The need to create resilient infrastructure with improved reliability and visibility is becoming paramount to day-to-day utility operations, particularly as the frequency of extreme weather events increase. Wi-SUN Alliance recently surveyed a host of utilities to learn more about the role the Internet of Things (IoT) plays in solving these challenges.

In its survey, the Wi-SUN Alliance found that out of the 250 senior-level utility professionals surveyed, the majority are looking towards IoT to assist with customer service and reduce control costs during extreme weather events.

Some top-of-mind findings include:

• 41% said advanced weather prediction when looking at network resilience
• Energy integration was key for renewable energy resources
• Along with grid modernization and microgrids (39%)
• 34% said disaster response and recovery plans

This seems to be a shift away from previous survey results (2023) where Wi-Sun Alliance found that most of the interest in IoT had to do with energy security.

The more visibility and controls that can be pushed to the edge of the grid, the better, more actionable information is collected and communicated to the utility. We are starting to see technologies come down to transformer-levels and getting even more granular with smart meters; meaning when outages occur, utilities can identify exactly which transformer(s) and customers are impacted by an event and act swiftly.

But the future of IoT in utilities goes just beyond adding visibility to the grid. There are a variety of ways in which IoT can be leveraged to assist with grid balancing controls, particularly as more distributed energy resources come onto the grid and the need to manage those resources increase accordingly.

Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see Wi-SUN Alliance’s next round of survey results to determine if any improvements have been made by deploying IoT solutions and not just keeping them top of mind.