Edith Clarke Top Innovator in Reliability of Utility Service: “It’s a grid in a remote location that serves one or a few customers and removes the distribution power line so there is no risk of that power line sparking wildfire. It comes with other benefits of reducing maintenance and vegetation management in that area.”

William Hammer Top Innovator in Electrification: “These overhead pantograph systems are unique. When we started building, a standard didn’t exist. We were at the forefront of installing these overhead charging systems.”

Maria Telkes Top Innovator in Distributed Energy: “This project is a 6.5 MW microgrid. It was one of the first microgrids, the first BESS system on the system for PHI. We used new and creative technology to figure out how to get this project connected safely and reliably.”

Edith Clarke Top Innovator in Reliability of Electric Service: “The Vegetation Management Team came up with a list of hazard trees and asked BGE’s data science team to develop a tree risk analytic model. We wanted them to create an analytic model that could prioritize each hazard tree based on customer impact.”

Francis Upton Top Innovator in Analytics for Utility Service: “This early detection tool offers a more efficient way for field engineers to monitor potential HPFF leaks. By reducing detection time from weeks to hours, we can minimize leak duration and significantly mitigate environmental risks.”

John Beggs Top Innovator in Energy Transition: “The specific regulatory innovation is the cost recovery mechanism allowing the regulated utility to own, operate, and maintain RNG plants across Michigan and recover costs through both full-service voluntary customer subscriptions and open market sales.”

Nancy Fitzroy Top Innovator in Environment and Safety: “We are the first to say, ‘Why don’t we take them away from the hazard?’ This new tool technology takes the worker out of the dangerous environment.”

George Westinghouse Top Innovator in Leadership in Innovation: “Project REACH stands for Realizing Equitable Access to Cybersecurity in High School. Under this program, the federal government allocated dollars to historically black colleges and universities or HBCUs, for them to reach out to K-12 schools and help bring those students into computer science programs.” William Hammer Top Innovator in Electrification: “SiLVERS stands for St. Louis Vehicle Electrification Rides for Seniors. The goal was to introduce EVs and electrification into environmental justice communities and integrate electrification into the nonprofit operations.”

Francis Upton Top Innovator in Analytics for Utility Service: “The new approach addresses issues where history is not a good predictor of the future due to innovative changes in reliability programs. We developed methods for defining accurate targets by accounting for all changes to make optimal decisions for allocation of financial and human resources."

Each October, PUF highlights and celebrates innovators at utilities with our Top Innovator Awards and at our Fortnightly Top Innovators conference.