GE’s Grid IQ Insight—a Predictivity solution for the electric utility industry— helps utilities turn mounds of data into actionable information. Today’s electrical distribution systems continue to evolve as new smart devices are added to the network. With each installation comes the capability to better monitor and report important data related to energy usage, outages and changes in demand. This mass influx of raw data has led to a major void that must be addressed—data is currently being generated exponentially faster than it can be analyzed. To fill this void, utility companies often find themselves in search of software solutions to help break down data from sensors and smart devices to find value hidden in a sea of raw data.
Grid IQ Insight provides utilities with advanced analytic capabilities to meet their business needs and create a stronger connection to the machines that power the grid. It applies proven analytics to make sense of big data collected from intelligent machines to better predict, manage, model and forecast potential problems that a utility’s electrical grid may face. The software strategically monitors influential data—such as electrical usage, grid performance and weather history—creating an interconnected “ecosystem” of people and machines to better equip utilities with the information and tools needed to optimize their electrical distribution systems. Utilities can then apply the information and knowledge gained through Grid IQ Insight’s advanced analytics and visualization to ensure a more efficient and reliable energy supply to their end users.
One way GE’s Grid IQ Insight is working to connect minds and machines is its capability to monitor social media for outage information. Every day, approximately 500 million registered Twitter users generate more than 340 million tweets. That immense amount of content translates to about 320,000 daily tweets from a typical utility’s customer base. Grid IQ Insight software is able to analyze all of this social content to identify postings that can help locate a trouble spot or outage in a utility’s electrical distribution system. In many cases, the outage location can be detected before the first customer calls the utility to report a problem.
In addition to analyzing outage data in the wake of a storm, Grid IQ Insight is designed to provide crucial information regarding renewable energy generation. While renewable energy provides clean energy to the grid, it can be hard to supply guaranteed power due to the variability of the weather. Grid IQ Insight combines past, present and future weather patterns and forecasts to help maximize the amount of renewable energy a facility can integrate into the grid. GE’s grid analytics software allows utilities to optimize which source of power is most efficient at a given time. Combining this energy with the readily available power from traditional power generation facilities helps to establish an efficient reliable electrical grid.
