GE Digital’s new ‘flexible’ grid solution

GE Digital said its new Grid OS software portfolio is designed to help utilities integrate clean energy more efficiently and reliably.

Designed to modernize and transform the electric grid into the clean energy grid of the future, GridOS is a platform and application suite enabling secure and reliable grid management while delivering the resiliency and flexibility needed by utilities worldwide. The company calls it the world’s first software portfolio designed for grid orchestration that aligns grid management technology end-to-end, enabling more secure, integrated, and flexible grid operations.

The company said new software tools are needed to meet the demands created by increasing grid complexity and to achieve reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy globally. GridOS is designed to offer these tools with the cloud service provider and system integrator partner ecosystem necessary to accelerate grid modernization and the clean energy transition.

“Electric grids worldwide have grown immensely complex in recent years, and as complexity has increased so have reliability risks,” said Mahesh Sudhakaran, general manager for Grid Software at GE Digital. “Given the crucial role that grid modernization plays in the energy transition, we need advanced software solutions designed for grid orchestration to move faster and address risks to avoid becoming a bottleneck for the clean energy future.”

The GridOS platform and application suite supports GE Digital’s current grid operations portfolio that includes electric grid GIS for modeling, mapping and design, AEMS for transmission and market management operations, ADMS for distribution network operations, and DERMs forecasting and management.

“Software is a critical component of energy transition,” said Craig Dyke, head of National Control, National Grid ESO. “As part of the ESO’s ambition to operate the national electricity network at zero-carbon by 2025, we have engaged innovative partners to advance available technologies. Solutions like these represent the evolution of software that is critical to accelerating energy transition on the electricity grid.”

Developing a new orchestration software portfolio for the clean energy grid

GridOS integrates energy data, network modeling, and AI/ML-driven analytics to power a suite of intelligent applications developed by GE, utilities, and GridOS partners.

The GridOS orchestration platform includes:

Zero Trust grid security model applied throughout the platform to protect resources from inside and outside threats

Federated grid data fabric with a common transmission and distribution model to enable a grid digital twin

A suite of intelligent grid applications that evolve and modernize the grid control room for proactive and automated grid management​

A hybrid cloud architecture to deploy and scale applications where they are needed – on-site or in a hybrid environment

GE Digital said it is bringing together a new partner ecosystem of leaders in cloud computing and system integration to focus on grid orchestration. The partner ecosystem will accelerate future development of new applications for GridOS, solving mission-critical use cases for utilities at the speed needed to enable the future clean energy grid.

GridOS key partners include leading cloud provider AWS and global system integrators (SIs) Accenture, Infosys and others, each bringing unique strengths to the table, the company said. Cloud partners will enable pathways to grid flexibility and innovation scale, while system integrators are able to accelerate the delivery of new capabilities and the business shifts needed for the clean energy grid transition. Coupled with GE Digital’s services and software, the partnership ecosystem builds on the resources of these global industry leaders to help utilities optimize performance and prioritize the acceleration of reliable and secure grid modernization projects. ​

“Access to cloud computing gives utilities the flexibility to deploy energy on-demand where and when it’s needed,” said Matthew Green, SVP, Chief Information & Digital Officer, PPL Corporation. “And having the support of partners who can help utilities like ours deploy cloud and other grid modernization initiatives is really key to continuing to deliver energy on a reliable and secure grid.”