Sacramento Metropolitan Utility District (SMUD), NEC Corporation and Space-Time Insight, Inc. (STI) announced they have entered into an agreement to collaborate on technology and business model innovation to meet emerging energy industry needs. Areas of collaboration include an integrated platform for distribution grid management, energy efficiency, distributed generation and energy storage.
As the global energy landscape evolves to incorporate new technologies, more renewable resources and a greater focus on customer experience and data analytics, utilities are working hard to adapt their operations and business models to continue to deliver value to their communities, customers and shareholders. SMUD, NEC and STI are combining their areas of expertise to create innovative solutions to meet the challenges of this new landscape. Those areas of expertise include: SMUD, Energy delivery and customer experience; NEC’ Advanced technology manufacturing and integration; and STI, Analytics and visualization.
"We're excited to help develop new technology that will make utilities more responsive, more efficient, and ultimately able to deliver more value to their customers," said SMUD CEO and General Manager Arlen Orchard.
"The development of new business models for utilities requires collaboration," says Takemitsu Kunio, Senior Vice President at NEC. "Collaborating with industry leaders such as SMUD and Space-Time Insight enables us to meet and exceed the needs of utilities, their end users and regulators."
"Analytics are the heart of solutions in the IoT economy," says Rob Massoudi, Senior Vice President of Business Development at STI. "Our analytics informed by SMUD's experience and embedded in NEC solutions will drive innovation for the global utility sector."
The three companies have already begun collaborating, with results expected in the United States, Japan and the Asia Pacific region in 2016.
