How do you build platforms for enterprise at scale and not one-off project solutions? The future of the grid calls for one such investment: a digital twin.
Marcus Johansson, Director, IT, Advanced Grid, Xcel Energy, will discuss digital twins from the utility perspective at DTECH (formerly known as DISTRIBUTECH) convening from March 24-27, 2025 in Dallas, Texas.
Johansson will participate in the session Digital Twin – Identifying and funding use cases, on March 25 from 1:00-1:50 PM. He will be joined by Subbu Natarajan, Partner/Principal, EY, during the session, which will be moderated by Junhui Zhao, Manager of Transmission and Substation Data Innovation, Eversource Energy.
How does an enterprise digital twin (an asset that integrates distribution, transmission, and customer) allow you to start small yet, build an asset for enterprise that continuously and progressively unlocks business value & ROI as more use cases are enabled on it? How do you build this with a strategic technology mindset?
In this session, attendees will learn about an approach that has yielded results, the lessons learned, and the changes the speakers’ organizations had to undertake, their successes and failures toward building a strong digital twin foundation for an emerging digital grid. Johansson, Natarajan, and Zhao will cover several areas including but not limited to investment planning, technology identification, scaling, organizational alignment, and some of the use cases themselves.
Marcus Johansson is currently the Director of the Wildfire Mitigation Program within Technology Services at Xcel Energy. He previously led the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Delivery as part of the $2B Digital Transformation and Grid Modernization initiative – Advanced Grid Intelligence and Security (AGIS), a multi-year program impacting all of Xcel Energy’s customers. Marcus and his team collaborate with enterprise partners to enable the technology supporting Xcel Energy’s grid modernization strategy. He is passionate about building high-performing teams through collaboration and forward-looking leadership.
Marcus brings a wealth of experience in digital strategy transformation across diverse industries, including hospitality, medical devices, health insurance, and financial services. His career highlights include divestiture initiatives at Ameriprise Financial, pricing strategy development at Best Buy, and digital transformation leadership at Marriott and Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. At Xcel Energy, prior to AGIS, he led cybersecurity initiatives and data and analytics projects.
Deeply committed to the energy transition and achieving carbon-free and sustainability goals by 2050, Marcus has pursued executive education at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and has completed executive education in Digital Strategy and Innovation in Medical Devices from the University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Management.
Attending DTECH this year? Don’t miss these other great sessions!
- Itron’s Amanda Dixon on the future of municipal energy management
- Dominion Energy’s Aaron Winter on meeting cloud computing demands
- National Grid’s Jon Malaver on utility talent acquisition retention amid rapid industry changes
- Eversource Energy’s John Nachilly on leveraging eSIM tech for SCADA resiliency
- National Grid’s Bridget Powers Beggs on ‘right-sizing’ distribution systems and the economic, societal value of DERMS
- UConn Eversource Energy Center’s Dr. Diego Cerrai on AI for storm and damage prediction
- Evergy’s JJ Stutler on what utilities actually do with all of their private LTE data
- Alectra Utilities’ Vivek Somasundaram on building the control room of the future
- PPL’s Shelby Linton-Keddie on tackling rapid load growth
- Xcel Energy’s Marcus Johansson on building digital twins for the future grid
- Evergy’s Chad Carsten on communications networks for utility unity
- Duke Energy’s Jason Handley on utility policy impacts, grid edge investments, and more
- Liberty Utilities’ Sam McGarrah on improving utility asset management
- Southern California Edison’s Jerome Marr on long-term distribution planning and modern grid challenges
- AES’ Christian Lopez on the challenges of cultivating a skilled utility workforce
- National Grid’s Jesse Harvey on harnessing the next wave of smart meters: AMI 2.0
- Duke Energy’s John Pressley on how AI is reshaping utility work
This list will be updated as more sessions are previewed.
