Connecticut’s largest electric utility will have plenty of interesting news and knowledge to share at this year’s DTECH (formerly known as DISTRIBUTECH), convening from March 24-27, 2025 in Dallas, Texas.
Representatives from Eversource will participate in more than a dozen sessions throughout the week. Register here to secure your spot, and we’ll see you in Dallas!
March 25
Digital Twin – Identifying and funding use cases
Digital twins allow utilities to build platforms for enterprise at scale instead of one-off project solutions. In this session, Eversource explores how an enterprise digital twin (an asset that integrates distribution, transmission, and the customer) can start small yet continue to unlock business value & ROI as more use cases are enabled. Attendees will learn about an approach that has yielded results, the changes Eversource had to make, and the successes and failures along the path of building a digital twin foundation for an increasingly digital grid. The session will cover several areas, including, but not limited to: investment planning, technology identification, scaling, organizational alignment, and some of the use cases themselves.
Renewables integration and grid modernization challenges in electric utilities
The transition toward renewable energy sources necessitates a comprehensive overhaul of grid infrastructure and operational strategies. A panel of utility industry experts from Eversource, PSEG New Jersey, National Grid, and Arizona Public Service will share challenges with integrating renewables and modernizing their grids to accommodate evolving consumer demands and technological advancements.
Topics to be discussed include:
- The intermittency of renewable energy sources and the grid stability and reliability complexities they bring
- Advanced forecasting, energy storage solutions, and demand-side management strategies
- Coordinating diverse DER assets, including rooftop solar panels, battery storage systems, and electric vehicle chargers
- Communication and control frameworks to optimize resource use and mitigate grid congestion
- Grid infrastructure upgrades needed to accommodate bi-directional power flows and enhance grid resilience, such as smart grid technologies, grid-scale energy storage systems, and intelligent grid monitoring and control systems capable of real-time situational awareness and adaptive response.
- Lagging regulatory frameworks pose challenges for utilities seeking to incentivize renewable integration and grid modernization investments
- Cybersecurity concerns related to interconnected smart grids
Ultimately, the session will foster the dialog needed to advance the inclusion of renewables in electric utility portfolios.
Building Effective Grid Transformation Strategies
Utilities focus on grid transformation to enhance system reliability, improve storm response, and manage resources more effectively. Grid transformation is a broad term, supporting objectives from integrating distributed energy and enhanced situational awareness to improving interoperability. However, each utility context is unique and needs a targeted grid transformation strategy to avoid wasted budget and reduced operational efficiency. This session, sponsored by Eversource, will discuss the strategic preparation—assessment, planning, and goal-setting—that utility leaders must consider before making grid transformation investments.
Empowering modern grids: Strategies and insights on grid edge intelligence deployment
Grid Edge Intelligence (GEI) is becoming increasingly common as a part of utility strategies to navigate the evolving landscape of grid modernization. This session will explore the landscape of how utilities are approaching incorporation of Grid Edge Intelligence technologies into their grid modernization planning, and will provide a deep dive into how one specific utility, Eversource, is planning their deployment of Grid Edge Intelligence through AMI. This discussion will provide valuable insights and lessons for other utilities embarking on similar journeys, both through exploring strategies for deploying these technologies and gaining support from regulators.
The session will start with an overview of Eversource’s strategy for deployment of AMI and how they plan to use the advanced GEI capabilities of the AMI technology on Day 1. The discussion will include their path to expanding data analytics and evaluating use cases using the insights generated by this technology. Expanding on the insights from Eversource, Open Energy Solutions will provide a broader view of the utility GEI landscape by sharing their experiences and results from the deployment of Grid edge technologies at other utilities, highlighting the various ways that these technologies can be used to enhance the visibility and capabilities of utility operations.
Finally, the discussion will look at the regulatory landscape for Grid Edge Intelligence investments, providing insights into how regulators view the value of these technologies and the methods by which utilities are quantifying benefits and making the case to regulators.
Leveraging eSIM technology to improve SCADA resiliency
Utility SCADA solutions are critical to keeping the grid operating at its maximum availability, but these systems rely on communications systems that connect the head end to sensors, reclosures and other distribution elements to enable a reconfiguration of the distribution grid. Many utilities rely on cellular communications (public and private) to enable the required connectivity.
Here’s the challenge: cellular networks were never designed to maximize availability and only considered resiliency as secondary to mobility.
One way to address the low availability (~99.9%) of cellular is to leverage the emerging GSMA eSIM standards which enable access to multiple public and private networks. By adding fallback connectivity to a primary cellular network, utilities can enhance overall communications availability as network outage events are often independent random processes. The added redundancy to one or more fallback networks has the potential to improve network availability by an order of magnitude.
March 26
Lessons learned from a European approach to distribution grid interconnections
With ambitious net-zero targets, the global energy transition is reshaping load and generation. Regulatory pushes in key countries have fueled rapid growth of DERs, while increasing data center demand and industrial policies further intensify load growth and grid complexity.
This session will showcase DSO insights from actual customers in Germany, Norway (Glitre Net), and the US (EVERSOURCE), examining how integrating decentralized resources impacts utilities both before and after projects enter the queue. From hosting capacity maps to advanced self-service interconnection checks, we’ll explore innovative ways to reduce speculative applications and enhance grid planning through automation and data orchestration, paving the way for fully automated interconnection studies.
Policy impacts on distribution planning at LUMA, ComEd, and Eversource
Panelists from major utilities — LUMA Energy, ComEd, and Eversource — will discuss distribution planning within the regulatory space. Their discussion will cover important subjects like:
- Policy directives, market structures, distribution analysis, and technological innovations
- The broad regulatory landscape that shapes renewable integration—from regulatory orders, tariffs, and net metering to capacity markets and carbon pricing
- The regulatory barriers that hinder efficient distribution planning, including permitting processes, grid access rules, and interconnection standards
The session will foster dialogue among policymakers, regulators, and industry stakeholders to promote regulatory environments conducive to the seamless integration of renewables into the distribution system, thereby advancing the transition toward renewables and electrification.
How Eversource is predicting and preventing outages with AI
Through an advanced application of AI, EY and Eversource have created a proprietary algorithm to prevent sustained outages by accurately predicting the likelihood of one occurring. In a 2-month proof of concept, the model and subsequent fieldwork to fix issues the model has found has resulted in 40,000 avoided customer outages. This capability represents a significant leap in the utility industry, as utilities are under increasing pressures to improve grid reliability as a result of unprecedented weather patterns (i.e. climate change), evolving customer expectations, utility commissions requiring more details to approve capital investments, and dynamic changes to the grid with renewables and electric vehicles.
This cutting-edge machine learning model delves into historical data of power outages and assets, pinpointing the initial cause of momentary disruptions and assessing the risk of their escalation into sustained outages. The model integrates weather patterns, geographical nuances, and other critical geospatial data to establish correlations that bolster prediction accuracy. Furthermore, our collaboration with vegetation management teams infuses the model with insights from vegetation trimming cycles, enriching the predictive features. On-the-ground validation by dedicated patrol teams provides feedback serving as a vital component in the continuous refinement of the model.
These predictions are based on “AI-ready data” through a cloud-based modern data platform that integrates data from disparate data sources/silos (SCADA, AMI, OMS, GIS, Circuit, EAM, Customer, inspection, weather, etc.) across the distribution grid. The data is integrated using a business-led flexible data model that responds to changing business needs and enables efficient root cause analysis of outages while enabling employee productivity, capital efficiency, and accelerated remediation of issues. The solution has three primary components: outage, asset, and vegetation.
Key Takeaways:
- Predicting the likelihood of sustained outages by leveraging existing data leads to improved SAIFI and customer satisfaction
- Momentary outages provide a wealth of information to improve customer service and reliability
- A holistic view of grid networks through analyzing actual grid investments leads to better investment modeling and capital efficiency
- Humans at the Center: Establishing feedback mechanisms will engage engineers while yielding additional data and circuit insights used to prevent future outages
- Reliability Data Hub brings “AI-ready data” to accelerate use case delivery
Eversource transformed workforce safety by enhancing the job brief process. Here’s how
The eBrief project is a digital application that replaced the traditional paper safety forms. This new application, built exclusively for Eversource, was launched in November 2023 through company tablets, laptops, and iPads.
eBrief will enhance the safety job brief process by providing real-time information to employees in the field – including weather updates, access to essential contacts, and the location of nearby medical facilities. The application works offline, as well, to cater to field locations with low internet connectivity. End-users for this app are supervisors and safety advisors across Eversource’s territory who train all field service representatives.
Eversource: Managing Operational Transformation at the Core of the Utility: Work Order Lifecycle
This session, with full agenda TBD, will include the following speakers:
- Aaron Storo, Managing Director – Accenture
- Sue Cadieux, Director of WAM IT Infrastructure – Eversource
- Monica Bhosle – Eversource
March 27
How Eversource is scaling DERMS based on evolving needs
Customer-facing functions and system operations at most utilities have traditionally been on two sides of the house. However, more customers have begun to adopt technologies that have the ability to significantly impact the distribution grid, such as electric vehicles (EVs) and battery storage. This has created an opportunity for these two utility groups – customer-facing and system operations – to collaborate more closely. Eversource’s journey with distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) is one such case in point.
Eversource has enrolled more than 100,000 DERs in its ConnectedSolutions demand response program since 2019, leveraging functionality unique to edge/aggregator DERMS (namely, integrations with OEMs, enabling customer enrollment, and processing incentives). In 2023, Eversource released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a grid/operational/centralized DERMS that will be integrated with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), advanced distribution management system (ADMS), and edge/aggregator DERMS. The RFP process helped Eversource to more clearly distinguish the functionality of different types of DERMS and create an approach to DERMS that holistically meets company needs while avoiding duplication.
This session will explore how Eversource is working with different providers to develop the ideal solution that will enable them to satisfy both the needs of the grid and customers alike.
Why utilities must collaborate with EV manufacturers on managed charging
This session will explore key managed charging lessons from utilities who have worked directly with electric vehicle manufacturers. Within this presentation, panelists will discuss the importance of building out original equipment manufacturer (OEM) connection capabilities by working directly with the OEMs, and how this allows utilities — including Eversource and SMUD — to maintain optionality in a nascent and evolving space. The presentation will focus on three main aspects of managed charging: the anticipated and realized benefits of being directly connected to the manufacturer; considerations when establishing the partnership; and keeping the customer experience simple and easy with shared customers and shared goals.
Key focus areas:
- The anticipated and realized benefits of being directly connected to the manufacturer.
- Establishing the partnership and what to keep an eye on.
- Shared customers and shared goals: keeping the customer experience simple and easy.
