In an era where extreme weather events are growing more frequent and severe, the resilience of our power grid is more critical than ever. Utilities face mounting pressure to minimize disruptions, restore service faster, and enhance the reliability of their operations—all while navigating a rapidly evolving technological landscape. To tackle these challenges head-on, innovative leaders are integrating cutting-edge technologies like IoT and AI to transform how the grid operates.
In this exclusive Energy Central Interview, we had the pleasure to sit down with Kiran Yeddala, founder and CEO of N-Smart, a company at the forefront of modernizing grid resilience. With a background that spans telecommunications, technology innovation, and entrepreneurship, Kiran shares how personal experiences and professional insights led to the creation of N-Smart.
During the course of this conversation, we explore how N-Smart is leveraging real-time data and AI-driven analytics to empower utilities, enhance safety, and reduce restoration times. Read on to dive into the challenges facing today’s utilities, the blind spots many leaders overlook, and the transformative solutions that are shaping the next generation of grid reliability.
Matt Chester: Can you give me a bit of background on who you are and how you got involved in the power sector, specifically in the world of grid resilience?
Kiran Yeddala: My story is deeply tied to the pursuit of the American dream as an immigrant. Before founding N-Smart, I spent over a decade leading technology development at communication service operators, earning 12 approved patents. I later founded Nivid Technologies, scaling it to provide wireless infrastructure services to large enterprises in more than 100 countries.
A pivotal moment came during the COVID pandemic when I moved from a neighborhood with underground power lines to one with overhead lines. A severe storm hit, and the power went out, disrupting everything from my work to basic daily routines. It wasn’t just a matter of inconvenience—it revealed a broader vulnerability in our grid infrastructure. This experience sparked a mission to address a critical question: How do we build a resilient power grid that can minimize disruptions and ensure continuity for both communities and businesses?
Adding to this urgency is the growing impact of climate change. The frequency and severity of extreme weather events are increasing, causing more disruptions to the power supply. In fact, weather-related incidents account for 68% of major disruptions. Most of us on this call can relate to the challenges caused by such events, like the storm in August.
Through extensive research and conversations with utilities, we uncovered the profound impact of outages—not just in terms of inconvenience, but in lost economic productivity, safety risks, and the toll on communities. This understanding became the foundation of N-Smart. Established in 2022, we are driven by the belief that modern technology—specifically IoT and AI—can do more than just manage outages; it can prevent them, protect communities, and drive economic resilience. N-Smart was created to bring that vision to life, transforming how utilities respond to and recover from disruptions.
MC: What challenges in outage management or grid resiliency do you see as the most pressing today, and how has your team sought to use innovation to approach these challenges?
KY: The challenges in outage management and grid resiliency are significant and multifaceted. For utility leaders, the process typically involves three critical steps: assessing damage, mobilizing the right resources in the correct numbers, and ensuring the necessary materials are available to restore service.
Currently, when an outage management system (OMS) receives an alert, the first response is to dispatch the most qualified crew available. However, once on site, crews often face unexpected issues. For example, they might find a downed pole requiring a replacement they don’t have or discover that the tools they carry are either unavailable or out of calibration. These inefficiencies can lead to safety risks, delays, and costly operational disruptions. Furthermore, uncertainties around material consumption and availability add to the complexity.
We’ve seen these challenges firsthand in large-scale events like the recent storm in Houston, where extended outages drew significant media attention to logistical bottlenecks and gaps in information flow. Major outages require the rapid mobilization of linemen, trucks, and supplies. Without real-time IoT data on outage locations and damage severity combined with AI-driven analytics, prioritizing and dispatching crews effectively becomes a daunting task. This often results in longer restoration times, higher costs, and frustration for both utilities and their customers.
At N-Smart, we’ve developed a technology-driven solution to address these pain points. Our IoT-enabled sensors provide real-time visibility into the extent of damage, such as the number and location of downed poles. This data, combined with AI-driven analytics, enables utilities to assess damage severity remotely and generate actionable insights, such as identifying the specific resources and crew needed for each job.
By integrating IoT and AI, N-Smart empowers utilities to achieve a first-roll resolution, reducing restoration times and operational costs while significantly improving safety and efficiency. This isn’t just about addressing logistical challenges; it’s about empowering utilities to transform their operations and build a smarter, more resilient grid.
MC: With IoT and AI being key technologies these days, can you describe the role of real-time data in supporting operational safety and decision-making and how those modern technologies come into play?
KY: Real-time data plays a pivotal role in both operational safety and decision-making, especially in the context of major outages and overall grid resiliency. Knowing the physical status of grid infrastructure in real-time is critical for forming an effective restoration strategy.
During major outages, N-Smart's pole sensors provide detailed, real-time outage information, offering instant visibility into the scope of the problem. AI processes this data to assess the severity of damage, prioritize affected areas, and recommend the optimal allocation of crews, equipment, and materials. By automating this decision-making process, utilities can act faster and more effectively, minimizing restoration times and operational costs.
Looking ahead, real-time data is reshaping the future of grid resilience. N-Smart's solutions extend beyond storm scenarios to everyday operations, what we call 'Blue Sky' scenarios. By combining IoT and AI, we enable utilities to optimize dispatch, support predictive maintenance, and enhance asset and vegetation management. These capabilities prevent failures before they occur, improve grid reliability, and reduce maintenance costs while ensuring efficient resource deployment.
MC: You've implemented these types of solutions for major utility partners. Can you walk us through that as a case study-- how did the engagement start, what problem were they trying to solve, how did you collaborate on the solutions, and what has been the impact to date?
KY: Our journey at N-Smart began with a deep commitment to understanding customer pain points through an extensive discovery process. One of our earliest collaborations was with the innovation team at an operating company of the largest utility in the U.S. What sets N-Smart apart is that every solution we’ve designed stems directly from customer problem statements, not from a sudden 'eureka' moment.
During this engagement, the utility presented a unique challenge: tracking the calibration status and availability of tools in their service trucks. Tool calibration dates were often overlooked because they were only indicated on stickers, leading to safety risks and operational inefficiencies. Additionally, 15% of their tool budget was written off annually due to lost or missing tools.
To address this, we developed a proof of concept focused on real-time tool tracking, which evolved into a successful pilot project. This pilot uncovered a broader opportunity to improve job efficiency. We discovered that crews often arrived at job sites without the necessary or calibrated tools, resulting in additional trips or the need to dispatch support crews. By providing real-time visibility into tool availability and readiness, we enabled utilities to ensure crews were fully prepared before deployment, reducing delays and operational costs.
Through a cost-benefit analysis conducted with the customer, we determined that the solution not only avoids the majority of the 15% write-offs due to lost or missing tools but also reduces inefficient job rolls, saving approximately $5,500 per truck annually. These tangible savings demonstrate the significant financial and operational impact of addressing such inefficiencies. This led us to the next critical challenge: material and inventory management. In emergency situations, knowing the status of critical supplies is paramount. Utilities often faced situations where a critical part was either depleted without anyone noticing or logged inaccurately in the system, leading to hours of searching across massive warehouses and yards. To solve this, we integrated smart inventory technologies, creating another pilot opportunity that demonstrated measurable improvements.
As we delved deeper into these challenges, we asked ourselves a fundamental question: What is the ultimate goal for utility service operations? The answer was clear—improving service restoration times. Achieving this requires addressing three key elements:
- Knowing the exact location and cause of an outage.
- Deploying the right type and number of crews.
- Ensuring crew readiness with the necessary tools and materials.
We had already tackled the second and third elements, so we turned our focus to outage detection and identification. In a discussion with a Director of Operations, he shared how he manually monitored poles during his commute and reported issues he noticed. This inspired the idea of remote pole monitoring.
Today, N-Smart connects all these elements into a single dashboard. Utilities can identify the cause of an outage—whether it’s a downed pole or equipment failure—determine the nearest crew to dispatch, verify their tool readiness and safety, and provide them with details on required materials and their exact pickup locations. This seamless integration eliminates the manual methods of data collection, drastically improving efficiency and accelerating service restoration.
With an ultimate goal of improving grid resiliency, N-Smart also helps utilities enhance critical reliability metrics like CAIDI and SAIFI. Our cost analysis, based on the 2022 U.S. CAIDI and SAIFI averages, indicates that utilities can save over $1 million for every minute of avoided restoration costs. This is a massive opportunity for utilities to simultaneously enhance service reliability, reduce operational costs, and improve customer satisfaction.
What makes N-Smart unique is that every solution we’ve designed stems directly from customer problem statements, not from a sudden 'eureka' moment. By listening closely to our customers and addressing their specific pain points, we’ve developed a suite of technologies that transform utility operations and deliver real-world impact.
MC: Given your experience with the utility sector, what do you think are the blind spots that utility leaders may be overlooking-- whether the problems themselves or the opportunities for solving them that they are missing?
KY: In my experience working with utilities, one of the biggest blind spots is underestimating the importance of real-time, actionable data in optimizing operations. Many utilities still rely on manual processes or outdated systems to track tools, materials, and outage locations. While these methods may have served them in the past, they can no longer keep pace with the increasing demands of grid reliability and resilience, especially as the impacts of climate change intensify.
Another overlooked area is the integration of siloed processes. For example, tool tracking, material management, and outage detection are often treated as separate challenges, even though they are deeply interconnected when it comes to improving operational efficiency and restoration times. Without a unified approach, utilities miss opportunities to streamline workflows, reduce redundancies, and enhance decision-making.
Furthermore, there’s often a focus on addressing immediate issues rather than investing in solutions that deliver long-term resilience and cost savings. For instance, while utilities may allocate significant resources to storm response, they sometimes overlook technologies like remote pole monitoring, which can provide continuous infrastructure visibility and prevent outages before they occur.
N-Smart was built to address these blind spots. By combining IoT, AI, and smart inventory management into a single dashboard, we empower utilities to proactively manage their grid. We focus on bridging the gap between real-time data and actionable insights, enabling utilities to:
- Detect outages faster and with more accuracy.
- Dispatch crews with the right tools and materials.
- Reduce operational costs and improve metrics like CAIDI and SAIFI.
Our solutions have shown that taking a holistic, integrated approach doesn’t just improve efficiency, it fundamentally changes how utilities operate. Leaders who embrace this approach can stay ahead of emerging challenges while delivering better service and reliability to their customers.
My advice to utility leaders is to think beyond immediate fixes. Invest in scalable technologies that unify operations, provide actionable insights, and future-proof your grid. By addressing these blind spots, utilities can lead the way in operational efficiency and reliability, setting a benchmark for others in the industry.
MC: I understand you'll be sharing your insights on many of these topics at some conferences in 2025 that our community members may be fortunate enough to attend. Can you give us a preview of what those events are and how you and your team will be trying to share your insights at those events?
KY: We’re excited to share our insights and showcase our solutions at two key industry events in 2025. In January, we’ll be presenting at the IEEE PES Grid Edge Technologies Conference, where we’ll focus on the transformative potential of grid-edge intelligence. This will be an excellent opportunity to engage with utility leaders and demonstrate how digitization and real-time data can redefine grid operations.
In March, we’ll be attending Distributech International 2025, one of the industry’s premier events. There, we’ll showcase our solutions in action, including how N-Smart integrates IoT, AI, and grid-edge technologies to drive efficiency, resilience, and cost savings. Attendees will get a firsthand look at how our platform unifies outage detection, crew readiness, and material management to accelerate service restoration and improve operational performance.
Both events provide a platform to not only present our solutions but also engage in meaningful discussions with utility leaders about the future of grid modernization. We invite utility leaders and industry professionals to join us at these events to witness firsthand how our solutions can transform grid operations.
MC: For a utility leader reading this, if you had one piece of advice for them to get started what would it be?
KY: My advice would be this: embrace innovation to future-proof your operations. The challenges we face in the energy sector—whether it’s extreme weather events, aging infrastructure, or increasing customer expectations—require solutions that go beyond traditional approaches. We recommend starting small but strategically, keeping scalability as the ultimate goal. While embracing innovation, many projects tend to get stuck in 'pilot purgatory,' where solutions are tested but fail to transition into full-scale implementations. This often happens because pilots are not designed with a clear roadmap for broader adoption.
At N-Smart, we approach every project using our Innovation Trifecta Framework to ensure pilots not only deliver results but also pave the way for long-term success. The framework is built around three key pillars:
- Desirability (Why): We begin by deeply understanding the problem and validating the utility’s desire to solve it. This ensures that the solution addresses a real and pressing challenge.
- Feasibility (How): Next, we focus on aligning the solution with the specific problem statement and ensuring that the desired business outcomes are technically achievable and measurable.
- Viability (What): Finally, we develop a roadmap for scaling the solution. This includes conducting a thorough cost-benefit analysis to confirm that the solution is economically scalable and sustainable.
By following this structured approach, utilities can avoid the pitfalls of pilot purgatory and ensure that innovation leads to actionable, scalable outcomes. For example, when deploying N-Smart solutions, we don’t just test the technology—we also measure its impact on key metrics like CAIDI and SAIFI while ensuring it integrates seamlessly into the utility’s operations.
The key is to think beyond the pilot phase and approach every project with a vision for scalability. Innovation isn’t just about solving immediate problems, it’s about building a foundation for long-term transformation, reducing operational costs, enhancing safety, and ultimately improving grid resiliency. By leveraging the Innovation Trifecta Framework, utilities not only address immediate challenges but also position themselves as leaders in grid modernization and resilience."