GIS Role in Smart Grid

Public and private industries had taken lots of initiatives to provide reliable quality power to the people at affordable rates in the recent years. One among the initiatives is smart grid, converting traditional grid to Smart Grid. Towards the improvement of the Power Distribution System, distribution companies had faced lots of problems with inadequate data of asset facilities and customer information. This is one area where GIS (Geographical Information System) come into play with Smart Grid. GIS is a framework for gathering, managing and analyzing data to make smarter decisions. GIS provides a link between utility assets and customers information. ArcGIS is a platform used to create, manage, share and analyze spatial data. Using ArcGIS online, I have made an analysis on power plants in California. `Which county in California is generating more power using solar power plants?' will be answered by this analysis. We can apply a similar technique to analysis of other power sources to make better decisions. These types of analysis will be useful for creating future smart grid work orders by utility companies.