Neara

“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” Equipment repair and replacement often cues complaints about escalating expenses. But if you don’t do it? Even harsher criticism awaits, plus fines that dwarf the repair expenses. For too long, utilities have been subject to excessive red tape that restricts them from moving at the pace needed to meaningfully reduce outage and safety risks. How do you break the cycle? Prove it. Demonstrate what could happen if you *don’t* do what you’re suggesting. There’s a good reason Neara’s reports are finding their way into PUC meetings across the country.

There are many ways to strengthen grid infrastructure. The most critical and often most underrated? Improving data quality. We’re excited to announce our partnership with Osmose to help utilities like CenterPoint Energy prioritize asset upgrades with greater precision and efficiency. Combining our AI-driven modeling with Osmose’s field assessments enables utilities to determine which assets need replacement and which simply merit reinforcement or upgrades, eliminating costly guesswork. Come see us at DISTRIBUTECH next week to learn more (booth 6612).

Nimbyism or Net Zero? Our Europe MD, Taco Engelaar digs into the debate for New Civil Engineer this week. In the UK, conversations about the government's approach to much-needed infrastructure upgrades are dominated by this binary choice. But the reality is so much more nuanced. The truth is, the public shouldn't have to shoulder every sacrifice required to reach Net Zero ambitions. Technology like AI and digital modelling can help utilities reduce the need for new pylons and cool tensions between leaders and communities. In this piece, Taco explores how smarter planning and clearer communication can ease the UK's pylon pain and reduce the pushback against new projects.

What can go wrong when you combine aging infrastructure + severe weather + skyrocketing electricity demand? A lot. Whatever the blame gets pinned on today in any given situation — unruly vegetation, an overloaded pole, a sagging conductor — doesn't mean you have yourself a predictable culprit for next time. And, however you choose to prevent similar situations going forward — reconductoring, enhanced vegetation, substation elevation — no single approach has you covered as long as it's executed in a vacuum. The biggest problem you have is your own siloes. Siloed programs force utilities to spend $1 on a single risk mitigation effort rather than using that same $1 to solve five related risks at once. As our Senior VP and Managing Director Robert B. notes in Utility Dive, utilities need to “proactively assess more variables than a human can assimilate.” Getting ahead of risk requires understanding the relationship between different contributors such as vegetation, equipment, and design and layering on real-time monitoring and response capabilities. This is where predictive modeling technology excels in ways that traditional tooling and manual approaches cannot. Thanks to Herman Trabish for this insightful take on the many roles AI can and should play in securing a safer, more reliable energy future. https://lnkd.in/ex6JfDfv

Obvious: things are getting harder for utilities. Less obvious: Consumers are only growing more demanding, not forgiving. A third of Americans expect power restoration within 1-2 hours following a severe storm with another third expecting the lights back on within 3-5 hours. And it’s not just the US…. In the UK, Ofgem cites 12-24 hours as an acceptable timeframe, yet Brits’ patience wears out in about half the time. On top of that, traditional metrics like SAIDI/SAIFI don’t tell the full story, which means utilities and policymakers have a tall order ahead and need the right technology partners to help close the gap between expectation and reality.

Bad news: One of our recent consumer polls showed that 48% of Americans reported experiencing more power outages in the last five years despite billions of dollars of grid investment Good news: AI is emerging as the ultimate score-keeper in ensuring that resiliency investments directly and demonstrably drive fewer and less severe power outages.

“Hair-raising.” — how one Engineering Director described learning that 1 in every 15 of their poles were either incorrectly documented or missing entirely from their GIS. Best-case = everyday scenarios are extremely inefficient. Think field crews going out to perform maintenance at the wrong location and wondering if it’s the pole they are looking at that needs treatment or the one 500 feet away. Worst-case = you’re on borrowed time in an emergency and can’t figure out where you need to send teams or which locations they can access. Within weeks, Neara’s model facilitated thousands of asset mapping corrections and is keeping all of their asset data in tip-top shape so every field team and decision-maker has accurate information at their fingertips for everyday and emergency scenarios.

Resiliency planning is a top priority for many utilities, but executing those plans often presents real challenges. From data quality to field operations, utilities must overcome unique obstacles to strengthen their networks. What’s the biggest challenge for your team? Vote below and share your thoughts! ⬇️

Resiliency planning is becoming a no-brainer in many parts of the country — but the devil is in the details. How do you solve data quality challenges, justify the spend you’re asking for, and tie your initiatives to improved customer outcomes? Join us for our first Neara Lab live event, where we will tackle this topic and more!  On Tuesday, March 11, Mary Moravec and Jordan Miller will discuss resiliency planning and how technology can help you identify risks, improve data quality, and justify spending. Link to register in the comments 👇 .