EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
“ One of the biggest things for us is driving resiliency, enhancement and flexibility within the current grid system”
PHILIPPE ARSONNEAU, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE SEGMENT, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
How can digital technologies help overcome the challenges of integrating variable renewable energy sources into existing power grids? One of the key fundamental things that we need to manage and drive today is visibility within the grid.
Applying digital technologies is the first step for making the grid much smarter and more resilient to natural disasters.
For example, on a hot day in California, everyone turns their air conditioning on. Then, all of a sudden, the power goes off – then we start to have blackouts and the like. Being able to use digital and software applications like DERMS means we are able to deviate power or be predictive in our demand response. This means we’ re making traditional infrastructure much smarter as well as building out for the future.
Everyone talks about AI. It’ s not just about the boom of data centres and the
enormous power it’ s needed, there’ s a big connection between the grid and AI when it comes to predictive analytics.
At Schneider Electric, we have AI-powered tools like EcoStruxure where we can provide data in real time for monitoring, forecasting and obviously grid optimisation.
What specific upgrades or innovations does Schneider Electric recommend to increase network output and efficiency while connecting more renewables to the grid? DERMS – distributed energy resource management – is a big topic. With solar farms, wind farms, microgrids, there are many applications there. With Schneider, our EcoStruxure DERMS allows for the effective management of all these distributed energy resources while also providing virtual substation technology.
78 April 2025