Key information:
- Electron hosted a webinar on 23 July exploring why EV and DER load growth is breaking the planning assumptions utilities have relied on for decades
- The session introduced ElectronCompass, Electron’s DER detection and analytics tool, and shared how it’s helping utility program, planning, and operations teams put that visibility to work, having analysed 40Bn datapoints in total with 90% EV detection accuracy for grid-edge modelling
- Attendees heard how utilities can use detection to narrow recruitment efforts, quantify flexible capacity, and identify grid-edge risk invisible to registration data alone
Electron hosted a webinar on 23 July introducing ElectronCompass, Electron’s DER detection and grid impact analytics tool, and examining why grid-edge load from EVs and distributed energy resources doesn’t follow the steady, predictable growth utilities have planned around for decades.
Why this matters
As electric vehicles, battery storage, and rooftop solar continue to grow across distribution networks, many utilities are relying on registration records or program enrollment data to understand where these resources sit.
However, that data doesn’t answer grid questions. It can’t show where a DER is actually charging or discharging, or what impact it’s having on a specific piece of network infrastructure.
ElectronCompass exists to close that gap, as the first step toward a broader goal of value discovery and optimization across the grid.
What ElectronCompass does
ElectronCompass gives utilities a view of where their DERs are and how they’re impacting the grid, without requiring the complex, full bottom-up modelling utilities have traditionally relied on – helping planning and engineering teams focus on the DERs having an impact, rather than building visibility for its own sake.
Using AMI data utilities already collect, ElectronCompass identifies DERs at the meter level and connects that detection to specific transformers, feeders, and substations. This is the foundation utilities need before they can put an economic value on what they’re seeing.
That same visibility is also helping program teams recruit more efficiently: rather than running territory-wide campaigns, teams can target the customers most likely to convert, size the flexible capacity available before committing budget, and build an internal case for when to act.
What utilities are finding with ElectronCompass
In one recent analysis of 150,000 residential meters for an EV team at a privately owned utility, ElectronCompass identified around 6,000 customers showing ongoing level 2 charging, 5,600 of whom were net new to the utility’s existing program.
A zip code analysis also found that over 80% of the detected level 2 chargers exist in less than 2% of the zip codes. This insight can, for example, allow the EV team to re-approach the marketing team with a more targeted request, opening up new marketing opportunities that focus their effort and spend on where it counts.
Utilities are therefore already using the ElectronCompass underlying detection for a range of distinct purposes: targeting program recruitment more precisely, informing pilot design, planning around transformer and feeder-level constraints, and managing real-time operational stress that systemwide signals can’t detect.
“EVs and DERs don’t use the grid in a steady, predictable way, and most utilities don’t have the visibility to know where or how they’re behaving,” said Jo-Jo Hubbard, CEO and Co-Founder of Electron. “ElectronCompass turns raw AMI data into actionable insight: where DERs are, what they’re doing to a given transformer or feeder, and what that means for coming to a defensible, economic view of DER value. It provides a set of tools that set utilities on the path to that defensible, economic view, helping optimize the value of every dollar invested in the grid.”
ElectronCompass has so far analysed 40 billion data points with approximately 90% EV detection accuracy for grid-edge modelling.
You can watch the webinar on demand now.
About Electron
Electron’s mission is to unlock energy abundance by helping utilities deliver affordable, reliable grid capacity from millions of flexible distributed energy resources (DERs). Combining grid-aware analytics with market coordination, Electron enables system operators and utilities to see, secure, and prove the value of distributed flexibility. Trusted by leading distributed utilities worldwide, Electron is providing the digital foundations for a proof-led, low-cost, and resilient energy system.
For media requests, please contact Emma Lovell at emma.lovell@electron.net.
