IBM Establishes a Smarter Energy Research Institute

IBM today announced the launch of the Smarter Energy Research Institute, a new industrial research collaboration model aimed at accelerating innovation across the global energy and utilities market. Hydro-Québec (Canada), Alliander (Netherlands) and DTE Energy (USA) join as the first members.

The Smarter Energy Research Institute is a new collaboration between corporate research and the energy and utilities industry to transform leading energy companies through the use of predictive analytics, system optimization and advanced computation to deliver better services to their customers.

Combining IBM Research’s expertise in the areas of mathematical sciences, computer science and high-performance computing with the deep-power engineering and operational know-how of the participating members, the Institute will focus on five core innovation tracks to pursue joint research and where shared investments, knowledge and capabilities will benefit every member. Each company will identify and be active in up to two tracks that match their business and operational priorities.

The areas includeOutage Planning Optimization, Integration of Renewables and Distributed Energy Resources,
Wide-Area Situational Awareness and The Participatory Network. Expected outcomes of this research include equipping members with the ability to improve planning and reliability of operations through the use of prediction and optimization in the areas of outage and asset management.