POWER May 2022 - 14

FOCUS ON O&M
programs extraordinarily complex, including
load planning, predictive maintenance,
asset tracking, smart grid design,
outage response management, mobile
team workflows, and more. Location intelligence,
powered by location data collected
from mobile devices and analyzed
by powerful AI, provides the foundation
for both the largest strategic decisions
and smallest daily tasks related to renewable
energy programs.
Location intelligence has become a
2. A new generation of location intelligence applications democratize this technology by putting
actionable information and insights into the hands of people across every department of a
power generation or other utility. Courtesy: Locana
The changing nature of the power
generation workforce is another catalyst.
Younger workers entering the sector
have grown up with technology, and already
use apps every day that utilize location
data to provide features that would
otherwise be impossible. Those employees
are not only comfortable with location
intelligence, they also fully expect it
Intelligence reported that 70% of the
largest electric and gas utilities have set
targets equivalent to net zero, or have
announced plans to comply with similarly
aggressive state mandates. Several
plan to reach their goals at least a few,
and in some cases, several years ahead
of their original schedules.
For utilities to successfully achieve
To understand, operate, and optimize
renewable energy assets in a network,
utilities need to collect, analyze, and
derive insights from location data on
a massive scale.
to be part of the technology they use in
their day-to-day workflows. Utilities that
embrace this technology will be able to
take full advantage of the skillsets that
these younger workers bring to the job.
Another catalyst for location intelligence
is the urgency created by external
factors that are placing tremendous
pressure on utilities. Public safety issues
such as massive wildfires are driving the
urgency; so is the aggressive timeline of
many utilities' net-zero goals. Public demand
for renewable energy is another
major factor, as is industry consolidation.
Each of those present operational problems
that utilities are struggling to solve
are much more solvable with a location
intelligence strategy.
Decarbonization Targets
Net-zero initiatives are a great illustration
of the impact of location intelligence.
Utilities are setting ambitious
net-zero goals with aggressive timelines
for decarbonizing their operations.
A recent study by S&P Global Market
14
these decarbonization goals, they need
to effectively use geospatial technology
and data across their organization. Many
net-zero initiatives-including the deployment
of renewable energy assets,
infrastructure upgrades, vehicle fleet
overhauls, the use of environmental Internet
of Things (IoT) sensor networks,
and much more-can only be achieved
on aggressive timelines if utilities have
an effective geospatial system that integrates
across the organization. Planning,
implementing, and measuring
the benefits of those decarbonization
efforts simply are not possible without
analyzing location data from across the
organization and delivering real-time actionable
insights, whether from thermal
or renewable generation.
To understand, operate, and optimize
renewable energy assets in a network,
utilities need to collect, analyze, and
derive insights from location data on a
massive scale. This is because the distributed
nature of renewable energy assets
makes many aspects of renewable
www.powermag.com
reality at the right moment for the utility
industry. This technology, largely hidden
in the geospatial department for the past
couple of decades, is ready for a muchlarger
role. Forward-looking utilities
across the U.S. have already realized that
and taken major steps into the location
intelligence era.
An example is the work that Locana,
a location and mapping technology company,
has done with California utilities.
Groups there are collaborating to use
location intelligence to jointly monitor
and assess wildfire risk, and conduct
mitigation through preventative vegetation
management. This effort combines
location
data from multiple sources,
analyzes the data using sophisticated
AI-driven analytics, and then uses those
insights to guide the work of crews using
mobile devices.
In the Midwest, a utility is using location
intelligence as the foundation for
risk mitigation initiatives for its natural
gas distribution network and other infrastructure.
The group is utilizing a combination
of internal and external location
datasets to create a more comprehensive
and accurate view of risk to protect
the public, and the utility's investments
in infrastructure.
An important step toward a robust
strategy is to give internal and external
location intelligence experts a seat at the
table for any critical initiatives. These experts
bring a perspective that can help
solve problems that may seem unsolvable
and intractable, but that can be
addressed with the kinds of data and
insights offered by location intelligence.
It's also an important step to break down
artificial walls that stand in the way of
broader sharing and use of location data
across an organization, both now and in
the future. ■
-Jaime Crawford is senior vice president
of Strategic Markets for Locana (formerly
Critigen), a location and mapping technology
company whose software products and
services solve infrastructure, sustainability,
business, and social challenges.
POWER | May 2022

http://www.powermag.com

POWER May 2022

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