Industry Insights

Shining a Light on the Grid Edge: the Evolution of Distributed Energy Management

February 22, 2024

During recent industry events Itron has attended across the globe, I noticed a shift. In years past, most folks who came by the Distributed Energy Management (DEM) booth were simply walking by or lightly curious. Many of them struggled to make the leap between understanding Itron as an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) vendor and a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) vendor. Now, conversations with our utility customers around DERMS are noticeably more serious and urgent.

I’d like to think the uptick in interest in what Itron is doing in the DERMS space is entirely related to the DEM project team’s recent efforts to frame our solutions in ways that are more accessible to the larger utility audience. However, when I think about it, it’s much more likely that the continued proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) and distributed energy resources (DERs) – and the challenges that unmanaged DERs represent to the grid – is now top-of-mind for most utilities, and DERMS solution are an integral part of their strategies moving forward.

While there are many valuable takeaways about the evolving DEM space from conversations at recent events in addition to continued feedback from our customers and extensive industry research, one thing remains clear: many utilities have characterized the Grid Edge as ‘dark’ and urgently need to redefine management at the Grid Edge – from the substation all the way to the customer’s living room. This challenge is exactly what Itron’s DEM team can help our customers solve.

At Itron, we are laser focused on shining a light on what used to be the darkness of the Grid Edge. We have the tools, products and overarching solutions to help our customers plan for the energy transition, gain visibility into the DERs that are coming online and effectively manage those resources. Utilities and cities are already investing in new meters and networks to communicate, and Itron can help leverage these investments and assets to more effectively accelerate our customers decarbonization goals.

Itron’s position as one of the leading providers of Grid Edge Intelligence solutions, enabled by distributed intelligence, is now resonating more than ever in the DERMS context as utilities begin to realize and embrace the fact that grid-edge challenges are most naturally and efficiently solved at the Grid Edge itself. If we can leverage existing infrastructure to manage the load, we can improve grid operations and reduce operating costs. In turn, understanding Itron as both an AMI vendor and DERMS vendor no longer seems surprising, but rather obvious. Itron knows utilities – our experience in this space spans over 40 years. The breadth of our technology makes us uniquely qualified to empower utilities with visibility at the grid edge.

I look forward to continuing the conversation about Itron’s DERMS and Grid Edge Intelligence capabilities during DISTRIBUTECH 2024 from Feb. 27-29 in Orlando, Florida. Connect with Itron in booth #2200 to learn how your utility can enhance Grid Edge visibility and control while ensuring reliability, enhancing customer engagement and automating real-time operations.

By Nick Tumilowicz

Director of Product Management, Distributed Energy Management Solutions

Team leader, strategist, and recognized expert in DER management, including solar, storage, and EV technology leveraging decades of unique industry experience to advance global markets toward a clean energy future. Building on a progressive career arc from a mechanical engineering, to renewable energy resource deployments, to global product portfolio management. This professional breadth supports a specialized talent for big-picture visioning, whole-system strategies, and cross-discipline solutions for increasing the scale of renewable energy’s positive impact on business and society.

In his current capacity as Itron’s Director of Product Management, Nick leads the Distributed Energy Management business unit, accountable for global product development of demand response and DER solutions enabling access to flexible customer energy resources. Prior to joining Itron, Tumilowicz led global research and development at EPRI, accountable for transmission, distribution, and customer-connected energy storage research. As Director of Product Management at SunEdison, led the world’s largest managed renewable power plant fleet across six continents, managing data acquisition, and control platform, operating a fleet of over 4 GW of renewable generation assets. Earlier in his career, Tumilowicz built and managed the service department at the nation’s leading renewable integrator, REC Solar (now Sunrun and Duke Energy), designing and deploying the country’s first commercial fleet of rooftop solar.

Nick is an industry leader having held a variety of positions on advisory councils: Department of Energy (NREL, Building Technologies Office, Solar Energy Technologies Office), General Services Administration, California Energy Commission, GridFWD Leadership Committee, Incubate Energy Labs, Saudi Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnecting Authority.