Connected Utilities

Season 5

Connected Utilities

A more distributed utility needs a new communications backbone: resilient, secure and built for operational reality.

Why now?

Smart-grid automation, distributed energy resources, remote assets, video analytics, digital twins and connected field teams all depend on secure and resilient communications. As more decisions move closer to assets, network design directly affects response time, reliability and safety.

At the same time, IT and OT are becoming increasingly connected, expanding the cybersecurity considerations surrounding critical operations. Utilities therefore need architectures shaped by operational requirements such as latency, coverage, resilience, sovereignty and autonomy, rather than by any single technology.

Connectivity becomes an operational capability, not a background service.

About the season

A Connected Utility enables assets, field teams, operational systems and digital platforms to exchange and process information securely where and when it is needed.

The focus is an end-to-end architecture that combines fibre, private wireless, satellite, IoT, edge, cloud and OT/IT integration to connect assets, automate operations and support field teams according to each operational need.

People, engineering and transmission tower with tablet for electricity teamwork or safety inspection, pylon or cables. Industrial, wires and power voltage or grid with lines, metal or infrastructure

Episode 1

AI-Enabled grid operations

Human expertise at the center. Artificial Intelligence at every decision point. Built for smarter, more resilient grids.

• Operate security as a continuous capability

Episode 2

Advanced Analytics for Grid Operations

Connecting network, asset and operational data to anticipate risks, optimize performance and guide smarter grid decisions.

Professionals monitor and coordinate electricity grid operations from a modern control center with large analytical dashboards

Episode 3

Strengthening grid resilience through Intelligent Outage Management

Turning outage insight into faster restoration, stronger resilience and greater customer trust.

Two technicians inspect a wind turbine at a renewable energy site with solar panels

Episode 4

Data Analytics & AI to Optimize Renewable Operations and Asset Performance

Use data analytics and AI to uncover inefficiencies, anticipate risks and improve decisions across utility operations.

Episode 5

Generative Design of Power Plants

Exploring design scenarios to optimize energy yield, CAPEX and environmental impact.

A business man analyzing a dashboard with a lapton on his hand

Episode 6

Price Prediction for Critical Asset Purchases

Anticipate price shifts and make smarter procurement decisions in volatile markets.

Business outcomes explored

Operate distributed assets more reliably

Provide the real-time visibility and resilient communications needed to coordinate critical assets across complex utility environments.

Restore service and automate operations faster

Support grid protection, FLISR, substation automation and distributed control with communications designed around operational response requirements.

Connect field teams and remote operations

Give workers secure access to operational information, remote expertise and collaborative tools wherever the work takes place.

Build a secure foundation for distributed intelligence

Integrate edge, cloud and OT/IT environments while strengthening cybersecurity and enabling AI, Physical AI and platform-based services.

Featured Success Stories

Explore how utilities are turning the ideas behind this season into action, addressing real operational challenges and creating measurable value across assets, networks and services

Energy trading team reviewing electricity market scenarios with grid infrastructure visible in the background.

Utilities

Generation & Renewables

Transmission & Distribution

Energy Supply

Electricity Pool Price & Bid Optimization

Electricity market bidding depends on decisions made under volatility, time pressure and imperfect visibility. For an anonymized energy retailer utility, NTT DATA structured a repeatable analytical process that connects pool price forecasting, scenario analysis and bid preparation, giving trading and energy-management teams a more consistent basis for comparing alternatives before execution.

Electricity Pool Price & Bid Optimization

Renewable energy control centre with wind assets and operations teams, representing digital discovery for generation operations.

Utilities

Generation & Renewables

Transmission & Distribution

Energy Supply

Digital Discovery for Renewable Control Center Transformation

For an anonymized renewable and power generation business, the control centre had become a critical point for digital transformation. NTT DATA supported a structured discovery across turbine operations, high-voltage operations, operational control and supporting systems, helping stakeholders identify where digital capabilities could improve ways of working and shape a practical roadmap for implementation.

Digital Discovery for Renewable Control Center Transformation

Energy retailer service office showing customers using phone, counter, display and laptop channels.

Utilities

Energy Supply

AI-Based Customer Claims Classification

An energy retailer needed to classify large volumes of customer requests and claims arriving through telephone, web, offices and other service channels. Because these interactions were captured as unstructured text, manual categorization created inconsistent assignments and rework when cases were routed to the wrong category or team. NTT DATA helped operationalize an AI-based classification capability, using several years of historical customer interactions to support more reliable routing and free service capacity for higher-value activities.

AI-Based Customer Claims Classification

Assessment data Strategy in the renewables business

Utilities

Generation & Renewables

Assessment data Strategy in the renewables business

A renewable energy business assessed data maturity, governance needs and data maps to shape a practical path toward data-driven operations and services

Assessment data Strategy in the renewables business

Utilities

AIGen for consultation and document generation

By combining LLMs, automated indexing and intelligent search, NTT DATA enabled faster access to critical information for nuclear plant life management and decision-making.

AIGen for consultation and document generation

Conclusion

Connectivity is not the destination of the digital utility

It is the nervous system that moves data and processing to the point of operational need, allowing automation, AI, Physical AI and digital platforms to work as one resilient, secure and coordinated system.

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The Future of Utilities

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