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Utilities can’t risk ignoring artificial intelligence

The U.S. Department of Energy today selected Consumers Energy to receive a nearly $20 million financial assistance award to deploy new technology and provide real-time visibility into the grid and help integrate electric vehicles into Michigan's electric grid. The commitment will be matched by $20 million from Consumers Energy as it powers Michigan's EV transformation.

Consumers Energy will use the nearly $40 million to add artificial intelligence-powered modules to 18,000 electric meters that are used by Michigan EV owners, providing real-time data analytics and predictions to better understand the impact these vehicles have on the electric grid.

"Consumers Energy is building a stronger grid and a smarter one that will seamlessly power the next generation of clean vehicles," said Lauren Snyder, Consumers Energy's vice president of customer experience. "This allows us to quickly put the latest in technology to work, as we accommodate growing numbers of EVs parked in driveways across our state."

The new federal funding comes through the U.S. Department of Energy's 

Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program

, which supports the modernization of the nation's electric grid.

Consumers Energy is partnering with AI technology company 

 to deploy custom NVIDIA modules, bringing cutting edge AI capabilities to the electric grid. Utilidata manufactures in Michigan at their innovation lab in Ann Arbor and in collaboration with Brooks Utility Products in Novi. 

The effort will place over half of the devices in economically disadvantaged communities, enabling Consumers Energy to better understand EV adoption and customize customer programs to meet those communities' needs.

Consumers Energy also is partnering with General Motors, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, the Electric Power Research Institute and others to deploy AI-enabled grid-edge analytics.

"Utilidata is proud to expand our presence in Michigan by partnering with industry leader Consumers Energy," said Utilidata President and Chief Operating Officer Jess Melanson. "Utilidata's distributed AI technology will equip Consumers Energy with the tools needed to integrate more distributed energy resources and ensure the electric grid is efficient and reliable for their customers."

Consumers Energy is making EV ownership more affordable and convenient wherever people drive their vehicles in Michigan. Electric vehicles will be powered by an electric grid that is moving fast to become carbon neutral.

Consumers Energy is Michigan's largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties. Consumers Energy's Clean Energy Plan calls for eliminating coal as an energy source in 2025, achieving net-zero carbon emissions and meeting 90% of customers' energy needs through clean sources, including wind and solar.

Consumers Energy Selected by U.S. Department of Energy for Nearly $20 Million to Add Real-Time Visibility to Grid

Deloitte today announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Utilidata, aimed at transforming the utility industry by leveraging AI and data capabilities for intelligent power grid solutions. By combining Deloitte's deep data science and energy industry experience and incorporating NVIDIA's accelerated computing and AI software platform, as well as the Utilidata Karman platform, the new initiative will support clients as they navigate the modern power grid, enhancing the use of renewable energy sources with real-time, actionable insights powered by AI and low-latency edge computing.


"Optimizing energy systems is imperative for intelligent grid infrastructure — the balancing act is between reliability, resilience and sustainability," said Khalid Behairy, AI practice leader for power, utilities and renewables and managing director, Deloitte Consulting LLP. "Through our new collaboration with Utilidata and NVIDIA, we can bring our industry advantage, redefine energy management and help create a more digitized, decentralized, and sustainable energy ecosystem."


As the U.S. power grid modernizes to adapt to the decentralization of energy generation and the dynamic patterns of consumption driven by electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy sources, traditional methods of grid operation no longer provide the dependability required for this critical infrastructure.


Smart grid implementation can create more flexible and efficient energy ecosystems through meter-to-transformer mapping, real-time hosting capacity, and distributed energy resource (DER) management. 

Deloitte's recent distributed energy resources report

 shows residential DER capacity could grow to 1,500 GW over the next decade and surpass a doubled peak demand.

Deloitte's collaboration with Utilidata and NVIDIA will help address this challenge by deploying distributed AI-driven analytics at the grid edge, where power is increasingly generated and stored. This custom module and platform — powered by the NVIDIA Jetson edge AI platform and embedded in electricity meters and backed by Deloitte's technology and engineering domain — transforms each meter into a data collection and control point, capable of handling thousands of data points per second. By providing real-time insights that enhance the resiliency and sustainability of energy systems, utilities companies can reduce energy demand forecasting latency, improve response time and field team efficiency, and increase grid safety and uptime.


"The electricity grid is becoming more complex with distributed energy resources, and scaling requires collaboration between global leaders," said Marc Spieler, senior director, energy, NVIDIA. "Working with Deloitte will enable utilities to use a truly open platform to achieve their decarbonization and electrification goals at scale."


"Our goal is to bring the best tools and outcomes to the market as the energy industry races to decarbonize and electrify," said Jess Melanson, president and chief operating officer, Utilidata. "By teaming with NVIDIA and Deloitte, we continue to break down barriers to make it easier to deploy AI at the grid edge to help solve the industry's biggest challenges."


The deployment of AI-enabled smart meters exemplifies how AI and edge computing capabilities enable grid operators to meet rising energy demand from homes and businesses, all while advancing decarbonization, affordability and resilience goals, and enhancing consumer experience. Utilidata and NVIDIA are also working to embed Utilidata's custom NVIDIA module with the Karman platform in other distribution grid devices, helping utilities leverage distributed AI for a wider range of grid planning and operational challenges.


By providing easy access to high-quality data and analysis in real-time, utilities can better understand and predict grid conditions, identify distributed energy resources and understand their impact, and reduce outages and equipment failure.


In addition to sustainability, intelligent grids can promote equity. Deloitte analysis found that if building sector decarbonization targets were met starting with low- and moderate-income customers, all energy-insecure households in every state could benefit from retrofitted, energy-efficient and cost-saving homes by 2035. Historic federal funding for grid investments alone could create 178,000 jobs in smart grid operations 

This announcement follows Deloitte's recent recognition as the 

2024 NVIDIA Global Consulting Partner of the Year

 for the fourth year in a row. Learn more about 

Deloitte's work with Utilidata and NVIDIA


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Utilidata is an AI-powered technology company providing utilities with robust, real-time insights to operate a connected grid. The company's distributed AI platform, Karman, provides unparalleled processing power to the electric distribution grid to accelerate decarbonization and better serve people.



Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500® and more than 8,500 U.S.-based private companies. At Deloitte, we strive to live our purpose of making an 

 by creating trust and confidence in a more equitable society. We leverage our unique blend of business acumen, command of technology, and strategic technology alliances to advise our clients across industries as they 

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Deloitte and Utilidata Establish First-of-Its-Kind Collaboration to Revolutionize the US Power Grid for a Sustainable Future

The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) has released 

 that studied the relationship between electric vehicle (EV) driving and charging behaviors to understand how those behaviors impact the electric grid. The study was conducted with Utilidata, an AI-powered technology company. 

"At UMTRI, our data collection and research projects are focused on creating a safer, more efficient, and equitable transportation future through data-driven decisions,” said Jim Sayer, UMTRI Director. “Working with Utilidata’s technology revealed the need to capture and analyze granular data locally to maximize the benefits EVs can provide to the grid while significantly mitigating risks. We hope this study will serve as a foundation for a more comprehensive research project to further explore how distributed AI can enable a more efficient and reliable grid to support electric transportation.”

UMTRI installed Utilidata’s distributed AI platform, Karman, via electric meter adapters at multiple EV charging stations on the University of Michigan campus to measure grid performance. Vehicle monitoring devices were installed on the EVs of drivers who charge their vehicles at one or more of the selected charging stations to uncover driving and charging behavior. Data was collected for 16 weeks and found that while there is considerable uncertainty around charging behavior and significant impacts to power quality, there is opportunity for EVs to add value to the grid.


Findings from this initial study include:

EV charging can cause unexpected rapid swings in current draw which can lead to inefficient energy consumption, resulting in overheated wires, transformer stress and possible outages.


Areas with high volumes of unmanaged EV charging are more likely to experience power outages.


Utilities need the ability to calculate high resolution measurements with local computation at individual locations to understand which locations can accommodate EV charging.


EV charging can cause equipment degradation and possible failure as it lowers power quality by introducing current harmonics generated from the conversion of AC to DC power.


With granular real-time data, utilities can manage EV charging in the presence of faults to mitigate the fault impact and facilitate faster recovery.

“It’s clear utilities need tools at the grid edge to fully understand the impact of EV charging in real time. Fortunately, the Karman platform identifies these issues and allows utilities to leverage AI models right at the source of charging to predict, model, and manage EV charging to prevent outages, lower grid costs, and add value to the grid,” said Utilidata CEO Josh Brumberger. “Working with UMTRI allowed us to combine our expertise in AI and the electric grid with UMTRI's expertise in innovation and transportation to identify opportunities and challenges on the grid as EV charging demand increases.”


Utilidata’s distributed AI platform, Karman, is being deployed with utilities to provide real-time visibility of the grid and leverage AI to predict and model grid conditions. This level of visibility and analysis will improve grid reliability and manage distributed energy resources like solar and EVs. Built on a custom module, based on the

edge AI platform, Karman is designed to be embedded into any grid edge device. Aclara, a division of Hubbell Incorporated, is t

 in a residential smart meter.

In 2022, Utilidata established an advisory board to bring together executives from utility companies, auto manufacturers, and technology providers to explore ways to leverage grid edge data to solve industry challenges like EV charging demand.

"As EV ownership increases, energy providers need real-time data to manage EV charging demand and provide effective customer programs,” said Ryan Jackson, Consumers Energy’s executive director of corporate strategy and a member of Utilidata's advisory board. “This computing platform can help us deeply analyze the impacts of a variety of EVs and EV chargers. These insights can be incredibly invaluable as we see more EVs connect to the grid."




Utilidata is an AI-powered technology company providing utilities with robust, real-time insights to operate a connected grid. The company’s distributed AI platform, Karman, provides unparalleled processing power to the electric distribution grid to accelerate decarbonization and better serve people.




UMTRI is a global leader in safe, equitable and efficient transportation research innovation. With partners across academia and sponsors in government and industry, UMTRI remains at the forefront of research innovation to help shape the evolution of a global transportation and mobility system. UMTRI experts focus on large scale data collection, driver behavior, human factors, engineering systems, injury and biomechanics, and are committed to data-driven changes in legislation that will ensure all individuals experience safe, equitable and efficient transportation and mobility options. For more information visit their 

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Consumers Energy Selected by U.S. Department of Energy for Nearly $20 Million to Add Real-Time Visibility to Grid

Deloitte and Utilidata Establish First-of-Its-Kind Collaboration to Revolutionize the US Power Grid for a Sustainable Future

Study from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) Shows New Reliability Concerns Related to Electric Vehicle Charging

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