Integrated Solution Enables Utilities to Complete Full Grid Modeling in Under 24 Hours, Driving Reliability and Resilience
Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), which is innovating new ways for utilities and cities to manage energy and water, is collaborating with Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, to advance the future of grid planning and utility analytics. This collaboration, which is part of Snowflake’s Energy Solutions launch, brings together Itron’s expertise in grid edge intelligence and Snowflake’s fully managed, high-performance data platform to empower utilities to solve some of the industry’s most pressing challenges such as distributed energy resource (DER) integration and grid modernization.
The rapid proliferation of DERs—such as solar, electric vehicles and battery storage—has introduced a level of grid complexity that traditional tools were never designed to handle. Conventional models lack the computing power and sophistication required to meet the volatile, hour-by-hour dynamics of a modern electrified grid. To address this challenge, Itron is leveraging Snowflake’s high-performance platform to deliver immediate value to customers.
Itron’s advanced Grid Planning solution, powered by Snowflake, simplifies utility planning and operations, providing validated data accuracy and advanced forecasting, and features Powerflow, a first-of-its-kind 8,760-hour system-wide analysis that can conduct load forecasts every hour of the day, years into the future and down to the individual bus level. The advanced Grid Planning solution enables utilities to identify capacity constraints, support DER proliferation and deliver enhanced reliability while realizing substantial cost savings, setting the blueprint for the grid of the future.
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Key advantages of the collaboration:
- Scalable Performance: Offers automatic scaling, security and compliance capabilities through Snowflake’s fully managed platform.
- Cost Transparency: Provides clear cost attribution via usage-based pricing and real-time monitoring.
- Operational Flexibility: Supports agnostic deployment across hyperscalers, ensuring adaptability for utilities.
- Data Harmonization: Simplifies integration by eliminating complex data pipelines and aligning models with industry standards.
- Advanced Analytics: Enables predictive maintenance, load forecasting and real-time grid optimization through AI-driven insights.
“This collaboration has unlocked a meaningful solution to today’s grid complexity,” says Vivek Raghunathan, Snowflake SVP of Engineering and Support. “The modern grid’s electrification and distributed generation demand 8,760 hour power flow analysis to capture dynamics that annual or seasonal snapshots miss. This is computationally prohibitive for most utilities. Itron’s power engineering expertise and Snowflake’s powerful platform make this essential analysis practical, delivering the computational performance utilities needed to plan infrastructure for an electrified, decentralized energy future.”
“Utilities are navigating a rapidly changing industry and speed is critical to ensure grid reliability. By combining Itron’s grid edge intelligence solutions with Snowflake’s AI-powered data platform, together we are enabling utilities to plan smarter, adapt faster and deliver reliable energy for the communities that they serve,” said Don Reeves, Itron’s senior vice president of Outcomes. “Data and AI are transforming every industry, and energy is no exception. This collaboration is about turning complexity into clarity and helping our customers build a resilient grid for the future.”
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