Digital Grid Transformation: Siemens Energy’s Digitalization Strategy for a Resilient Energy Future

As the energy landscape undergoes a seismic shift, Siemens Energy is actively engaging in a digital grid transformation to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. With a focus on grid automation, digital substations, and innovative grid software, Siemens Energy is transforming the U.S. electrical grid amidst forces of decentralization, decarbonization, and digitalization.

These digital grid transformations are reshaping how energy is managed and understood, with digital solutions enabling a transition to more sustainable and efficient energy systems. Siemens Energy's holistic approach integrates cutting-edge technologies and services across various sectors, including renewables, power generation, and transmission, and provides comprehensive support for digitalizing energy infrastructure.

Amidst this backdrop of innovation and transition, MarketScale had the opportunity to speak with Wade Lauer, SVP of Grid Technologies for Siemens Energy, North America, directly from the floor of DTECH 2024. Lauer's insights into how Siemens Energy is leveraging digitalization to address grid complexity and support an end-to-end energy transition are poised to offer industry professionals a glimpse into the future of energy management and sustainability.

Wade's Thoughts

"The biggest thing right now with the way the grid's changing and all the complexities of the grid, we're highlighting are our digitalization of it, whether it's grid automation, the consulting part of it, or digitalization, which leads into the different things we're doing. Our SIEAERO for the service part of the contracts to look at the lines and make sure the aging system's doing good and how we can repair or replace it. We also have our CAREPOLE out here, which is a dry-type transformer for the pole tops in the distribution market.

One of the largest things we're doing, especially with our digitalization of the equipment, is that data is great as long as somebody takes it, reads it, and adds artificial intelligence to it.

One of the largest things we're doing, especially with our digitalization of the equipment, is that data is great as long as somebody takes it, reads it, and adds artificial intelligence to it.
— Wade Lauer, SVP of Grid Technologies at Siemens Energy

So, one of the things that we're doing in a market is trying to use our intelligence and use our product background to put intelligence to the data, come out with solutions that can help our customers, and give them different ideas on how to fix congestion or fix different issues that come up on the system.

I think just collecting the data is becoming more and more important so that we're more proactive versus reactive. One of the things that Siemens Energy likes to talk about is the end-to-end energy transition. Across the board, especially with digitalization, it doesn't matter whether it's distribution or transmission; we need to understand that data so that we can be more reactive and we can help our customers make more educated decisions on where you want to fix it, where you want to address the most critical needs up front."