Thomson with Deloitte appeared first on Industrial Talk.

On this week's Industrial Talk we're talking to Przemek Tomczak, Senior Vice President at KX about “Utility IoT, Smart Grid, Edge Intelligence and Advanced Data Analytics”.  Get the answers to your “Utility 2.0” questions along with Przemek's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2022. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!

PRZEMEK TOMCZAK'S CONTACT INFORMATION:

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemektomczak/

Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kx-systems/

Company Website: https://kx.com/

PODCAST VIDEO:

OTHER PODCASTS, BLOGS AND VIDEOS OF PRZEMEK:

https://kx.com/blog/achieving-a-competitive-edge/

https://kx.com/blog/solving-emerging-iiot-environment-challenges-with-intelligent-edge/

https://kx.com/webinars/context-aware-manufacturing-in-real-time/

https://kx.com/webinars/accelerate-your-speed-to-business-value-with-real-time-data/

https://kx.com/webinars/how-data-driven-innovation-is-modernizing-the-manufacturing-sector/

THE STRATEGIC REASON “WHY YOU NEED TO PODCAST”:

OTHER GREAT INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES:

NEOM:  https://www.neom.com/en-us

Hitachi Vantara: https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/home.html

Industrial Marketing Solutions:  https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-marketing/

Industrial Academy: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial-academy/

Industrial Dojo: https://industrialtalk.com/industrial_dojo/

We the 15: https://www.wethe15.org/

YOUR INDUSTRIAL DIGITAL TOOLBOX:

LifterLMS: Get One Month Free for $1 – https://lifterlms.com/

Active Campaign: Active Campaign Link

Social Jukebox: https://www.socialjukebox.com/

Industrial Academy (One Month Free Access And One Free License For Future Industrial Leader):

Business Beatitude the Book

Do you desire a more joy-filled, deeply-enduring sense of accomplishment and success? Live your business the way you want to live with the BUSINESS BEATITUDES…The Bridge connecting sacrifice to success. YOU NEED THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

TAP INTO YOUR INDUSTRIAL SOUL, RESERVE YOUR COPY NOW! BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. DARE GREATLY AND CHANGE THE WORLD. GET THE BUSINESS BEATITUDES!

Reserve My Copy and My 25% Discount

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

utility, imts, happening, data, grid, arduino, visibility, journey, kx, industrial, system, manufacturing, asset, detect, line, contingency, meters, technology, work, talk

00:04

Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots,

00:21

and let's go I ride once again, thank you very much for joining industrial talk, ever expanding industrial ecosystem of problem solvers and leaders. Because everyone out there, you know, this platform is for every manufacturer, every industry out there, because you are bold, brave, you dare greatly you're solving problems, you collaborate, you're, you're coming up with innovative solutions to all of them, and creating businesses that are resilient. That's why we celebrate you here. That's why this ecosystem, you need to be a part of it. All right. In the hot seat, we have a gentleman by the name of Przemek. Tomczak KX is the company. And we're talking about utilities. We're talking about data analytics, and it is a data analytics solution to our utility challenges. So let's get cracking. Yeah. Because I lack utility stuff. I had a great conversation with Przemek.Great, great, professional, Big time, big time. All right, let's do some housecleaning, you're saying you tell Scott. Hey, Scott, what's new on industrial talk? Well, let me just sort of share with you. We always go to conferences, we like conferences, we like the fact that, that we get to connect with all of these incredible leaders and professionals and, and problem solvers. So that's what that's what it's all about. I am T s is is going to be the next conference we're at. This is September 12, to the 17th. It is in Chicago, Illinois. And if you're in manufacturing, you need to be there. And it's a must. This is a massive show with incredible solutions, and innovation to help you as a manufacturer become more resilient, and really begin to leverage the innovation that exists out there. We are also broadcasting there with IMTS plus and as sort of the the influencer platform that AMT put together empties the organizers of IMTS. No test on this, trust me, don't worry about it. Anyway, we've got a great broadcast booth. It's it's centered location, we are with other industry influencers. And and it's just, it's meant to be fun. It's meant to be exciting. It is it is meant to be able to highlight all of the great talent and technology that exists in manufacturing. Because really, again, you need to educate. That's why IMTS here, that's why we're a part of IMTS plus, you need to collaborate again, right there right now. And then thirdly, you need to innovate, create that business that is resilient. Now in line with that, because it's up in Chicago, on the 13th of September, we're going to be GA tootling around MX D. And this is sort of a, you get to see all of this, this incredible innovation, this manufacturing innovation in action, you can walk the floor, they have an open house, I think it starts at 430 and and continues on to seven ish, right in there. And that's MSD. So if you go to IMTS, which you should, and then you you jump on, and you look for IMTS plus which I will be there. Look for this and put this on your calendar because they have a great website. And it's MX D usa.org. And you can take a virtual tour, but I would highly recommend that you take a physical tour. Finally, because we are an ever expanding ecosystem, that's what we are about. We have new members, and the newest member is Arduino. Arduino. They're out of there out of Italy. And what's great about them is the story. The story is that here's this IoT, here's here's this incredible opportunity for many manufacturers to be able to extract data from their systems and to be able to make great decisions now. Now this organization, Arduino, what they can do is they can create these wonderful devices to be able to do that and do it quite effectively. Their email or their website is Arduino that's AR d u i n o.cc. Go out there and it's a great website they got so they have so much going on. I'm looking at it right now. It's It's amazing. They never stop. It's quite frankly, it's it's, it's fantastic. Arduino. That's, that's the company. All right, let's get on with the conversation here, one.

05:15

So I'm I ran into Kx, I was at a manufacturing conference up in Chicago, again, not IMTS, a different one. And I ran into kx. And what was interesting about them is that they're, they provide sort of that data analytics for f1. And I'm an f1 fan, a nut. And what makes f1 so interesting to me is the ability to be able to attract, extract the data from that car, and then be able to make real time adjustments to obser optimize the performance of that asset. Make sense? That's where we're trying to get to, within manufacturing, how do we look at that high performance manufacturing asset, and we continue to refine it and make it even more efficient, more productive. And that's, that's where KX that's, I just said, Oh, my gosh, and I was going to talk about f1. But I got all distracted by all of the other things, and and, of course, utility stuff as well. I enjoyed the conversation, and you're going to enjoy the conversation. Again, thank you very much for joining, industrial talk. And here's Przemek Tomczak. Welcome to industrial talk. How are you doing today?

06:29

Excellent. Great to be here, Scott's. And

06:33

that's a couple of takes on? You didn't hear it, listeners. But that was a couple of takes. And I finally was able to get out industrial talk. Go figure. How about that one. I am so glad we get a chance to talk. I'm telling you I've been ever since I met whatever the kicks team in want to say Chicago. And then I started geeking out on Formula One, and then started geeking out on digital transformation and everything in between. I am so excited to be able to have this conversation. This is cool. So how are you doing?

07:04

And it's very nice and hot here in Toronto, Canada.

07:07

Don't talk to me about hot. I live in Louisiana. It's always hot and miserable, and steamy. And everything else. All right. For the listeners out there. Give us a little 411 a little background. What is information in Canada? Down here? It's 411 What is the information dial? You know 411411 Give us a 411 on Przemek

07:30

Tomczak SVP IoT utilities, KX, which is streaming real time analytics company been around for over 25 years. And well known in finance. And we're applying this technology to solve lots of interesting challenges, energy utilities, manufacturing, Formula One, etc. And I started my career in the energy sector and consulting market deregulation, then worked for a grid operator ran a Data Hub, information exchange, and then saw all the data challenges we were facing. I thought we could do a better job and then join John KX to actually help do it.

08:12

Yeah, I'm looking at it your stack card go. You've got to check him out. It's, it's a heck of a stamp card on LinkedIn. And as I peruse, yep, you've got some utility chops. Because you're you were part of the independent electric system operator up there to talk about to talk about the grid and everything associated with digital transformation. And then when when you were there, when you were there back in looks like 2015. Did you see what was happening in the utility space that then all of this distributed energy, plugged the car in here, the battery over there, solo over there? But ever being able to manage that grid? Did you guys see that?

08:54

Absolutely. We saw and started, we kicked off as a whole company, and the whole sector to redesign the whole market. So that it was much more flexible, more resilient, with all that change, providing new market vehicles so folks could participate in the market. So that journey was starting when I left and has continued on since that,

09:21

yeah, given that upon reflection of where you're at today, and I'm sure he keep in contact with some of those people at the ISL. I do.

09:29

And a lot of faces have changed some retired, because you've had we had long serving folks 30 year plus that that was a common theme. But a lot of new energy new faces have gone into the sector, which is quite interesting.

09:42

Do they do they determine that all of this stuff because it's happening at a blistering pace? Have they determined that there's they're successful or are they on a journey to success or what how would you sort of grade the situation there now?

09:59

I think It's a journey just because in Ontario, Canada, we have a central grid operator and market operator. And we have a transmission operator. And we've got 64 distribution companies. So all need to interplay in that that sector and more or more generation and more EVs are getting added to the distribution sector. And historically, the ISO, the central facility has not had Villa visibility of what what was going on in the distribution system. Because, hey, it's less than one megawatt it's noise. But as you're getting more or more of this, it's less noise, you can see it but you can't pinpoint it. So I think, through the market change initiatives is to create the visibility, but they need as the whole systems changing.

11:01

How did that happen? How, because exactly my my, my pedigree comes into the utility is way, way back then. And it was pretty straightforward, where you got to your, you know, generator, a transmission substation, and so on. And nobody really saw the distribution, what what has helped into the visibility of, of the distribution system.

11:25

So here's what I'm seeing right now. And I'm involved in a fortunate to be involved with some major initiatives in Europe. And also some in North America, where the utilities are now deploying higher frequency meters, meaning measuring more stuff, where were variables, not just for billing, and then they're exchanging all this information with all relevant parties. So we were involved in the finished thing out. So in Finland, all the production, consumption flourish is exchanged and facilitated centrally. So that whoever wishes to participate and get value from the information well, North America, it's more silos still where each utility protects. But to make the right investment decisions, am I going to put a storage in this section of the grid? Or should I build some additional generation here, you need that visibility? One of our partners, for example, just by using basic algorithms, is able to detect where somebody's charging a vehicle, they don't need lots of AI ml, just a basic algorithm validated to looking at energy consumption from A to C, are you charging? Then the utility can be armed with is my transformer overloaded? Or will the overload where should they reinforce the system? And, and not rely on guessing where the stuff is empirically see if and that's what that's part of the visibility journey, because as you said, assets were deployed, configured in a time where the variability didn't matter. There really wasn't. And, and yeah,

13:03

it was interesting, because that design of the utility infrastructure, whatever that looked like, had been around for 100 years. And and many of these utilities are subject to the regulatory agencies and the bodies in their little service territory, or whatever it might be. And therefore they're making decisions so that they don't get into trouble with their, their regulatory agency. And of course, you don't want the consumer to get all ticked off at you because you're delivering lousy power. So yeah, that is a data analytic type of solution and give us a little sort of, how does data analytics in this very dynamic system of the utilities work? I mean, it has to be that way, because I can't from a system operator. You know, okay, we need a little bit more generation here. Oh, we do this. It's impossible. There's no way take us through that journey.

14:01

So I was involved in the first smart metering program and tight and rates structure in the world. That was Ontario, we were the first mandated rollout, we learned a lot, a lot of lessons learned. And if you think about that was about 100 times more data than utilities used to collect for what folks are using this commodity they're producing. And what's happening now, a with with smart meter rollout and more advanced meters, that hat is growing by 10x to 40 times larger than even before it's just crazy. But utilities are using this information because they want to know what's happening really behind the meter. What's power quality, like voltage, all the phases, phase angles, so they want to have information not flying blind. Imagine a telco where you are getting a bill for your your consumption of have data and not tracking it? Well, that's what utilities were doing, even though how much energy you consumed or produced an appointed time, had a huge impact on the grid. Now you're getting that visibility. The challenge for utilities is how do we correlate that information to the connectivity model? To customer information to make sense of it? And then the other most important thing is, is it a high quality? Because meters malfunction, connectivity issues, bad data? How do I correct for it and deal with it in the right time, so I can make sense of it for billing, market settlements, fault detection, detecting electrical vehicles, most times in analysis journey, I find utility spending just on data cleansing, before even getting to a point of analyzing, so data quality context are probably the most important. And then put putting it all together in one place.

15:59

So as a utility, of course, I've got to ask the question. So I've been operating a certain way for forever, you know, that's pretty much it. I understand that there's that transformer out there. But I've been doing this forever. And and, and then you come knocking on the door, and saying, Hey, there's some other stuff happening here. There's some market forces impacting this, and we're gonna have this solar, we're gonna have this distributed sort of sit system out here, we're gonna have a micro grid over here. And and I don't even know, as a utility, where do I begin? What's, what's my step? And I would imagine it's case by case, right?

16:35

I completely agree with you, it's like what's most important to you? Do, I want to create a new rate structure for my customers, so give them choice. If that's the case, then I'm going to go back, I need to then collect this data and then summarize it into the various bucket that will allow me to build like, the telcos went through 2030 years ago, where you have different packages you can buy. And then utilities can do the same thing. I know I've got a choice, I can go on a fixed price type model, or I can go on to you rate model, or Texas has lots of sophisticated retail market and lots of choice there. So the other one is if vegetation management is a problem, ISIS, especially in California, and I saw some great case studies at distributech, where if you're analyzing a certain lines with at 15,000 measurements per second, so imagine a regular meter may capture that, say, 96 data points per day, this is 15,000 times a second, they're able to detect when a branch touches a wire, or whether it's disconnected whether you've got a safety incident, so they can roll a truck before it becomes an issue, and precisely detects where it is before, they would be guessing. So huge, if that's the problem, in some jurisdictions is less of a problem. So I prioritize the case and drive backwards. It may mean they may need some of the same technologies or techniques underneath the surface, but the driver may be different. Yeah, the

18:17

utility maintenance side is a big deal, I, again, my old hat, we would just sort of patrol the lines, and then we would look at the insulators from the ground. And then if that arm was sort of caddywhompus, then we realized that arms caddywhompus and we better go and change it and then the back to the the the office, and then you'd pick up on our menu come on out and you change it. It it's it's that whole vegetation management, maintenance of your assets is a huge deal to be able to see that and that again, is a data analytic conversation and insights and being able to do that in real time. Yeah, and I really got all geeked out on that one too at distributech because it knowing me I mean, you get a you get a relay need to go and have to patrol the line and then you say yeah, everything's fine

19:10

reenergize I have a friend who's in the asset management maintenance field known him for like 25 years expert in his field and he says you know, in the old days used to put your hand on the on an asset and and feel whether it needs attention. That was the sensing that we were doing.

19:30

We would go to tower by tower and hit it with our wrench and if it rattled, oh, we got some loose bolts. All you did say is like hey, we got some loose bolts, you're never gonna find them. He just got loose bolts. And that was all the time

19:46

and what I'm seeing whether it's Formula One racing or semiconductor manufacturing and these are the most more advanced areas you can apply this to any business is like high quality product is so critical high value So then they're putting sensors. At higher frequency. Think of it like high resolution TV, you're moved from 4k to 8k, you can see lot more, just like the micro PMQs. And or just the regular PMQs that have been deployed in the US, you see more things, you'd be blind because the hidden the average or some statistical value, like you want to see the raw data. And then you can see you can detect, you see, if you can't see you can't correct See, how

20:31

do you deal with the data tsunami? I mean, it's like, not all data is like high priority data. There's, there's a lot of bad data, Oh, not bad data, just nothing data. But you're you're still collecting, how do you deal with this tsunami of data so that you just, you know, so the state of Nevada is not one big cloud server?

20:55

Yeah, it, I learned this when I was at the ISO, because we were writing one of the world's first and largest of its kind, it says, And I saw the challenges with traditional approaches, most data went to some relational database, or some open source tech. But 90% of the data we're talking about here is time series data. That's a timestamp value, some other quality indicators that there's a different technique you apply for storing processing, analyzing it. So it's much more efficient, consumes less resources, less storage, less server farms, to do what you need to do with it. You just need a different paradigm for how you handle that type of data versus all the general purpose data utilities have been managing, till that point.

21:41

See, where do we go? Again, back to the utility and back to the necessity that these pressures are happening on their grid, they just are their batteries there? There's wind spin around solar on my, you know, roof, and so on and so forth. And they are, they're given the option. They're given consumers are given the option to say, Yeah, I got power, I'm going to, I'm going to wheel it during the peak, and then I'm gonna use whatever the thing is, how does? How does the utility ensure that they don't get ahead of their skis and all of this stuff is happening? And I can't, I can't keep up with it. How do what do we do? What sort of strategies can we deploy?

22:24

I think it's, it's both business and technical architecture. So say, Hey, I'm going to be in this business. So you appoint folks to lead this, they're just not surprised by it, and be reactive to say, Hey, this is going to happen. And then technology wise, who can I engage to help me with us live folks on staff that can architect for this plan for it, that tsunami, because once the two man a hits, you're not, you're going to be throwing dirt on the graph, you're not going to be able to deal with it. But if you plan for it, say, hey, this comes, whether it's six months ahead a year or half that you can do it, it's not a big of a challenge. But if you're, you've got, let's say, a month to do it, you'll you'll be challenged.

23:06

And yeah, yeah. What that sounds like to me, is, it's gonna happen, let's just let's just establish the fact that it's going to happen, whatever it is, this digital transformation of the utility is happening, and it's going to happen, and therefore, every utility, I don't care, big, small middle, I don't care must begin that engagement. But then again, the technology exists. It does, it's all good. Yeah, I find that it becomes a human equation. And you got to find the individual, person, Team company to help with that journey. And and, and be able to take a complex situation and make it work.

23:51

You're absolutely right. It is that imperative for change, because utilities are very conservative. I don't know how often I'd say try this initiative. No, no, the rates, regulated waterproof this, we're, we're happy the way we are. Unless you've got a blackout, then we'll invest, you know. But technology exists, it's really a people thing. Now, if you're challenged with staff internally, look for help outside, whether it's small utilities, there are new offerings with SAS providers that can do work. Like we're partnering with companies, like util smart, for example. They support small to medium sized companies. So the utility doesn't need to make a big investment yourselves. The large players like with 1,000,005 million customers, they've got large IT departments a low average size, they've got to a lot more tools, but small utilities, they have to partner much more heavily to accomplish the same thing.

24:50

Yeah, and it's interesting because because in all actuality, outside of ERCOT, everybody's connected in some way, shape or form. Yeah, and Small, mid or large, there is an interconnection that exists. And everybody has to be sort of rowing in the same direction to a certain extent, right? The small and the mid. But there's has to be the solutions, and there has to be people that they can trust. Now, with that said, I understand utilities are pragmatic. Yep, they are. Now, without a doubt, they're gonna, they're gonna drive the the adoption timeline here. Where is sort of that roadblock? It has to happen. We've already said it has to happen, and it is happening. But there are roadblocks, what are they?

25:42

I think it's the executive leadership of the utility is that is, doesn't wish to change. So you could be pitching to say, improve this business process, invest in cloud technology, or invest in anything, but unless they believe that this will help them and that they can do it, they're not going to do it. Sometimes it needs fresh ideas coming into the those teams. I've seen, even in a right across each other one utility had that executive vision, they have some of the best safety scores, some of the lowest operating costs in the area, it just phenomenal world class, they invest technology optimization, and another one that doesn't. And then, but their state shareholders use the municipality don't may not care as much so and they appointed executives that were not that. So I think that's probably the number

26:44

one thing as a consumer, because I'm a consumer, why is Why is digital transformation and and in being aware of this change taking place? Why is it important to me,

27:01

your bill, we are all faced with increasing electricity costs, not as much as our neighbors in Europe, where it's, it's insane. North America, we're blessed with a bit more resources. But cost and power quality, I think we are so dependent. I know, my parents just went and invested in a generator because they're out for too long, multiple times in the past year. So they said, I'm going to protect myself well, because they can't live without we want to charge our phones, you want to connect to the internet, this is we've become so connected dependent on electricity, that we care that that power quality is maintained and improved over time. And second, that the price is cost effective that you're not, you're not paying, you know, the price is like in the UK right now.

27:58

That's a whole nother story. But you're I think you're hitting on all cylinders there. Because I know that that I believe that there's this push for of course there's this push for for renewables and getting more renewable power on the grid and all that good stuff. I think the risk is that if if I'm a utility and I don't do a good job at at ensuring a stable, reliable grid, all of this other stuff means nothing because consumer me I'm not going to be happy because

28:29

number one, safety together. Cost is third. Alone, not the customer doesn't care like you don't have visibility where's my electron coming from? It's coming from could be nuclear could still be cold in some jurisdiction a gas natural gas you've got a diversified fleet and the customer is power's out. They're not in a gonna say hey, at least no we're not burning coal by power is out in Europe. Germany is now firing up coal.

29:05

Yeah. Nuclear so I'm because I'm upset. And I want to charge my phone and I and it's a hot day out there. So I am an AC and I that's I'm pretty rudimentary when it comes to my Maslow hierarchies of need, power, you know, don't and then we can talk about pie in the sky type stuff, but it is that's why that's why the utilities are tend to be very pragmatic. And thank you, thank you for being pragmatic. And I'll just because that's a but I think that the journey begins with the ability to be able to see that data and being able to use that data and to be able to tactically use the data to make better decisions and help me Joe consumer.

29:49

And I think also to protect themselves because there's consumers can move quickly, just in our neighbor I'm seeing I didn't see so many electric vehicles, where are they? Buying from there all guests are another, I've seen them more. And now I don't believe practically we're going to have the our entire fleet electrified, there's too much for us connect, but it will be a material impact that everyone starts charging at the same time on any system. See,

30:22

and even back when I was doing line work, we were talking about re conductor and because the demand was increasing the conductor in the transmission, but then that requires, you know, heavier conductor and redesign of towers. And you know what, it stayed the same, because nobody wanted to redesign the tower is bringing little you know, and it's not in my backyard. So it's a real dynamic. And again, I think it's a a data, data analytic conversation. And if I can create real insights like f one, real insights into the way my system is operating, then I can make decisions outside. Now, we do have to bring in new line here we got to do, there's, there's a little bit more information instead of just saying, Hey, we gotta bring in some more conductor.

31:11

And there's another thing from a cost perspective. So I did a project at the ISO, and it had to do and I learned too much we hired an engineer for contingency. So how do you fortify a grid, you've got first, second, third layer contingency. If this happens, you can do this. And guess that's like a tax on the whole power system that everyone pays for? Because you've got insurance across the board. And now with a much more dynamic system, do I am I going faster and more and more billions in on contingency? Or by really managing it better? By understanding what's going on every millisecond, every second, etc? So then you can adjust? Not, hey, I will just man that previous technique was you put contingency at the highest level and hope and managed to it, but it's expensive.

32:05

Yeah. So you know, I think you're spot on. I think you just have to greater insights into your, your existing grid, then you're able to make better decisions going forward? better financial decisions, whatever it might be, but But it starts there. It starts with Yeah, I see it. I see what's going on. Alright, we're gonna have to wrap it up. Przemek. Did I say that right? Again? Yes. Excellent. All right. How do people get a hold of you? And the same Gosh, he is speaking to my heart, which is probably me and maybe three others.

32:36

It looked me up on LinkedIn as well send me a note. You can email me at PT or mcak@kx.com. And happy to engage with you.

32:50

And tastic fear not listeners, we're going to have all his contact information out on industrial talk. So don't don't come talk. Hey, by the way, look at me. I'm pending on I'm still pending my invitation you haven't accepted me that. deal here. You are absolutely wonderful. I love this conversation. I can go on and on and on. Thank you very much for what you guys do. That's pretty cool stuff. And we're gonna have to have you on again, because it today, it's this way, but tomorrow is going to be something different. I guarantee it because that's how fast things happen.

33:29

I look forward to it. All right,

33:30

listeners. We're gonna wrap it up on the other side, as you know, do not go away. We will be right back.

33:36

You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network.

33:47

All right, thank you once again, for joining industrial talk, an ever expanding problem solving ecosystem that's dedicated to educating, collaborating, and of course innovating. And you need to be a part of it. So go out to industrial talk.com a thank you to Przemek Tomczak. Hey, X. See, I love that conversation. It is a data conversation. And there's a lot more to I mean, you just have got to be engaged. You got to collaborate because things are happening so fast. It's, it's blistering. It is all right. Again, I'm gonna pump you gotta be if you're in manufacturing IMTS that is September 12 through the 17th. And it is in Chicago. Nope, no problem there. Be a part of that because we're going to be broadcasting with IMTS plus. Get on it, man. It'd be great. All right. People be braved are greatly hanging out with people like Shrek and you're gonna change the world. Thank you very much for joining. We're gonna have another great conversation shortly.

The post Przemek Tomczak with KX appeared first on Industrial Talk.

On this week's Industrial Talk we're onsite at Distributech 22 and talking to Robert “Rob” Wilhite, Senior Vice President at Black and Veatch about “Distributed Energy – what is it and how will it benefit the energy consumer”.  Get the answers to your “Distributed Energy” questions along with Rob's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

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00:00

Hey industrial Talk is brought to you by CAP logistics. You want to minimize downtime. Absolutely. increase reliability, you bet ensure operational profitability. Yes you do. That means you need 24/7 365 insights into your supply chain, look no further cap logistics, go to cap logistics.com Or just call them. They're great people 800-227-2471 Also, AiDash. AiDash is on a mission to create a greener, cleaner, safer planet from space. AiDash helps core industries become more resilient, efficient, and sustainable through the power of satellites and AI. Go out to AiDash.com Find out more. All right, Greetings, and welcome to industrial talk. Thank you very much for joining the number one industrial related podcast in the universe. And we were on site at distributech, Dallas, Texas, and we had the opportunity to talk to a gentleman by the name of Robert Wilhite, He is the Senior Vice President at Black and Veatch. And we are talking utilities, we are talking distributed energy. We are talking smart grids, we are talking everything that is associated with utilities. So let's get cracking.

01:35

Good conference. Oh, this is great. Isn't it great to get back to, you know, things to see things God, it's like I'm seeing people I haven't seen in three years. No, it's just have you know, handshakes. It's all hugs. Yeah, that's right. It's the one thing that the the virus has done is create a collaborative environment. Right. I want to collaborate. I don't want to do this alone. I need to work with people. Have you come in contact with people that you just met? Virtually? Yet? Yes. Isn't that just fun? And it's great, because they could be tall. They could be short. You don't look that way on a team meeting? No. Contact recoupling. Just man, you are a tall drink of water. Got it? That's not how you look on a, you know, on the team thing. Exactly. All right. For the listeners out there. Rob, give us a little background on who you are and why you're such an incredible, we'll get you your big wig. You're a senior vice president. I am your big your I don't know about the big part. But

02:33

wig. It means I've been around a while. Yes. In fact, this is my 37th year in the energy engine Street. It's mostly utilities, power gas, work a little bit on the water side as well. And this is the only industry I've ever known. I've never worked outside of utilities. And so I started my career working for a utility actually. FPL. So

02:58

Power and Light. Yeah. And enjoyed it immensely. Just wanted to leave South Florida and start something else. And I've been on the management consulting side of this industry for 26 years now.

03:10

You've seen a lot of changes I have, especially in the last five years, isn't that the velocity just sort of wild in the technology and innovation space. It's like, oh my gosh, I don't like keep up it's a tiger by the tail velocity is accelerating big time in these these use cases. It's like, hey, if I do use this, and with this, then I gotta create a new solution. It's a different use case. And then people like me, I can't keep up with it. Because I'm not as sharp as some people. Well, I mean, there's so many new entrants into this industry, there's a lot of new capital coming in a lot of innovation. Now we've got federal stimulus dollars that are gonna flow into the market and accelerate things even greater. So I, I'm excited for it. You know, it's probably going to be rapidly changing over the next five years. And at that point, I've got to decide is that is that the right time to turn it over to the next generation? Right, you're gonna you're gonna have a hard time because that's when it gets really fun. And I just think that I want to be younger and I want to be I mean, this is just fun stuff. incredible innovation and, and a real desire to collaborate. I just, I get a kick out of that. Normally, in the past pre pandemic, it was like, this is our secret sauce. But now it's like I got to work with people. So you're Are you speaking at this event? I am going to be talking about something called the grid edge.

04:34

And just FYI, you know, there's edge thin edge, distant edge.

04:40

In this now this is a new one grid edge, go for it grid edge. It's the combination of hardware software business models, to enable customers to participate with utilities as collaboration to your point earlier Scott, to be able to interconnect things like battery

05:00

is solar, and make all of this stuff automated, and decentralized and put a lot of intelligence at the edges of the grid to make all of this seamless and automatic.

05:13

Because there's a lot of capacity out there, there's the increase in batteries, whatever else, you get these distributed the sources.

05:22

So

05:24

one of the challenges that I see is, is how do you make that how do you make that happen? Give us a use case, it's like, okay, you, you have an Eevee, right? Yes, I do. And you plug it in. And you're just to plug it in, there's more that can be done there. Right? Today, it's simply just charges until it reaches the capacity that I've said on the app, and then it stops, it does nothing else. But you know, I, while I'm here with you in Dallas to go see, my car is back home in my garage and doing nothing. It's just sitting there. So if I had the opportunity, if my utility offered the right compensation, I would sell energy back to the utility if they needed it, especially during the peak times of the day when it's worth more to them.

06:12

But But that can also be not just at your house, it could be pretty much anywhere you go to work. Blog, exactly, boom, same sort of scenario. But that that's, that's a technology solution, that that is dynamic that does that technology cannot exist, it does exist already today, I think it's mostly just a software solution more than anything, it's, it's being able to have the the software in the car, the software on the utility side, in some type of hardware controller in the garage that takes care of this back and forth flow. And you can send it pricing signals. In other words, if the utility can communicate to a controller that is mounted in my garage, then they have the ability to send me warnings, I can hopefully pop it up on an app, make a conscious decision on whether I want to participate or not, you know, offer me more money, and I'll bid it even higher. So this is an interesting, you know, my my knowledge of the utility, because I've got a system operator, I've got generation, I've got transmission, I got distribution, I got the substations that all make it work, and then I comes down. And then when I flip the switch on, Oh, good. You're talking about a dynamic ability to be able from a systems operators perspective, supply demand, managing that and be able to communicate pricing, or, Hey, we need we need, we need your battery. And they're not just doing it with one battery, it's it's a batteries, this area, a network of batteries all could be disparate, and, you know, different owners of those batteries even. But if they can bring them together virtually as a utility and dispatch them, you know, in a big chunk, they can get some real benefits and compensation in the wholesale power markets.

08:00

See that? Again? The it's a software so yeah, it is because we exist today. Because you're saying, Hey, here's here's a system operator, and they have to have visibility and those that capacity, right have to just say, Yep, there's whatever capacity of that battery, and so on and so forth. And then there's a time on that. Right, right, because it's not just forever, right? There's going to have to be a point where that battery is discharged. And then there's got to be recharged. And then as a system operator, there's no way because I remember when when I went to the system operations in Southern California Edison at the time, that guy was just sitting there looking at supply and demand. It is moving that turbine and he's like is okay, here we go. And it's like manual. Oh, it's not your father's utility? No, it's changed the way. We've got two way power flows. We've got customer owned devices connected to the grid. We've got the threats of manmade and natural disasters. We've got cybersecurity concerns. That's all financially. I mean, all of this is coming into play. And that also, by the way, if the utility wants to collect data off that device out of my battery in the way I use it, then that's private data. Now you got to protect it. So you know, there's all kinds of growing concerns and barriers to really building the grid edge to scale. But these are resolvable, we can fix these. So with that said, What do you see? I mean,

09:34

this is not pie in the sky. Is it happening today? It's happening in small pilots and limited rollouts. And it you know, there are attempts to make this work effectively with the right business model. I think for the most part, we're still trying to figure out the business model. We have the hardware and software. I think that that part is already available to us today. But then how do you set this up as a business

10:00

As a utility that wants to compensate owners of these energy assets, that's something that has not scaled. Yeah, yet, there is a possibility it could start to take off soon, there's something called the FERC. Order 2222. Two By Four is affectionately called. And that's setting up the rules in the wholesale markets to aggregate just what we just described aggregate these assets, and to be able to make sure that compensation is fair to the owners of the assets, the energy assets. So here's the risk that I because the because I'm a consumer of power. I want that power to be there. Now, a lot of come on home, do flip the switch, there it is. I'm pretty simple when it comes to that.

10:44

I believe the risk is if we don't do it right, the first time, consumers will say, Get out of here. I don't want it. I don't want to forego my comfort

10:55

for this. So you guys gotta get this right. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You only get one or two chances. And I'm telling you right now, I would be the first one to jettison, if I look, we've got all this equipment, right. It's all here. It's all it's just equipment galore. And it's very sensitive. It wants good quality, power, and data. And it doesn't do well, when and that's just everybody. You look around. And it's everybody. Yeah, you don't get many bytes out there. So there's, that's the reliability aspect. Yeah. Now we got to talk about resiliency in the power system. Yeah. How quickly can recover after a major event? Whether it's a storm, or wildfires and droughts or whatever it may be, you know, how do we harden our system to withstand these threats to begin with, but also recover more rapidly after they occur?

11:45

You're hitting on all cylinders, because that's, if you've ever been in a hurricane, and your power's out for 10 days in the middle of the summer, it's not fun. Well, and it's not simple to fix it. You know, a lot of folks think that, well, let's just bury all the power lines, not to say from a hurricane. No, because you have equipment that comes out of the ground to join that underground cable together and operate it and switch it. That stuff gets flooded, and it's ruined. It doesn't work anymore. No, it

12:16

so there's no easy fix. There is a van and it has like your you got your fingers on the poles, but it's gonna happen as more and more vehicles or as more and more all of these different forms of generation get attached, that there's a potential there's capacity. Somebody will make. I'm looking forward and I think it's like neighborhoods having their own generation. Yes, absolutely. And what I really like and fired by is commercial customers today are, are making pledges when it comes to sustainability or decarbonisation of their supply chains. So they're taking matters into their own hands. They're, they're building on site generation, they're putting solar on their rooftops, they're putting batteries next to that solar, we have one client who's a nationwide financial institution with 1000s of branches. If we put solar on their roof, they want to attach a battery. And then they can measure how much solar PV energy they're generating right there on the spot. They run that through a blockchain based software.

13:18

I knew I'd get the blockchain word Yeah, I was just gonna say I'm gay. There's another conversation. And then once it goes through the blockchain, and they can calculate hourly renewable energy credits in real time. Yeah, I mean, nobody's doing this. This is this innovation is coming from the commercial customers directly. So he used to long ago, we had a solar plant out in a Daggett, California. And the challenge is always how do you how do you store that energy, they would use molten salt. So

13:50

like, you slap it up there, and then they would flash, you know, the water, turbine, all of that stuff that can adapt. But that's how, nowadays you got the battery, you got batteries, you've got a big focus now on long duration energy store. Yeah. So if you can get 12 hours plus, out of a battery, whatever form of chemistry is built up in that battery, the more that it's going to have greater value for you, especially going back to resilience. A commercial business that wants to stay in operation during a major event is going to want 12 hours plus battery duration. So that begs the question, I'm gonna sort of go off on a tangent real quick.

14:28

Battery technology is getting better at it.

14:32

And cheaper, so that's good. trending in the right direction. What is the the expectation for battery life? For many of us? Yeah, that's that's the, that's the big question we get asked often, which is to lithium ion technology, for instance, is how, how much degradation per year will you see in the battery over a 10 year period for it 15 That's too far out. But just let's do

15:00

Just take a 10 year period for the life of that battery, we have to today understand how much degradation so that we can guarantee what capacity at battery can supply in year 10. And there's no easy way to do this. These are estimates we don't have enough of these batteries out there to truly know. We're alerting er, and it's just but the right people are in the right places, people like you and others and are making these decisions and looking at it, understanding the challenges that exist today, creating valuable use cases, on and on and on. So it makes complete sense. All right, we're gonna have to wrap it up, sadly, but we're gonna have to, how does somebody get a hold of you? I can be reached at Wilhite, rt@vv.com wi l h i t e r t. RT at BV BV com

15:57

look forward to comments and letters go. I'd love to hear some innovative ideas. That's just your I see you're not gonna retire because it's just gonna get better and better. It's faster and faster and more people are coming out with more solutions. It's pretty doggone cool. Oh, it's fun. It's awesome sauce. Thank you very much for being on industrial. Appreciate it very much. All right, listeners. We're gonna wrap it up on the other side. All Rob's contact information will be available at industrial talk. So don't worry, you'll have it. So just go out there. You'll find it you'll you will not be disappointed with Rob. He's pretty cool.

16:31

Awesome. That's where all the cool kids hang out. It is here on industrial talk. I haven't been called cool in a long time. Cool kid. Cool. All right listeners. We're gonna wrap it up on this site. So stay tuned we will be right back.

16:44

You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network

16:51

right once again, thank you very very much for joining industrial talk. If you want to hang out with cool kids like Rob Wilhite, then go out to industrial talk.com Be a part of the club, this ever expanding industrial ecosystem that really celebrates industry professionals like yourself. Thank you to Rob, thank you for the opportunity to talk to him and discuss what changes are happening within the utility world. It's monumental, it is mind blowing in my background utilities. Definitely mind blowing. Thank you very much, Rob, for being on industrial talk and sharing your insights with all the best listeners that industry has to offer right here on industrial talk. All right. You need to one educate. That's why industrial talk is here. That's why we highlight people like Rob you need to collaborate. That's why industrial talk is here. And that's why we highlight Rob because he wants to collaborate. Black and Veatch want to collaborate with you solving your problems? And definitely, definitely, you need to innovate. If you want to build a business that is resilient, you need to be in the game, and you need to innovate. That's why industrial talk is here. Because we want to educate, we want to collaborate and definitely we want to innovate. So go out to industrial talk. Talk to me. Meet yo right here. And we'll have I mean, we'll have a great conversation. All right. Be bold, be brave, daring, greatly hanging out with people like Rob and you're going to change the world. Let's have another great conversation shortly. So stay tuned.

The post Robert “Rob” Wilhite with Black & Veatch appeared first on Industrial Talk.

On this week's Industrial Talk we're talking to Ann Dunkin, CTO of US Department of Energy about “How the DOE is assisting in the digital transformation of the Energy and Utility markets”.  Get the answers to your “Energy Transition” questions along with Ann's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

grid, power, DOE, industrial, doe, conversation, charging, digital transformation, manage, latency, assets, security, energy, people, tx, utility, iot, part, complexity, chief information officer

00:00

Industrial Talk is brought to you by TXOne now you know cybersecurity is important if you're on this digital transformation journey, TX One networks has the solutions for you. And you're saying to yourself, Scott, they're going to be complex, they're going to be difficult. No TXOne's taken that into consideration. And they provide a suite of solutions that truly meet your cybersecurity needs go out to TX, one dash networks.com and find out more, you're not going to be disappointed. Also industry IoT Consortium. At Industrial Talk, we always talk about education, we always talk about collaboration, we are always talking about innovation. And if you're a business that has any desire to be resilient to the future, you need to be able to educate, collaborate, as well as innovate with other industry professionals. That's a must. Industry IoT Consortium brings that all together, you need to be a part of this community, you need to be connected with these leaders that are all apart the industry IoT consortium, go out to ai consortium.org. Find out more, again, you will not be disappointed, you're just going to be happy on this episode of Industrial Talk live. Ann Duncan is in the hot seat. She is the Chief Information Officer at the US Department of Energy, and also the Digital Transformation Lead. And we're going to be talking about utility, digital transformation that market, it's an incredible conversation that you need to be aware of also events that I will be broadcasting on site. So put those on your calendars, we're going to be talking about those, and how to get involved with this ever expanding ecosystem called Industrial Talk. Let's get cracking.

01:56

Hey there and thank you very much for joining Industrial Talk the ever-expanding industrial ecosystem of leaders and problem solvers, making our lives better, you need to be a part of the Industrial Talk ecosystem. It's fun because you know why we are dedicated to education? Yes, check. We are also dedicated to collaborating because we don't have all the answers, you don't have all the answers, but you need to collaborate with trusted professionals. And finally, innovate, we also have to innovate, we also have to continue to push that envelope and digital transformation is definitely a conversation that is always being discussed on Industrial Talk. So get involved. All right, we've got a couple of things that I want to make sure that we get out. First one, I talked about some events that if you want to be if you have a desire to be interviewed on Industrial Talk, we have a great time, we're going to be at a couple of events. And if they're on your calendar, that's great. If they're not put them on your calendar, the first one that I want to be able to put on your calendar that we're going to be at is at MWC. That's M WC. And it is September 28, through the 30th. And if you have any, if you're gonna go there, and you're gonna see me, let's coordinate and let's schedule a time for us to have a conversation on site. It's a lot of fun. The other one that we're going to be at is IMTS at a September 12, through the 17th. Again, if you're going to be there, look up Industrial Talk, let's get you on the calendar, and let's get a conversation rolling. The next one that I want to make sure that you have out there, this is pretty cool. This one is the 13th American manufacturing strategy Summit. It is also October 11 through the 12th. And it is in Houston, Texas. Look at it go out to it, and you're gonna have all the information out on Industrial Talks, all the links are out there. But consider because we got to be about the collaboration, we've got to be about that education, bringing it all together. These are great venues to be able to do it. And finally, we're gonna do it again. We're going to be at IoT solutions World Congress, Barcelona is the town it is I'm telling you had a great time this last go around. And in fact, I was going to have a conversation with and Duncan who is going to be on this particular interview. And I had some technical issues but the IoT solutions World Congress, Barcelona January 31 through February 2. If you find yourself there, you got to look me up because we have such a fabulous time. And uh, speaking of that, if you have a desire to be on the podcast, or be a part of this ecosystem, just go out to Industrial Talk.com Find out more easy peasy. You'll talk to me and Industrial Talk is a platform that is truly dedicated to the education within the industrial area. The collaboration bringing professionals together who have answers and who are looking for answers. And of course innovation because that's what we're all talking about. All right on to the conversation. And Duncan, once again, I was going to speak with her at the IoT solutions World Congress this past year. And unfortunately, I had technical question, but our difficulties, but she's been very good. And one of the things that I find so amazing, so interesting, is digital transformation within the utility, market space, the energy and how that has happened distributive energy, what are we doing, being an old utility guy, I sort of look at it a certain way, these companies, and Duncan and team at the Department of Energy, they look at it, and they're working with other companies that are trying to help transition into this, whatever this future looks like. It's bright, but it's got a lot of unique challenges that smart people are really focused in on. So this is a great conversation. So this is a note and, and paper note up. Conversation. Alright, let's get cracking. And welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much for finding time in your busy schedule. Because listeners, I had a technical issues when we were at IoT solutions World Congress, it was embarrassing. But Anne was so gracious and made me feel okay about it. And thank you, man.

06:26

Thanks, Scott, it's great to finally get a chance to talk.

06:29

Yeah, I'm pretty. I'm pretty geeked out about this whole conversation around industrial IoT, and then some and digitization and digital transformation and everything in between. It's an exciting time, specifically within industry. It's exciting, and a little nerve wracking, because I don't know, I need people to help me understand the journey. But that's where you come in, and all that good stuff. Before we get into the conversation, I think we need to level set a little bit about who and is for the listeners. So give us a little background. And

07:02

so Scott, thanks for having me again. So I am the Chief Information Officer, that part of energy, previously was the Chief Information Officer for EPA, during the Obama administration, left with Santa Clara County was CIO there, and went to Dell, and then was invited to by the transition team to work really hard for free for a while. And after that, I went back to administration, because I was actually having a lot of fun, working really hard for free. So I decided to come back and get paid a little bit to do the work. Well, I

07:39

liked that. And I guarantee that she's got her fingers on the pulse of technology and innovation that has taken place, specifically around energy, which is really important. And I don't think and this is my point of view, I think me as a consumer of power energy. I take it for granted that I flip on my light switch. And there it is, man. And I'm pretty. I'm pretty binary. It doesn't work. It works. And and that's sort of it, but we're venturing into an interesting world, I still think we're at the tip of the iceberg. You are speaking at the industrial Internet, no IoT solutions. To many of those buzzwords rolling around IoT solutions, World Congress, Barcelona, that's where we met. And you were a keynote speaker. What was that topic?

08:29

So Scott, I'm gonna read the topic because it's a little because it's lengthy. So the topic was leveraging innovative technologies that doe to drive energy transition, security, and research goals.

08:42

So why what? What were the salient points of that conversation? Because you pop up I, I know that when I have conversations, it's all great digital transformation is great. from an energy perspective, it's completely different than manufacturing. And, and one of the points of course, she brought up security, cyber, all of that stuff. Why was that topic important for DOD?

09:08

Yeah, so So let me give you a little background, do we I told you who I am, we say DoD is because a lot of people don't realize it. So DOE has a bunch of missions, but I'm going to sort of tell you the three major areas I would describe them up number one is nuclear Non Proliferation and security. So we do everything in the nuclear space from you know, the all the the international work to the cleanup of the Manhattan Project to making the actual propulsion for nuclear submarines and managing our weapons stockpile. So we do all that. Secondly,

09:51

that's number one. My ears bleeding and my nose is bleeding to Holy cow. Okay, go to number two better not just pointless.

10:01

Number two is I hope this doesn't disappoint. This is the one that you think of probably a lot is the grid and power. So we we sell bulk power that is generated by other parts of the government to take the companies that then sell you power. So we, you know, we manage a lot of the hydroelectric dams on the west coast, but also power over most of the country, a lot of that power actually goes through and is sold by DOD into the bulk power market. And we also manage the grid, we ensure that most of the grid in the country, the part that's interconnected, most of that is under our authority to make sure it's actually up and running. So that's number two, kind of an important thing.

10:45

Holy moly.

10:47

And then number three is that DOD is basically the engine for innovation in this country. From a technology standpoint, we run 70 national labs that do everything from classified research, supporting our nuclear energy program, to open science working with scientists around the world. So we work on big problems, you know, like a Stanford Linear Accelerator is part of DOD, the NIF, which if you heard about the project at Lawrence Livermore, that just managed to create a small fusion reaction, right? That was a DOD lab. So we do all that stuff. We do work in 5g, we do work in, in cyber defense, pretty much if there's an area of technology that people are working on, it's probably happening at DOD, and a lot of the research that's done for other parts of the government, like you hear DoD doing research, a lot of times they're doing the DoD labs. So we run the vast majority of the science research, basic science and engineering research that happens in this country.

11:49

Quite speechless, which is really unusual for me, because that is an absolutely spectacular summary of DOE that I did not know. And I guarantee, you know, clearly, all I was listening, number two, great and power, both power and all that stuff. So do we, outside of hydro owns other assets, generation assets that they will and or how does that work?

12:20

So most of this generation, generation assets are run by somebody else in the in the, in the government, and then we sell the power. So, but there are some of them, where we actually own the assets, but but it's primarily hydroelectric. But there's also other types of energy being generated, you know, throughout the network that we then turn around and sell for, for the government.

12:42

I'm not going to venture into number one, because I'd be woefully woefully inadequate. And I would be asking stupid questions, I will venture into number two and number three, when we start talking about innovation, when we start talking about digital transformation, and of course, many of the conferences that we go to, that's really it, how do we leverage innovation, technology, this digital world that we're venturing into to optimize our manufacturing process, our grid, which, quite frankly, and I don't know, I'm sort of old school when it comes to grid, where we got power transmission substations, and it's pretty linear. And here we are talking about, you know, distributed energy distributed side of the meter. And for me, it's like, okay, well, that's a, it's gonna happen, but I don't know, how do you work in concert with a private industry to say, okay, hey, we need, it's got to be collaborative, you can't just be doing this in a vacuum.

13:51

Right? So one of these jobs is private sector energy security. So I actually, and it's a broken up role. So my role I'm responsible for energy sector security, for the stuff that doe owns, that the government owns. There's my avid counterpart, who's responsible for security for private sector power. So they work with the private sector to ensure that they have secured their, their their assets and that they are able to securely generate power as well. So, you know, in terms of, but But certainly, we all work together in terms of trying to find the best technologies and solutions and ensure data and make the grid more effective and more secure. But it's still we together works with our stuff, and the private sector to ensure that we have a seamless power grid and its power. So we measure electricity, we also are the sector, sector, specific agency for gas as well. So we run Another thing we do is we run the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as well responsible for, you know, oil and gas, from a security standpoint and from supporting the sector. And then you know, there are other sectors, EPA is, for example, is responsible for water. But obviously, you know, being responsible for electricity, oil and gas is a pretty substantial amount of responsibility for doe.

15:23

See, I don't know how Yeah, this is like grabbing a tiger by the tail, because there's so much change that's taking place, I would imagine. I would even say just, let's say 10 years ago, completely different than it is today. And the way you approach that sort of that network has changed dramatically. And how does how does the deal we outside of the labs and all of the other stuff? Just manage that? How do you how do you prioritize? I would imagine critical infrastructure, you better secure it, we don't want that. We don't want things happen in there. Okay, I got that. Then how do you sort of, I mean, there's so much going on. I don't know how you do that. Just there it is.

16:07

Well, yeah. And I think Scott's The thing is that, so we have four power administration's that each are responsible for section of the country. And they're responsible for ensuring that security and resilience. And you know, we've really upped our focus on OT, right. So that's why we're having this conversation. Operational technologies have been an afterthought in security for a long time. You know, we have giant transformers, we have other things that the labs that are big and complicated, but just in the power grid is huge transformers and other assets, we have to, we have to worry about not only keeping those up, and operational and secure, we have to worry about things like timing of the grid, right? So if you don't have good timing, the grid won't work. So we use GPS timing, which has some challenges. And one of my jobs actually, at DOD is I'm the senior official for Spectrum Management for DOD, because we coordinate spectrum management across the federal government, and we'll look at who uses radio spectrum. Right and and why our interference exists. And one of my jobs is to make sure that we control spectrum so that the grid is not interfered with by other users. Right. So that's another piece another third, or fourth, I don't know how many more

17:35

I don't either. For me, we got to understand the gymnastics that are going through my head, I can't keep I got asked a question there, write it down

17:45

a piece that other pieces that we have to manage, as you you alluded to this, right, we now have a two way group, we have distributed generation and storage. So a grid used to how are used to go one way. Now power goes two ways in that grid, and you'd have to manage that. And you also have to manage all of these potential entry points for cyber actors, right? instead of there being one big point. Now, you know, I have my house in California has solar, it has batteries, right? So it's got, you know, my, my batteries and my solar are connected to Wi Fi to into my, into the house, and then to the power company, right. So there's opportunities there for bad actors. But also, the grid has to be able to take back the energy I generate, right when I generate it, and it has to be able to manage the situation where the grid goes down, and I'm still generating power and make sure I'm not feeding energy back into a grid, and potentially hurting somebody who's trying to fix a power line. Um, you know, there's also the issue of, of smart meters, right? Those are wireless, you got to be able to protect those smart meters to ensure that no one can get in the grid that way. So the complexity is just through the roof.

18:59

It's through the roof, that that's every time I have this conversation. And it's the same thing I walk away with, oh my gosh, I don't know where to go. I don't know what steps Oh, I I see a problem there. And you know what's interesting? I used to be an old crotchety, journeyman transmission lineman. So when you start talking about power outages, and we even we even had issues where people would zip the, the power through. And as the Transformers The transformer goes one way, it will step it up. And it's people don't realize that, but And you brought up another interesting point. Is that timing. It is its timing, this, this grid is on time, you can't just be out and sinker on a timeframe. I don't know from a system operators perspective. It's, it's only doable by digitization. There's no way because the old school way was like I've got these generations In assets, I got this demand, I'm watching it. And I'm meet meeting demand and supply. And I'm doing it physically. And now there's no way there's no way. Yeah, you get upside down and flip around. It's like, so why is this digital transformation, the impact energy, your innovation and what you guys are focused on? Why is it important?

20:22

Well, you hit on it right. So the piece around the grid, it's important because we want to make sure that we can provide reliable power. So it means that from a digital transformation standpoint, we have to change the way we're operating the grid, to ensure we can keep up with the complexity. You know, we're now looking at, can we actually do our IoT, our OT, our operational technology stuff in the cloud, right? Can we do that work for the power grid in the cloud safely and securely, and have more resilience in that way. So, you know, we've got to find ways to make it easier to operate the grid. Because as it gets more complex to your point, we the individuals who may who used to look at computer screens, or even manual dials, you know, and, and make adjustments aren't going to be able to keep up with the complexity, right? If I've got millions of endpoints coming into, you know, if I'm selling Southern California, Edison, millions and millions of endpoints out there, I've got smart meters, I've got rooftop generation, I've got batteries, I've got all my enterprise assets, which now include storage assets, and generation assets of all different types, and I gotta balance the grid, there's no way I can do that manually. So you've got to digitize that. And you've got to simplify it. And you're gonna be using a, you know, you're gonna be using AI and machine learning to make those adjustments because you simple human being can no longer do it.

21:54

The the, you brought up an interesting component of, Can we can we place this this, this complexity in the cloud? And I agree with you, 100%? Are there any concerns with this digital transformation and latency? Because that's another conversation that people are having to say, I get it in the cloud, but even that little, whatever latency between that and versus, versus the timing on the grid, and keep it going? How do how do we address that?

22:23

Well, I you know, that's an interesting question, right about latency. So you have to figure out what your tolerance is for latency. And some things will be able to go in the cloud, if they're sufficiently real time, and you can't get the, you know, something close enough something with fast enough connection. But you know, the latency doesn't become an issue, you know, for hundreds, if not 1000s of miles before it really becomes a substantial issue. Yeah, even for timing I had, I had a job once where we had two data centers that were half a mile apart, and folks were trying to tell me that they couldn't possibly have their stuff in the data center half a mile away from their office, because there was too much latency. And I was like, You do no data moves at the speed of light. Right. So let's talk about how much latency we got in this half mile. Let me see if I can do that math. But, um, you know, so so it does, it certainly does become an issue, particularly with large amounts of data. But, you know, we'll try and control systems. You know, you can certainly tolerate some distance before you're gonna have a problem. And remember, we also have to figure out how to manage that over long distances. So we have to deal with the distance anyway. So yeah, that's an issue

23:35

either way, because you've got a dispersed asset base in every utility, every service territory, it's, it's not confined by four walls. It's, it's out there, man. And it's going for miles and miles and miles. So it's, it's stunning. So when we start talking about renewables, net 01 of the challenges that I see one of the challenge is, and I get it, there's a lot more EVs out there, right? There just are. It's, it's, it's, it's a scientific factor out there. And they're plugging into the grid. And they're plugging in at the grid. Pretty fast. And yet, grid maintenance grid improvements. That's not a that's not a fast thing. And so I see a disconnect between the speed at which these innovative solutions are attaching themselves to the grid and our ability to be able to say, oh, yeah, there's that and how do we address that? What what are some of the solutions around that?

24:49

Yeah, so that is an interesting problem. I mean, I certainly want to see Evie adoption move faster. That's one of our goals. The department is Evie adoption, and I'm working with DOD to improve the Evie charging infrastructure in this country. You know, I personally I was I was laughing I got home from, I had some house guests who came last night before I got home from my trip. And I, you know, here's the IoT, I opened the garage for them from my phone while I was sitting on an airplane and a gate, right? And they grabbed me, right, because I'd left them keys in the garage and they walked in. So yep, we're in we must be in the right garage. I see a Tesla.

25:25

Yeah, that's cool.

25:27

So you know, I mean, my Tesla sits in my garage and charges at 20 miles an hour, right? Not very fast. And, and, you know, in California, I was charging it off of my own generated power. Here, I'm not because I haven't had a chance to get some panels on this house. But you know, part of it is, the more that we can add that distributed generation capacity to match those vehicles. Right, the more that they become less of a burden on the system. And most of them do charge. At that rate. Most of them most people have a level two charger in their house, if they've got an Eevee. And they're charging at 20 miles an hour, then you got the fast chargers out there. Right. And I think that, you know, the the fast chargers are more of a challenge, although I know that Tesla, some of the other providers are starting to add solar, to their charging stations. So they're adding some generation capacity at that charging station as well. Now there, they probably aren't matching, and I don't know this perfect, I guess it'd be we're not matching their demand and supply, but they're at least adding to the supply. So I think, you know, the reality is, is, to me, distributed generations can solve a lot of these problems, the more we can put rooftop solar, local wind, wherever that is to distribute the demands on the grid, distribute this plan on the grid to match the demands on the grid, that's going to help. But otherwise, it's going to be a transition, right? It's gonna be, it's gonna be a transition to get more power on the grid at the right times for the right devices. And the other key is to get these devices mostly charging these cars, mostly charging an off hours, right, you can program the car to charge in the middle of the night. So if you're charging your garage, you're going to choose to charge at midnight anyway, because you're gonna pay less for power. And so that we can manage the demand on the grid, there's also going to be a future where you're going to be able to at peak time be able to pull, pull charge back out of those vehicles, and bring it back into the grid. So the goal was supposed vehicles to become part of the grid infrastructure as well.

27:30

To me is like, Okay, I said, and be able to manage that, like, here's the point. Here's the point, here's, here are 10,000 in this area, that year, as a system operator, I'm going alright, let's start pulling it up. They're all plugged in. Oh, that one's not plugged in. And I see it. I just,

27:49

well, yeah, good operator has a grid operator has just be able to send a command that says, Okay, I want to pull charge from cars and have and have the systems go, okay, my car is not going to contribute, right? Because you can't possibly possibly manage each individual device.

28:05

And I want everybody to be successful. I just think that it's it's imperative, it's going to happen if you're in manufacturing, whether you like it or not. And you're saying, I don't want to be a part of this digital transformation? Well, your competition is, and you need to consider it and dip your toes in it, because there are a lot of good people out there willing to help you. And that goes with the utility. Now, being an old utility guy. I know you have service territories, all across the country and around the world. But we're talking here. And so every utility has a different journey, right? Every small, mid large, you know, invested or whatever it might be. That's a whole nother level of complexity, because I might not be there. I haven't. I'm over here, and I'm just trying to do this. I just think that it's a heck of a job you have and

29:00

it's a lot of fun. We get to cool stuff. For sure.

29:02

Yeah, you get to cool, do cool stuff. We're gonna have to wrap it up. That's our time. How do people get a hold of you? They're saying, Gosh, can't Can I a utility just contacted doe? Can I just like, hey, I need help.

29:16

Well, most of the utilities already know how to get ahold of us. They work with different parts the organization but they are more than welcome to my doe account on Twitter, send us a note to send an email over to Dewey. We'll be happy to connect them with resources they don't have but we try very hard to be connected to those folks in the energy sector. So

29:38

that's, that's your role. You're you're connecting you better be connected. Well, anyway, you were absolutely spectacular. Thank you for saying yes, man.

29:47

This was a lot of fun. Thanks, guys. Great. I

29:49

can definitely could geek out much longer but you know, I've got to think about the summit. You know, maybe I There's three of us that get really geek out on it up and so now it's down to two All right listeners, we're not we're gonna have all the contact information for an out on Industrial Talk.com. Thank you very much for joining in. Thank you, Scott. All right, listeners, we're gonna wrap it up on the other side. So stay tuned, we will be right back. You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network. All right, thank you very much for joining Industrial Talk live it it was a great pleasure. Absolutely. Thank you, too, and Duncan as well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation, reach out to her. All her contact information will be out at Industrial Talk.com. So fear not reach out, get the information that you need. To help you be successful going forward. A lot of changes are happening, being led by and in team, D O E, as well as many other companies, you need to be a part of that. So do not fear them, you need to reach out. All right, again, we're gonna have all the places that we're going to be on site. Reach out to me, schedule your time. If you're going to be at these conferences. It'd be great to meet you. Easy peasy, Scott. Just want to talk to you. Make it happen because it is a lot of fun and talk about what you are doing there at the event. Important. All right. Be bold, be brave, daring greatly. We're gonna have another great conversation shortly. So stay tuned and be a part of the ecosystem.

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