Industry Insights

Supporting Utilities on the Road to Renewables

April 19, 2023

Supporting utilities along the energy transition and helping them achieve their decarbonization goals is top of mind as we celebrate Earth Day 2023 at Itron. This year’s theme, “Invest in Our Planet,” directly ties to Itron’s mission of creating a more resourceful world and our work with cities and utilities to integrate renewable energy and other distributed energy resources (DERs). In celebration of Earth Day, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the opportunities and challenges facing utilities as the adoption of clean energy makes the shift from encouraged to required and closely regulated in the years ahead. 

What Utilities Can Expect from the Energy Transition
As DERs and regulations surrounding their deployment continue to gain momentum, utilities are being forced to rethink how they procure power and operate the grid. Due to key advances in technology, the DER landscape is evolving rapidly in terms of price, performance and resulting adoption. Improvements in performance, coupled with a decrease in price, have led to exponential growth in DER adoption that is not expected to slow down any time soon.

Other considerations for utilities on the decarbonization journey include transportation electrification and the accelerating adoption of electric vehicles (EV). Although this presents revenue opportunities for utilities with the potential for terawatt hours of additional demand, the increase in EV charging is already having a large impact on the low- and medium-voltage distribution network. Physical assets, such as secondary distribution transformers, are projected to experience a decrease in expected service life, particularly those in residential neighborhoods. 

In addition to the ways DERs interact with the distribution grid, DER adoption also presents an opportunity for utilities to transform the utility-customer relationship. We know customer expectations are changing rapidly. DER adopters expect a service that is quick and easy to use, and they prefer an interactive response, with utilities acting as trusted advisors on not only how to pay their bill and set up an account, but also how to operate DERs, where to buy them, how to commission them and so on. Another significant change is the amount of control customers have. Program designs will have to change to accommodate a higher frequency of control and a move away from legacy demand-response relationships. 

Helping Utilities Connect, Analyze and Optimize DERs

With rapid integration of renewable and distributed energy technologies onto the grid, utilities are challenged with maintaining power quality, balancing supply and demand, and ensuring adequate distribution capacity. Itron brings the tools and expertise to help utilities do exactly that. 

Built upon the foundation of Itron’s IntelliSOURCE® distributed energy resource management system (DERMS), Itron’s DER Optimizer solution enables utilities to expand their legacy demand response programs to include a wide range of DERs, including electric vehicles, smart inverters, battery storage systems and other flexible loads. In turn, DER Optimizer’s real-time analytics and optimization engine allows utilities to strategically grow their program portfolio from traditional reliability programs to a wide range of DER-based grid services, including economic dispatch, non-wires alternatives, local grid balancing and microgrid use cases. Itron’s mission is to help utilities turn behind-the-meter DERs into valuable grid assets that deliver improved reliability, resiliency, customer engagement and sustainability.

In this rapidly changing cleaner energy world with accelerated decarbonization goals, the time for utilities to take action is now. We look forward to supporting our customers on the road to renewable energy today and every day in the years to come. Happy Earth Day!

By Nick Tumilowicz


Directeur de la gestion des produits, Solutions de Gestion Énergétique Distribuée


Chef d'équipe, stratège et expert reconnu dans la gestion de la Gestion Énergétique Décentralisée (DER), incluant l'énergie solaire, le stockage et la technologie des véhicules électriques, Nick met à profit des décennies d’expérience dans le secteur pour faire progresser les marchés mondiaux vers un avenir énergétique propre. Il s’appuie sur un parcours professionnel allant de l’ingénierie mécanique à la gestion de portefeuilles de produits mondiaux, en passant par le déploiement de ressources d’énergie renouvelable. Cet éventail de compétences professionnelles soutient un talent particulier pour la vision d’ensemble, les stratégies systémiques et les solutions interdisciplinaires visant à accroître l’impact positif des énergies renouvelables sur les entreprises et la société. En tant que directeur de la gestion des produits chez Itron, Nick Tumilowicz dirige la business unit Gestion Énergétique Distribuée. Dans ce cadre, il est responsable du développement mondial des produits de réponse à la demande et des solutions DER permettant l’accès à des ressources énergétiques flexibles pour les clients. Avant de rejoindre Itron, Nick Tumilowicz a dirigé la recherche et le développement au niveau mondial à l’EPRI, où il était en charge de la transmission, de la distribution et de la recherche sur le stockage de l’énergie relié au client. Auparavant directeur de la gestion des produits chez SunEdison, il a été à la tête du plus grand parc mondial de centrales d’énergie renouvelable sur six continents, gérant l’acquisition de données et la plateforme de contrôle, et exploitant un parc de plus de 4 GW d’équipements de production d'énergie renouvelable. Au début de sa carrière, Nick Tumilowicz a créé et géré le service d’entretien du principal intégrateur de systèmes d'énergie renouvelable des États-Unis, REC Solar (aujourd'hui Sunrun et Duke Energy), pour qui il a conçu et déployé le premier parc commercial de panneaux solaires sur les toits du pays. Véritable référence du secteur, Nick Tumilowicz a occupé divers postes au sein de conseils consultatifs : Département de l'énergie (NREL, Building Technologies Office, Solar Energy Technologies Office), General Services Administration, California Energy Commission, GridFWD Leadership Committee, Incubate Energy Labs, Saudi Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnecting Authority.