Putting Weather Intelligence to Work for Germany’s Utilities

German Utility Power Line with Storm Clouds

Germany experienced its joint warmest year in 2022 — tying with 2018 for record high temperatures. It was also one of the driest summers on record, disrupting traffic along the Rhine, devastating crops, and causing forest fires. Conversely, 2021 brought dramatic floods to Western Germany in the middle of July. Swinging so wildly, extreme weather caused by climate change poses a challenge to the country’s utility companies.

Meanwhile, damage from extreme heat, drought, and floods has cost Germany at least 6.6 billion euros on average annually over the past two decades.

Germany’s power supply has been very reliable over the last decade, but disruptions due to power spikes and volatile renewable energy sources are an increasing concern. Extremes of weather make both more likely.

Meanwhile, damage from extreme heat, drought, and floods has cost Germany at least 6.6 billion euros on average annually over the past two decades. Both private and public sectors need to adapt, and technology is the route they can take to move towards better planning and preparedness.

 

Tackling weather through tech

Many businesses already use weather forecasting in some form. But that forecasting normally works in broad brushstrokes — predictions that apply to everyone within a certain area. Thanks to advances in data analysis, it’s now possible to turn weather data into actionable insights that are relevant to the unique characteristics of a utility’s service region, assets, and regulatory environment.

Thanks to advances in data analysis, it’s now possible to turn weather data into actionable insights that are relevant to the unique characteristics of a utility’s service region, assets, and regulatory environment.

Technology, such as the Storm Risk solutions from DTN, is designed so that utilities of all sizes can leverage weather intelligence to prepare for and respond to weather impacts on the network and service areas.

For example, the DTN Storm Risk Dashboard becomes unique to a specific operation thanks to several tailorable functions that allow utilities to:

  • Establish weather thresholds based on the utility’s risks and receive alerts when those thresholds are reached.
  • Monitor critical assets in multiple locations by geographic point or with custom parameters.
  • Plan and prepare for weather events up to seven days in advance of their potential impact.
  • Run reports that help prove when outages are caused by force majeure to avoid fines and penalties.

Utilities can minimize downtime because they know about potential weather issues up to seven days in advance.

DTN has more than 180 meteorologists working with data from 70,000 inputs from around the globe and draws on weather data feeds and solutions that utilize machine learning and historical data. Using advanced modeling, it generates relevant, utility-specific data and real-time weather forecasts. Depending on the application, the solution can be utilized as a cloud-based API, integrated within other data streams, or be SaaS.

DTN Storm Risk helps you get ahead of the curve. Utilities can minimize downtime because they know about potential weather issues up to seven days in advance. This makes planning and resourcing for outages more accurate and efficient, can help potentially reduce revenue losses, and better protect your business’s reputation.

Visit the DTN Storm Risk page to find out more about our solution and see how weather intelligence can help utilities prepare for extreme weather caused by climate change.