It takes a village, so they say. To raise a child, sure, but also to navigate the increasingly complex electric utilities space.
“We believe solving the problems of today’s utility world is a team sport,” Itron president and CEO Tom Deitrich suggested to Factor This at DISTRIBUTECH (DTECH) in Dallas, Texas.
If that’s the case, Itron is drafting an all-star roster. In the weeks leading up to DTECH, Itron cemented partnerships with NVIDIA and Microsoft, followed by a collaboration with Schneider Electric. Itron also recently unveiled its new scalable grid edge DERMS solution, IntelliFLEX, which facilitates real-time visibility, control, and optimization of behind-the-meter DERs, including rooftop solar, behind-the-meter batteries, and electric vehicles (EVs).
“One of the largest challenges that utilities face is the integration of renewable energy resources onto the grid,” Deitrich explained. “It is the equivalent of somebody building their own exchange on the freeway and starting to drive the wrong way.”
“What we wanted to do with IntelliFLEX is find a way that we can utilize all those assets, reduce complexity from the perspective of the utility, and make these things work better together.”
In the video above, Deitrich discusses the upsides of coordinating DERs and shares more information about the partnerships advancing Itron’s grid edge solutions.
