Siemens: Siemens and Esri partner to bring grid planning and operation to a new level

Siemens Smart Infrastructure has partnered with Esri, the global leader in geographic information systems (GIS) and location intelligence, to expand its ecosystem of partners for its grid software business. The partnership enhances capabilities for the planning, operations and maintenance of power networks at grid operators by combining Esri’s powerful mapping and spatial analytics software and Siemens’ electrical topology expertise. In doing so, the companies aim to upgrade the data flow between applications for increased planning accuracy and for better operations of the distribution grid. The partnership´s objective is to improve the admission of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) to the grid so that net zero can be achieved faster.
The news follows a recent launch of Siemens’ Grid Software Suite, an open, interoperable suite of world-class software that creates a holistic digital twin to plan, operate and maintain power grids. The suite is part of Siemens’ Xcelerator, an open digital business platform to accelerate digital transformation and value creation. Setting up an ecosystem of partners with complementary products is a core element of Siemens Xcelerator, which enables digital transformation easier, faster and at scale.
“With the strategic partnership, Siemens and Esri will jointly innovate in the grid software space by bringing together the best of our two worlds,” said Sabine Erlinghagen, CEO Grid Software at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. “Esri will be part of an ecosystem of equally strong partners across the energy industry, which can lead the change to shape the grids of the future to a 100 percent renewable world.“
Jeff Rashid, Global Director for Infrastructure at Esri, said: “Combining a major source of data such as GIS with Siemens’ grid modeling and simulation software will significantly elevate the quality of grid models for utilities. We are working on streamlining the data transfer between our GIS and the Siemens software resulting in a much higher performing system, a much more reliable data exchange between systems and a reduction in overall cost for data management.”
As the rapid growth in DERs and eMobility charging infrastructure fundamentally transforms the energy system, the cooperation between Siemens and Esri will support Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and Distribution System Operators (DSOs) find answers to increasing challenges across their entire geographic power networks.