Dan's Biz Bookshelf: 'Move Your Bus'
Driving Innovation: Direct Imaging vs. Conventional Exposure
It’s Only Common Sense: Selling to Today's Generation of Buyers
Being Smart About the Smart Grid
November 1, 2018 | Cornell UniversityEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
A smart grid—a network using two-way digital communications to monitor and react to energy-usage changes—generates a vast amount of data.
Now, utilities are exploring ways to use this data to drive the energy industry forward, according to Drury Mackenzie, smart grid and innovation lead for Avangrid, the parent company of NYSEG and other utilities.
On Oct. 15, as part of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise’s weekly speaker series, Mackenzie discussed her work with smart grid technologies in New York state.
First implemented at the start of the decade, smart meters in homes and businesses relay information to help suppliers better understand fluctuations in energy needs to send the right amount of energy to the right places at the right time. About 50 percent of Americans have smart meters, Mackenzie said.
Mackenzie said the industry is attempting to make the most of the data generated by smart grids by creating data-driven initiatives (usually in the form of rate incentives) that encourage new energy habits.
For example, some utilities are implementing time-of-use rates, in which data about peak energy usage times are analyzed so utilities can charge different prices for energy depending on the time of day. This encourages customers to stagger their energy use so utilities don’t have to engage as many power plants at peak times, shrinking their carbon footprint.
Time-of-use rates will soon be the default pricing system for energy in California. “New York is definitely not there yet,” Mackenzie said. For the average user, a time-of-use rate system potentially means higher prices, and such systems are difficult for a utility or a regulator to implement because “no one wants to be the bad guy,” Mackenzie said.
Another option for using smart meter data for positive change is analyzing it internally to help the company offer personalized energy solutions (for example, Avangrid has “created profile clusters to show which customers need energy efficiency”), to sell it to third parties or to give it directly to customers.
Decisions made about the use of this new data will have long-lasting effects on utilities such as Avangrid, Mackenzie said: “There’s just been so much transformation, even in the past two years, of the data utilities have, how it can be shared, and how it can be used effectively.”
The Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise’s weekly speaker series is held Mondays at 6p.m. in Sage Hall, Room B08.
Paul Russell '19 is a writer for the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Specially Developed for Laser Plastic Welding from LPKF
06/25/2025 | LPKFLPKF introduces TherMoPro, a thermographic analysis system specifically developed for laser plastic welding that transforms thermal data into concrete actionable insights. Through automated capture, evaluation, and interpretation of surface temperature patterns immediately after welding, the system provides unprecedented process transparency that correlates with product joining quality and long-term product stability.
Smart Automation: The Power of Data Integration in Electronics Manufacturing
06/24/2025 | Josh Casper -- Column: Smart AutomationAs EMS companies adopt automation, machine data collection and integration are among the biggest challenges. It’s now commonplace for equipment to collect and output vast amounts of data, sometimes more than a manufacturer knows what to do with. While many OEM equipment vendors offer full-line solutions, most EMS companies still take a vendor-agnostic approach, selecting the equipment companies that best serve their needs rather than a single-vendor solution.
Keysight, NTT, and NTT Innovative Devices Achieve 280 Gbps World Record Data Rate with Sub-Terahertz for 6G
06/17/2025 | Keysight TechnologiesKeysight Technologies, Inc. in collaboration with NTT Corporation and NTT Innovative Devices Corporation (NTT Innovative Devices), today announced a groundbreaking world record in data rate achieved using sub-THz frequencies.
Priority Software Announces the New, Game-Changing aiERP
06/12/2025 | Priority SoftwarePriority Software Ltd., a leading global provider of ERP and business management software announces its revolutionary aiERP, leveraging the power of AI to transform business operations.
Breaking Silos with Intelligence: Connectivity of Component-level Data Across the SMT Line
06/09/2025 | Dr. Eyal Weiss, CybordAs the complexity and demands of electronics manufacturing continue to rise, the smart factory is no longer a distant vision; it has become a necessity. While machine connectivity and line-level data integration have gained traction in recent years, one of the most overlooked opportunities lies in the component itself. Specifically, in the data captured just milliseconds before a component is placed onto the PCB, which often goes unexamined and is permanently lost once reflow begins.