The Technology Needed for Grid Stability & The Energy Transition Author Sticky Joshua Wong Former General Manager, Grid Orchestration Grid Software, GE Vernova Josh is the former General Manager of Grid Orchestration at GE Vernova’s Grid software, leading an Energy Transition software portfolio towards the Grid of the Future. Previously, Josh has been the founder and CEO of Opus One Solutions, enabling the digital utility with the most advanced end-to-end distributed energy resource management system (DERMS). Under his leadership, Opus One was named five consecutive years as a Global CleanTech Top 100 company, Deloitte Fast 50 in CleanTech, as World Changing Ideas award by Fast Company. Josh is a licensed Professional Engineer, holding a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, Masters of Electric Power Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and executive business programs from MIT Sloan, IMD and Harvard Business School. Colin Parris - PhD Former Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Grid Software, GE Vernova As GE Vernova’s former Chief Technology Officer, Colin Parris led teams that work to leverage technologies and capabilities across GE Vernova to accelerate business impact and create scale advantage for digital transformation. He also champions strategic innovations and identifies and evaluates new, breakthrough technologies and capabilities to accelerate innovative solutions to solve emerging customer problems. Colin created the Digital Twin Initiative across GE Vernova. Colin previously held the position of Vice President, Software and Analytics Research at GE Vernova Research in Niskayuna, NY. Prior to joining GE Vernova, Colin worked at IBM where he was an executive for 16 years in roles that spanned research, software development, technology management, and P&L management. He was the Vice President, System Research at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Division, the Vice President Software Development for IBM's largest system software development lab (6,000+ developers worldwide), Vice President of Corporate Technology, and the Vice President and General Manager of IBM Power Systems responsible for the company's $5B+ Unix System and Software business. Colin holds a PhD, Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley; an MS from Stanford University; an MS, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a BS, Electrical Engineering from Howard University. Jan 22, 2025 Last Updated 3 Minute Read Share “We’re running out of time.” That sentiment reflects the fundamental challenge facing the modern grid. And it sat at the heart of a recent conversation we held at Distributech 2023. Josh Wong, former General Manager of Grid Orchestration, and Colin Parris, former Chief Technology Officer, sat down to discuss several key issues impacting the entire grid. In this Q&A, they share their thoughts on: The major grid disruptorsUsing AI to deal with unpredictabilityEmpowering utilities with grid orchestrationHow the energy crisis impacts innovation Read on to learn more, and listen to the full conversation on Grid Innovation between Colin Parris and Josh Wong. The Grid has Reached a Critical Transition Point. What are Some of the Big Problems we Need to Navigate? Colin: The surge in extreme weather events is an obvious one. Since the start of this year, prolonged ice storms and atmospheric rivers have led to widespread disruption.The rise of distributed energy sources is also creating challenges, like the reduction of inertia on the grid. And increasingly, consumers want to generate their own energy – leading to a more complex, bi-directional power system.These challenges all have a high degree of variability, which makes them hard to plan for. So, What’s the Best Approach to Deal with these Grid Challenges and Scenarios? Colin: As variability increases, we’ll need tools that help manage uncertainty and volatility. This is where data and AI can really help. For instance, we can use AI models to predict weather-related outages, and to help balance inertia locally rather than on a global scale. In terms of distributed energy resources, we can use AI to forecast load variability and help optimize energy management. Grid Orchestration Is a Topic We’re Hearing a Lot about Right Now. What Is It Exactly, and Why Is It so Important to the Future Grid? Josh: In the past, the grid involved a predictable, one-way power flow. But today, it’s connected to millions of energy sources — some of which are controllable and predictable, some of which are not. To handle all this complexity, you can’t rely on traditional grid management.The modern grid also features an expanding network of utility systems, customer systems, behind the meter systems, virtual power plants, wholesale markets — the list goes on.We need a coordinated, intelligent way to make these systems work together. So How Will Grid Orchestration Directly Impact Utilities? Josh: Utilities may or may not have direct control over all the systems I mentioned. But they still need to manage grid congestion, ensure grid resilience and reliability, and service customers. That’s something that requires overseeing a comprehensive ecosystem. In the next few years, utilities will also need to work closely with industry partners to decarbonize the grid. This multi-party, multi-system future is inevitable, and it’s why reducing complexity through orchestration is an essential next step. How Does the Urgency of the Energy Crisis Affect Innovation in Terms of Speed and Timescales? Josh: In the past, innovation was often treated as a series of tinkering projects. But we’re running out of time, and we can’t keep running pilots. To tackle challenges like the energy transition, we need to find solutions and then scale them as the norm.That said, we need to be careful about how we do this. If we scale too fast, we risk getting a solution up and running quickly, but then incurring significant technical debt. If we scale too slow, then we’ll end up staying in ‘pilot land’ for too long. What Kind of Grid Solutions Do We Need to Deal with the Energy Crisis? Josh: We need grid solutions that are truly flexible and scalable, rather than being designed around siloed projects and systems. As I mentioned, orchestration is key to this — which is where GridOS® comes in. It allows utilities to orchestrate data sets from multiple sources and parties, so they can make intelligent and coordinated decisions on a unified model of the grid. This whole approach is central to success in an unpredictable energy future. It offers utilities a scalable way to tackle their current challenges (such as electric vehicle penetration) and quickly adapt to future challenges and use cases. “In the past, innovation was treated as a series of tinkering projects. But now we’re running out of time.” It’s Time to Accelerate Innovation with Grid Orchestration Software To navigate the energy transition and overcome complexity, utilities can’t rely on traditional grid management. This is why we’ve built GridOS. GridOS is the first grid software portfolio designed for grid orchestration. This innovative solution orchestrates the complexity that comes with a clean energy grid while delivering a reliable and resilient network – even in the face of increasing security and weather threats. Author Section Authors Joshua Wong Former General Manager, Grid Orchestration Grid Software, GE Vernova Josh is the former General Manager of Grid Orchestration at GE Vernova’s Grid software, leading an Energy Transition software portfolio towards the Grid of the Future. Previously, Josh has been the founder and CEO of Opus One Solutions, enabling the digital utility with the most advanced end-to-end distributed energy resource management system (DERMS). Under his leadership, Opus One was named five consecutive years as a Global CleanTech Top 100 company, Deloitte Fast 50 in CleanTech, as World Changing Ideas award by Fast Company. Josh is a licensed Professional Engineer, holding a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, Masters of Electric Power Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and executive business programs from MIT Sloan, IMD and Harvard Business School. Colin Parris - PhD Former Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Grid Software, GE Vernova As GE Vernova’s former Chief Technology Officer, Colin Parris led teams that work to leverage technologies and capabilities across GE Vernova to accelerate business impact and create scale advantage for digital transformation. He also champions strategic innovations and identifies and evaluates new, breakthrough technologies and capabilities to accelerate innovative solutions to solve emerging customer problems. Colin created the Digital Twin Initiative across GE Vernova. Colin previously held the position of Vice President, Software and Analytics Research at GE Vernova Research in Niskayuna, NY. Prior to joining GE Vernova, Colin worked at IBM where he was an executive for 16 years in roles that spanned research, software development, technology management, and P&L management. He was the Vice President, System Research at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Division, the Vice President Software Development for IBM's largest system software development lab (6,000+ developers worldwide), Vice President of Corporate Technology, and the Vice President and General Manager of IBM Power Systems responsible for the company's $5B+ Unix System and Software business. Colin holds a PhD, Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley; an MS from Stanford University; an MS, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a BS, Electrical Engineering from Howard University.