Digital Digest: Monthly Digest of Insights Shared by Your Peers in the Energy Central Intelligent Utility Network – February 19, 2021

Welcome to the Intelligent Utility Network roundup, Digital Digest. As always, your fellow group members are paying close attention to digital utility and mobile workforce trends and sharing their insights. This month’s selection includes information about advanced cybersecurity, developments in asset intelligence, and more. Be sure to like and comment on your favorite posts. Happy reading!

Local Energy Flexibility Markets (Parts 1 and 2)

Stuart McCafferty

Link to original article: (Part 1) https://energycentral.com/o/GridIntellect/local-energy-flexibility-markets-hidden-key-solving-energy-transformation (Part 2) https://energycentral.com/o/GridIntellect/local-energy-flexibility-markets-part-2-could-they-help-black-swan-weather

In this two-part article, Stuart McCafferty, President at GridIntellect, and his coauthors point out that, though we have a nearly “perfect storm” for rapid change and dramatic climate-friendly energy solutions, we also have major challenges, including no exact blueprint for a clean distributed energy business model. In Part 1, the authors explain the specifics of these challenges and propose the concept of local flexibility markets as a better way forward. In Part 2, they explore whether local flexibility markets could help with black swan weather rolling outage grid events such as those seen across the U.S. this month.

Don’t Want Another Sunburst? Start Thinking Like Your Adversaries

Andy Bochman

Link to original article: https://energycentral.com/o/idaho-national-labs/don%E2%80%99t-want-another-sunburst-start-thinking-your-adversaries-0

As companies depend more on their electronic assets, cybersecurity becomes increasingly critical. Here, Andy Bochman, Senior Grid Strategist at Idaho National Laboratory offers questions to consider for utilities that want to do better at keeping their most essential networks, systems, and data secure. For example, which assets matter most, what are the pathways to them, who is involved with them, and how much can potential hackers learn about them from public sources?

A New Paradigm: OT Security and Data in the Cloud

Brian Romansky

Link to original article: https://energycentral.com/c/iu/new-paradigm-ot-security-and-data-cloud

Brian Romansky, Chief Innovation Officer at Owl Cyber Defense explains in this post that utilities have been slow to adopt advanced analytics and optimization algorithms that run on cloud services. But he points out that as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and offerings of cloud providers evolve, the case for sending OT data to a network is becoming more compelling. He notes that hardware-enforced security is the answer because it allows data to travel out to the cloud, without providing a path back inside. This item is part of Energy Central’s 2021-01 State of the Industry special issue.

Predictions: Asset Intelligence a Focus in 2021

Mark Damm

Link to original article: https://energycentral.com/c/iu/predictions-asset-intelligence-focus-2021

In a recent study, Capgemini found that the utility sector has underestimated the true potential of digital transformation initiatives. In this piece, Mark Damm, Founder and CEO at FuseForward discusses this finding and predicts that utilities will continue to make considerable progress toward digital transformation in the coming months. He identifies three key areas that will serve as a foundation for it: tackling data silos, enhancing EAM systems, and cybersecurity. This item is part of Energy Central’s 2021-01 State of the Industry special issue.

Thanks again for reading this edition of Digital Digest! The authors listed above are eager to hear your thoughts and questions, so don’t hesitate to engage them. And if you want your content to be featured in this spot in future issues, be sure to publish your posts within the Digital Utility or Mobile Workforce Community.

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