Severe storms can cause statewide outages, making emergency preparedness a challenge that utilities can’t ignore. As these events become more common, utilities must improve their preparation and response methods to maintain reliability, effectively manage resources, and build a more resilient grid. To do this, many utilities are turning to data analytics to answer questions like:

Earlier this year, we joined the Institute for Electric Innovation’s Thought Leaders Speak Out 2023: Engaging Customers with Technology series. This event gathered customer-focused utility executives to explore strategies for effectively engaging customers and to share their experiences and insights.

Many utilities feel as though their journey with data science is still just beginning. The early days of a data-driven transformation require a lot of work and determination, but they’re also exciting as utilities prepare for the improved solutions that data science will bring them.

Among these utilities is DTE Energy. With 2023 now in the history books and a new year officially begun, I sat down with Yong Li, data science manager at DTE, to discuss data science at his company—past, present, and future.

Data science is opening up new avenues for utilities to quickly analyze the data available to them, which enables their engineering teams to diagnose system issues in ways that were previously unattainable.

With 2023 now in the rearview mirror and a fresh year upon us, I caught up with Jesse Woods, manager of data analytics for distribution, Alabama Power, to reflect on the role data science is playing at his utility, highlight successes to date, and consider what 2024 has in store.