由于可靠性至关重要，这家能源分销商采取了有条不紊的云采用方法，同时支持物联网、智能计量和预测分析，以保持其配电网络在日益复杂的能源市场中嗡嗡作响。
对于一些组织来说，迁移到云是一场相对快速的竞赛，以实现高度宣传的好处，例如可扩展性。对于其他公司，如英国电力网络公司，更有条理和漫长的旅程已被证明是最好的方法。
这家总部位于伦敦的能源分销商和系统运营商即将完成向混合云基础设施的重大迁移，该基础设施将为英国大约三分之一的居民和企业提供服务。英国电力网络公司以Microsoft Azure为中心，将保留两个数据中心的本地系统，以存储高度安全，敏感的数据和服务，这些数据和服务容易受到网络攻击，首席信息官Matt Webb说，他已经在电力公司工作了15年。
英国电力网络公司是在2010年由EDF Energy Networks将三个获得许可的配电网络合并到一个屋檐下后创建的，Webb担任企业数据管理主管。合并后，这家能源公司开始了数字化转型，将三个网络统一在一个ERP系统SAP下，并计划最终发展到SAP基于S/4HANA SaaS的模式。
Webb 说，接下来是将少量工作负载转移到 Azure 云中，非常缓慢，直到该组织准备从两年前开始进行大规模迁移，并补充说，该公用事业公司的数字化转型方法有条不紊地确保灯一直亮着。
“现实情况是，多年来，我们一直在逐步将某些应用程序、工作负载和流程迁移到云中。但我们在几年前做出了一个战略决策，有效地进行大规模的云迁移，除了一些操作系统对关键的国家基础设施进行直接控制和监督，“韦伯告诉 CIO.com。
总部位于香港的长江实业旗下的英国电力网络公司还运营和维护伦敦地铁、希思罗机场和斯坦斯特德机场以及金丝雀码头的电网。
一、深思熟虑的道路是有回报的
在设计 UK Power Networks 的数字基础设施时，Webb 深思熟虑地平衡了云计算的核心优势（可扩展性、弹性和灵活性）与各个业务部门日益增长的高需求工作负载和流程，同时密切关注成本。他说，已批准的工作负载和应用程序向云的迁移将于 2024 年 10 月完成，到目前为止，已经完成，没有任何业务中断。
“人们很容易认为云可以给你带来这个乌托邦，但你可能会把事情弄得非常非常错误，特别是从商业角度和FinOps方面来看，”Webb补充道。“我认为我们做出了明智的决定，步行而不是跑到云端。
Webb的方法与许多企业的方法形成鲜明对比，这些企业在云上迅速全力以赴，但现在却根据意外的成本超支重新考虑了这些策略。
作为转型的一部分，UK Power Networks 与 Databricks、Tata Consulting Services、Moringa Partners 等公司合作，不仅管理云迁移，还帮助集成物联网设备和智能电表，以提供高度精细的实时分析。
在整个数字化旅程中，UK Power Networks 不得不处理三个独立许可领域的传统技术环境，并构建了性能指标、KPI 和服务级别协议 （SLA），以确保可靠性，同时提高云和连接数据提供的服务和性能。
它与 Databricks 的合作帮助 UK Power Networks 的数据仓库转变为 Delta Lake 架构，旨在满足客户日益复杂的需求和用例。Webb 指出，这涉及利用 Databricks 和 Alteryx 的工具来提供“高度策划、可靠和可访问的数据资源和工具，企业可以使用这些资源和工具来摄取、集成、分析和构建自己的智能”。他的 IT 团队目前正在评估 Automation Anywhere 等自动化工具，但这项工作仍处于起步阶段。
US Power Networks 拥有 6,000 名员工，为英格兰东南部和英格兰东部（包括伦敦市）的 800 万客户提供服务。在云项目中，首席信息官在其 300 人的 IT 团队中专门安排了 50 到 100 人及其集成合作伙伴。
二、在日益复杂的市场中，可靠性至关重要
韦伯说，作为一个纯粹的网络所有者和运营商，英国电力网络公司接受来自遍布乡村的传统发电站的各种能源，以及越来越多的太阳能发电机和风力发电场，以及海上能源，并补充说，车辆的电气化也对其网络的“动态”提出了新的要求。
传统的单向中央发电通过输电到配电给客户，不再是能源通过网络流动的方式。韦伯认为，沿海地区的局部太阳能和风力发电场在输电线路的不同端注入能量，改变供需和网络的物理动态。“我们必须以一种我们从未习惯过的方式主动控制和监控网络，并确保我们不会过载，保持整个系统的稳定性，”韦伯指出。
“就利益相关者和参与者的数量而言，能源生态系统正变得越来越复杂，[并改变了]竞争的数量和市场运作方式。因此，需要互操作并有意愿的数字系统可以相互通信，以实现优化、保持稳定性，并越来越认识到脱碳的必要性，“韦伯说。
一位能源行业分析师指出，准确预测能源供应对底线至关重要，但对于能源供应商和网络运营商来说，这变得更加复杂。
“对于可再生能源，阳光和风能是免费燃料的来源。在批发竞争市场交易的大部分能源都是在提前一天的市场出售的。运营商承诺以特定价格每小时提供特定数量的能源，“NorthBridge Energy Partners 负责人 Peter Detwiler 说。“如果他们不交货，他们就会在世界上最动荡的大宗商品市场中陷入实时现货市场价格的困境。因此，能够更好地了解明天将出现多少风和阳光 – 转化为电力输出 – 增加了对运营商可以向市场投标多少的信心，降低了风险状况并润滑了市场。
英国电力网络公司向云和数据分析的数字化转型正在增强其接受和分配各种能源的方式，但首席信息官韦伯希望更先进的技术能够提高系统性能。
他说：“为了应对与网络相关的问题和中断，我们进行了大量的分析，但也进行了主动建模、围绕需求预测的预测、预测性维护，并将其扩展到更复杂的用例，特别是在我们拥有的配电系统运营活动中，这一切都是为了优化网络的利用率。
韦伯已经慢慢开始试验生成式人工智能和副驾驶技术，但由于该公司继续合理化和连接遗留系统，因此不会走得太远。Webb去年发起了一项计划，探索如何应用生成式人工智能来评估和分析传入的客户流量，按其性质对其进行分类，并根据时间尺度将其自主引导至特定团队。
他说，韦伯希望使用生成式人工智能进行情感分析，但其最初用途将用于处理客户投诉等基本任务。
在英国电力网络公司，可靠性仍然是人们关注的最终指标。
“我们还没有迈出最后一步，因为我们想做的是确保我们不会向客户发射任何有缺陷的东西，”首席信息官说。“我们正在围绕它建立我们的能力和能力。
翻译：
UK Power Networks gets smart about cloud transformation
With reliability essential, the energy distributor has taken a methodical approach to cloud adoption while enabling IoT, smart metering, and predictive analytics to keep its distribution networks humming in an increasingly complex energy market.
For some organizations, shifting to the cloud has been a relatively quick race toward highly publicized benefits, such as scalability. For others, such as UK Power Networks, a more methodical and protracted journey has proved to be the best approach.
The London-based energy distributor and system operator is close to completing a major migration to a hybrid cloud infrastructure that will serve roughly one third of all residents and businesses in the United Kingdom. Centered on Microsoft Azure for its cloud needs, UK Power Networks will retain on-prem systems in two data centers to store highly secure, sensitive data and services that are vulnerable to cyberattacks, says CIO Matt Webb, who has been with the power company for 15 years.
UK Power Networks was created following a merger of three licensed electricity distribution networks brought together under one roof in 2010 by EDF Energy Networks, where Webb served as head of enterprise data management. Following the merger, the energy company began its digital transformation by unifying the three networks under one ERP system, SAP, with plans to eventually evolve to SAP’s S/4HANA SaaS-based model.
Next was moving small numbers of workloads to the Azure cloud, very gradually, until the organization was prepared to make a big migration starting two years ago, Webb says, adding that the utility’s methodical approach to digital transformation was to ensure the lights stayed on.
“The reality is we’ve been incrementally migrating certain applications, workloads, and processes to the cloud over a number of years. But we made a strategic decision a couple of years ago to effectively do a wholesale migration to the cloud, except for some operational systems to have direct control and oversight over critical national infrastructure,” Webb tells CIO.com.
UK Power Networks, which is owned by Hong Kong–based Cheung Kong Holdings, also operates and maintains electrical networks for the London Underground, Heathrow and Stansted airports, and Canary Wharf.
1. Deliberate path pays off
When designing UK Power Networks’ digital infrastructure, Webb was deliberate about balancing the core benefits of cloud computing — scalability, elasticity, and flexibility — with increasingly high-demand workloads and processes across various business units while keeping a close eye on costs. The migration of approved workloads and applications to the cloud is set to be completed by October 2024 and has thus far been completed without any business disruption, he says.
“It’s very easy to think the cloud can get you this utopia but you can get things very, very wrong, especially from a commercial perspective and FinOps aspects,” Webb adds. “I think we made the wise decision to walk instead of running to the cloud.”
Webb’s approach contrasts to that of many enterprises that went all-in quickly on the cloud — only to now be rethinking those strategies in light of unanticipated cost overruns.
As part of its transformation, UK Power Networks partnered with Databricks, Tata Consulting Services, Moringa Partners, and others to not only manage the cloud migration but also help integrate IoT devices and smart meters to deliver highly granular, real-time analytics.
Throughout its digital journey, UK Power Networks has had to deal with the legacy technology landscape of three separate license areas and has built performance metrics, KPIs, and service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure reliability while advancing services and performance afforded by the cloud and connected data.
Its partnership with Databricks helped transform UK Power Networks’ data warehouse into a Delta Lake architecture, designed to serve the increasingly complex demands and use cases of customers. This involved leveraging tools from Databricks and Alteryx to provide “highly curated, reliable and accessible data resource and tools that businesses can use to ingest, integrate, analyze, and build their own intelligence,” Webb notes. His IT team is currently evaluating automation tools such as Automation Anywhere, but that effort remains in its infancy.
US Power Networks employs 6,000 people and serves 8 million customers in Southeast England and East of England, including the city of London. On the cloud project, the CIO dedicated 50 to 100 of his 300-person IT team along with its integration partners.
2. Reliability paramount in increasingly complex market
As a pure network owner and operator, UK Power Networks accepts diverse sources of energy from traditional electrical power stations dotting the countryside, as well as increasing numbers of solar generators and wind farms, as well as offshore sources of energy, Webb says, adding that the electrification of vehicles is also making new demands on the “dynamics” of its network.
The traditional one-directional central generation of energy through transmission to distribution to the customer is no longer the way energy flows through the network. Webb sees localized solar and wind farms on the coast pumping in energy at different ends of the transmission line, shifting supply and demand and the physical dynamics of the network. “We have to actively control and monitor the network in a way we never used to and make sure we don’t get an overload, maintain stability across the system as a whole,” Webb notes.
“The energy ecosystem is becoming increasingly complex in terms of the number of stakeholders and participants, [and changes] the amount of competition and the way the market operates. Therefore, the need to interoperate and have the intention digital systems that can talk to each other to allow optimization, maintain stability, and increasingly recognize the need to decarbonize,” Webb says.
One energy industry analyst notes accurate forecasting of energy supply is essential to the bottom line but has become more complex for both the energy suppliers and the network operators.
“With renewable energy, sunshine and wind are sources of free fuel. Most of the energy transacted in wholesale competitive markets is sold in Day Ahead markets. Operators make a commitment to deliver a specific amount of energy for every hour at a specific price,” says Peter Detwiler, principal at NorthBridge Energy Partners. “If they don’t deliver, they are on the hook for the real-time spot market price, in the most volatile commodity market in the world. So, the ability to gain better insight into how much wind and sunshine will show up tomorrow — translated into power output — increases the confidence as to how much operators can bid into the market, lowering the risk profile and lubricating the market.”
UK Power Networks’ digital transformation to the cloud and data analytics is enhancing how it accepts and distributes various energy sources, but CIO Webb hopes more advanced technologies will improve the system performance.
“There’s a huge amount of analysis we undertake in response to network-related issues and outages, but also in proactive modeling, forecasting around demand prediction, predictive maintenance and that is extended to more sophisticated use cases especially in the distribution system operation activity we have, which is all about optimizing utilization of the network,” he says.
Webb has slowly begun experimenting with generative AI and copilot technologies but is not going to get too far ahead since the company continues to rationalize and connect legacy systems. Webb ran one initiative last year exploring how to apply generative AI to assess and analyze incoming customer traffic, categorize it by its nature, and direct it autonomously to specific teams based on time scales.
Webb would like to use generative AI for sentiment analysis but its initial use will be for basic tasks such as handling customer complaints, he says.
At UK Power Networks, reliability remains the ultimate metric of concern.
“We haven’t taken that final step because what we want to do is make sure we’re not firing something at the customer that is flawed in any way, shape, or form,” the CIO says. “We’re kind of building our competence and capabilities around it.”
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