Now more than ever, the way electricity is consumed and managed is undergoing a rapid transformation. Peaks occur not once—but two, three or more times a day. Voltage level fluctuations at the grid edge are becoming more extreme, system inertia is declining and peak demand is forecasted to grow by 7-8% over the next decade—surpassing the cumulative demand growth seen over the 80 years from the Great Depression to the housing recession of 2008. Large traditional, semi-regular linear loads have become non-linear and intermittent. Utilities are evolving from energy providers to market enablers, and consumers are becoming active energy generators.   

While these shifts have far-reaching implications, they reinforce one indisputable fact: use of real-time, high-fidelity data is essential. That’s why AspenTech, a leader in industrial optimization software, and Itron, a provider of distributed intelligence (DI) solutions, are joining forces. Together, AspenTech’s Digital Grid Management (DGM) suite with Itron’s grid edge intelligence deliver the insights, visibility and control that enable an efficient and self-optimizing grid.

A New Era of Grid Management
With Itron’s DI technology and the AspenTech DGM suite, utilities are on the verge of gaining full visibility into their distribution networks. Utilities can better understand what’s happening across the grid and what the consumer is experiencing behind the meter (BTM). Itron’s grid edge intelligence solutions take it a step further by bringing real-time data and control to the grid edge, creating a more responsive and intelligent experience like traditional SCADA systems, but at a much more granular and for the scale required, cost-effective level.

AspenTech is enhancing its existing system interfaces to take full advantage of this grid edge data. As a result, users of its grid management platform will benefit from smarter insights, improved precision in power flow modeling, faster outage response and more control over devices on both sides of the meter. Additionally, combining DI and AspenTech software enables utilities to automatically adjust to changes in supply and demand, maintaining grid stability and efficiency before minor issues escalate into a liability for the utility or consumer.

Realizing the Smart Grid of the Future, Today
The path toward a smarter, more responsive grid isn’t one-size-fits-all. However, by combining Itron’s Grid Edge Intelligence portfolio with the AspenTech software, utilities can begin unlocking insights and capabilities through a phased approach, starting with what’s already available:  

• Enabling Outage Management Systems (OMS) to use smart meter data to detect outages faster and more accurately is essential. Operators can query devices to verify power loss, identify nested outages and monitor restoration in real time—minimizing downtime and enhancing service reliability.
• Utilizing Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) data becomes even more valuable when shared with systems like Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS) and Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS). This enables better power flow analysis, more precise network modeling and improved forecasting—especially for rooftop solar, masked load and fluctuating energy demand.

These capabilities don’t require complex software overhauls. They’re designed for real-time, large-scale integration, making it easier than ever to unlock new use cases and deliver more value from the grid edge.

The table below captures several key utility objectives and capabilities enabled by the collaboration between Itron and AspenTech.  
 

Itron & AspenTech – Collaboration in Action 
AspenTech and Itron are actively making an impact at Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the sixth-largest community-owned electric utility in the United States. SMUD is leveraging 200,000 Itron Gen 5 Riva meters alongside AspenTech’s ADMS solution to extend visibility and control to the grid edge. 

Serving over 700,000 customers across 900 square miles in northern California, SMUD is pursuing an ambitious goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030, with a major focus on increasing DER adoption. AspenTech’s ADMS and DERMS solutions provide operators with a view to monitor, forecast, schedule and control grid-connected assets. The next phase is providing visibility to medium- and low-voltage BTM assets, including 60,000+ rooftop solar arrays, 70,000 electric vehicles, 300 energy storage units and 25 MW of commercial demand response. Itron provides a broad suite of grid edge analytics focused on grid reliability, risk management and consumer engagement. In particular, Itron is enabling special DER visibility by deploying its latest generation of smart endpoints and DI platform, enabling real-time connectivity and disaggregation of rooftop solar and BTM batteries across SMUD’s distribution system. 

Itron’s grid edge intelligence and AspenTech’s operational technology solutions give SMUD operators near real-time visibility into their network. This empowers the utility to quickly detect issues and take corrective action, such as adjusting DERs locally, ensuring a more balanced, reliable and resilient grid. 

Unlocking Innovation with Data at the Edge
While electricity consumption and grid dynamics continuously shift, the importance of real-time, high-fidelity data remains constant. Itron and AspenTech empower utilities to harness that data to modernize grid operations, maximize existing infrastructure and expand grid capacity. 

Driven by industry collaboration and data-driven innovation, the transformation to a self-optimizing grid is well underway. And there’s much more to come.