“Global electricity demand is expected to rise at a faster rate over the next three years, growing by an average of 3.4% annually through 2026.” (IEA 2024)
With this unprecedented level of demand comes an urgent need for near-term flexibility partnerships, medium-term grid expansion strategies, and long-term commitment to infrastructure investment levels that will fully support the energy transition.
But whilst the demand levels, the technology choices, and the workforce capability required to deliver are clear, the optimisation strategies to ensure a healthy ROI that will sustain current power grid organisational structures remains elusive!
That is why at SGT25 we have dedicated a significant proportion of the conference programme to grid asset management strategies and tactics. Both during the strategic plenary sessions and the technical case-study programme, we will address the top-of-mind issues European utilities must tackle today to ensure energy security tomorrow.
Just some of the issues that will be addressed during the Grid Asset Management track of the conference include:
✅ DER Integration – determining the rate of renewables integration across Europe and creating a technology adaption roadmap that supports a flexible, responsive, and efficient grid capable of maintaining reliability and power quality
✅ EV Charging – employing data interoperability to manage the impact of increased load and peak demand, power quality, grid reliability and data management as the number of EVs connecting to the grid surge
✅ Cybersecurity – maintaining oversight and control over vendor security practices and ensuring that all third-party components meet stringent security standards when dealing with a diverse supply chain
✅ Flexibility Agreements – establishing a comprehensive, collaborative approach to the adoption of advanced technologies and innovative market mechanisms to ensure the successful integration of flexibility into the power grid
✅ Regulatory Compliance – implementing real-time monitoring, reporting, and documentation to ensure a more proactive, comprehensive and effective approach to regulatory compliance in an increasingly complex power grid environment
✅ Risk Management - navigating the complex and evolving regulatory landscape in geopolitically challenging times to ensure effective cyber risk management across the power grid infrastructure
✅ Long Term Investment Planning - managing the complexity and uncertainty of future scenarios alongside the varied life span and interdependencies of next generation grid technology when forecasting long term investment requirements
✅ Condition based Maintenance – ensuring the accuracy of condition assessments and developing effective predictive models by leveraging IT/OT convergence to support the maintenance needs of aging infrastructure
✅ Predictive Maintenance – implementing advanced data management and analytics procedures to ensure the reliability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of maintenance regimes in the power grid
✅ Asset Lifecycle Optimization – maximising efficiency, reliability and sustainability in the planning and design, procurement and installation, operation and maintenance and end of life management of legacy and new grid assets to minimise costs and environmental impact
✅ Asset Health and Performance Management – establishing a framework for the continuous monitoring, analysis, and proactive management of grid assets, leveraging advanced technologies and data-driven insights
✅ Digital Asset Management – driving data-driven insights and strategic decision making through the integration of sophisticated next generation DAMs as the power grid increases in complexity and the need for reliability
✅ Platform Integration - achieving seamless communication and data exchange between DAM systems and other OT and IT systems in the grid as data volumes and variety increases exponentially with the increase in renewables
✅ Facilitating Collaboration – leveraging the centralized data repository, enabling real-time collaboration, improving workflow management, to enhance stakeholder engagement and supporting training and knowledge sharing between internal and external stakeholders
✅ Process Automation – identifying and prioritizing manual asset management processes that could be automated to operational and cost efficiency and reduce the weight of reliance on the workforce
✅ AI&ML - revolutionizing asset management processes by enabling predictive maintenance, enhancing grid reliability, optimizing data integration and analysis, renewables integration, improved cybersecurity, and increased operational efficiency
✅ Digital Twins – overcoming the data integration and cybersecurity challenges as well as the significant upfront investment required in technology and infrastructure to drive the reliability, efficiency and cost-efficiency of digital twins as a valuable tool for power grid asset management
✅ IoT Sensors – making the business case for maximising use of IoT sensors to enable real-time visibility, predictive capability, and data-driven decision making across the entire grid
✅ Supplier Frame Agreements – navigating complex legal and regulatory requirements, managing diverse supplier capabilities, ensuring alignment with strategic goals, to create supplier frame agreements that effectively leverage technical expertise whilst retaining utility control over costs
✅ Contractors – overcoming the challenges related to knowledge transfer, coordination and oversight, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance related to utilizing contractors to take full advantage of the resource flexibility it offers in the absence of a full internal workforce
There is more, much more! A multi-level multi-track programme means that you will benefit from the senior management big picture discussions on day one, the technically in-depth case-studies on days two and three, as well as the
Download the International Energy Agency’s Electricity Analysis & Forecast to 2026 Report here.
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