Utility substations are often left unattended. Both remote and urban facilities typically operate with little or no direct supervision, especially outside of regular working hours. This makes them vulnerable to a range of security, environmental, and performance risks that could lead to damaged equipment, lost revenue, and outages.

As the electric power industry becomes increasingly complex, utilities need greater visibility and control over generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure. When it comes to implementing new technologies, utilities have two primary approaches. Traditionally, utilities have invested significant amounts of resources into on-premises and in-house IT infrastructure, communication networks, hardware, and software.

The utility industry is changing. Emerging trends are combining to put significant pressure on generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure that was not designed or intended to meet current and future challenges. Utilities are responding by modernizing the grid and upgrading equipment, components, and technologies. Shareholder-owned electric utilities in the US are forecasted to spend $159.2 billion in 2023 on capital investments, while Canadian electric companies spent $25.3 billion in 2021.

The electric power utility industry has reached an inflection point. Accelerating trends toward renewable energy, distributed grids, labour shortages, and more frequent and severe weather events are taking a toll on aging infrastructure that was not designed to meet the challenges of the future.

Substations are critical to the reliable operation of the electric grid, providing the interface between transmission and distribution systems to deliver power to customers. Despite their importance, many of these sites are operated remotely and left unattended and undefended for long periods of time. Physical security measures, such as fences, barbed wire, and other barriers provide some level of protection, but substations remain vulnerable to intruders or other malicious actors who can gain access and cause damage without being detected.

The idea of the smart grid has been around for decades, but today, new technologies and solutions are transforming the way that electricity is generated, transmitted, and distributed. The global smart grid technology market is expected to grow from US$50 billion in 2022 to more than US$130 billion by 2028. But even as many utilities have made some level of investment in the smart grid, most are still flying blind when it comes to, analyzing, and utilizing the asset information that has been collected from both manual and automated inspections.

The electric power industry is undergoing a substantial transformation. As renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are playing a larger role in the overall energy mix, aging infrastructure and a rise in the number of damaging weather events are pressuring utilities to modernize equipment, improve resiliency, and optimize performance.

Ozarks Electric Cooperative is a non-profit, member-owned cooperative that provides power to more than 86,000 customers in Northwest Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma. The cooperative operates a 69kV loop that connects distribution stations. Motor-operated switches allow the loop to be reconfigured to connect to different sources, respond to load problems, or restore power after outages.

The oil & gas industry contributes a significant share of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Much of these emissions are in the form of methane, a highly potent but short-lived GHG that is responsible for as much as 30 percent of the rise in global temperatures.

The oil & gas industry faces increasing public, investor, and regulatory pressure to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improve workplace safety, and mitigate the environmental impact of activities across the production process.