ENERGIZE!

Power from behind the scenes

As you may have heard, I had the privilege to visit the electricity DSOs (Distribution System Operators) Elenia, Elektrilevi and Caruna this spring to talk about their ISO 55000 asset management certification. Overall, the standard drives companies to look at the big picture of how they’re running their business, as it can be left a little scattered from, for example, organizational changes or the how-it’s-always-been-done habits. The asset management development project, then, becomes about gathering the entire puzzle together, one sub-area at a time.

​This spring, I’ve had the privilege to visit the electricity IOUs (Investor-Owned Utilities) Elenia, Elektrilevi and Caruna which have all obtained the ISO 55000 certification for their asset management system. The certification - or its comparables ISO 55001 or PAS55 - gives companies guidance for the best practices in their asset management, an essential area for the utility business. Rasmus Armas, Head of Asset Management at Elektrilevi, describes: “ISO 55000 is an overview of how the asset management system should work. It doesn’t give you answers or tell you what to do, but it gives you a way to decide for yourself what you want to do.”

Drawing from his interest that I introduced previously, the backcasting methodology, Tarmo Mere, Segment Director for Electric & Gas at Trimble Energy, encourages utilities to consider their decisions and actions today, in order to gain a better tomorrow. “As for the technologies affecting the utility business, for example the solar power will evolve, and it will become more efficient and more affordable for households and companies alike,” he states.

Looking at the development pace for alternative energy sources, it’s only a question of time when a disruptive innovation wipes over the utility business. So what could be done today to keep the utilities in business, and what does the regulation have to do with it?

There is no point in fixing bits and pieces, when it’s the big picture that matters. Benoit Mallen, business area director at Trimble Energy North America, is driven by helping utilities transform their overall business functions to be more effective, whether that be about software or internal processes, staking or outage management, investments or maintenance - it all counts.