Itron, Schneider Electric expand Microsoft collaboration on Grid Edge

The company states: “Itron (ITRI) and Schneider Electric (SBGSY) are expanding their collaboration with Microsoft (MSFT) to deliver a comprehensive Grid Edge Intelligence solution that addresses utility grid visibility and control challenges. This collaboration takes advantage of Itron’s distributed intelligence technology, accelerating the path to bring grid edge intelligence to the utility control center. This will improve grid reliability by establishing high-bandwidth, real-time and scalable data integration between the companies’ systems and enable the use of AI and big data analytics. For utilities, this means unlocking a range of new use cases that improve overall efficiency of the distribution system, its reliability and service restoration during unplanned events. This collaboration of industry leaders in grid edge intelligence, energy management, automation, AI, data, and analytics will further enable utilities to manage the electric distribution grid with a myriad of use cases that require central control system applications to share enormous amounts of data with low latency. The companies are bringing to market a non-wires solution that addresses utility challenges during a critical period of infrastructure constraints where lead times for components like transformers are upwards of one to two years. With this non-wires solution, utilities can optimize the grid edge and central control system, enhancing grid capacity of utilities’ existing infrastructure by as much as 20%, while maintaining grid asset loading within current design limits. The collaboration will integrate Itron’s Grid Edge Intelligence solutions, Schneider Electric’s Digital Grid solutions, and Microsoft data and AI solutions to facilitate seamless data flow and provide visibility into distribution grid bottlenecks.”