Utilities are turning to weather prediction tools, renewable energy integration and grid modernisation to ensure network resilience in the face of power outages caused by extreme weather events and climate-related disasters, according to the Wi-Sun Alliance.

The research among senior professionals in the utilities and power sectors highlights the role of tools and technologies to help improve resilience and outage recovery times as weather events and environmental disasters become commonplace.

According to the US Department of Energy, extreme weather conditions – from heatwaves to arctic vortexes – have doubled power outages in the USA over the past 20 years. From California to New Jersey, states are experiencing significant weather-related utility disruption, making it more challenging to meet the needs of customers in traditional ways.

The survey found that advanced weather prediction (41%) tops the list of initiatives that will ensure better network resilience for utilities, followed by renewable energy integration (41%), grid modernisation and microgrids (39%), and disaster response and recovery plans (34%).

Respondents are adopting new approaches to improve outage recovery times through advanced networking, including predictive maintenance analytics (40%), smart grid technologies (39%) and enhanced communications (34%), as well as the use of drones and robotics to inspect assets (31%).

Utilities recognise opportunities to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technologies as part their network infrastructure, with energy consumption forecasting (37%), automated fault detection (33%) and grid optimisation (31%) as viable use cases.

“Extreme weather events are fast evolving from a rare occurrence to something that should be built into the risk profile of any utility company,” saidPhil Beecher, CEO of the Wi-Sun Alliance. “The emergence of smart grids, microgrids and other technologies, like predictive maintenance and fault finding, offers a way of controlling costs while increasing resilience and stability to help mitigate the impact of outages. But technologies like this are only as good as the underlying communications network to provide reliable and secure delivery of the data needed to deliver a truly smart grid. Built on open industry standards, Wi-Sun FAN [field area network] wireless mesh networking offers utilities and power companies more choice in what they do, both today and in the future.”

The research also shows that cyber-security investment is a priority for utilities looking to enhance interoperability and connectivity for large-scale IoT applications in smart utility and smart city projects. Asked to list their top strategic initiatives for the next five years, 41% of respondents cited security enhancement as their number one choice.

Customer-centric services (40%), renewable energy integration (37%), building infrastructure resilience (32%), and IoT integration and data analytics (23%) are also as integral to respondents’ five-year plans.

“Enhancing cyber security across utility networks continues to be a key priority for future investment,” said Jeff Scheb, director at Landis+Gyr. “That security focus extends from the customer grid-edge to the field area network, to the substation, and ultimately to the data centre. An authentic layered approach to security is a must. While Wi-Sun FAN is often thought about in terms of interoperability, it also has robust security mechanisms built in, based on widely adopted industry standards. Adoption of Wi-Sun should be seen as one layer in the overall security posture of a wide-scale IoT network.”

The Wi-Sun Alliance (www.wi-sun.org) is a global non-profit member-based association. Its mission is to drive the global proliferation of interoperable wireless technology for use in smart cities, smart grids and other IoT applications using open global standards from organisations, such as the IEEE, IETF, TIA, TTC and Etsi.