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Joe Babiec Speaks at EUCI Conference on Blockchain, Energy Sector

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In October, VIA’s Joe Babiec, VP, Strategic Initiatives, was invited to present at EUCI’s conference: “The Blockchain Technology Revolution: Implications for the Energy Sector”. Hosted in New Orleans, the event welcomed thought leaders and decision makers from leading utilities and energy providers, local government agencies, research organizations, and technology companies to discuss business use cases of blockchain in the energy industry.

In his session, “Valuation of Utility Data Through Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence”, Joe discussed the ways customers are using VIA’s TAC application to reduce costs and monetize operational data in secure and privacy-protected ways. He explained how TAC’s blockchain-enabled smart contracting capability allows data owners and analysts to reach agreements with one another much faster than by traditional methods, and with the confidence that the terms of their agreement will be observed by all parties.

Fellow presenter Kristen Brown, a principal of technology innovation at Exelon, touched on implications of the transformation taking place in the energy industry. Specifically, she called on energy companies to embrace the transition from business models that prioritize “pipelines” to new approaches that emphasize generating value from “platforms” that connect energy providers and consumers in new ways.

For information on upcoming EUCI conferences, visit their website.

VIA’s Joe Babiec Invited to Speak at Cleantech Group’s Executive Summit

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In October, Joe Babiec, VIA’s VP, Strategic Initiatives, was invited to speak at Cleantech Group’s Executive Summit, “Blockchain in Energy & Mobility”. The summit, hosted in New York, invited top leaders in energy and blockchain to discuss the technical, commercial, and regulatory challenges of scaling blockchain-based applications within the energy industry.

Joe spoke on the opening panel, which focused on the value propositions and business models being used by innovating companies like VIA. He explained how VIA’s Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) application generates revenue by helping energy companies reduce operations and maintenance costs, and by providing secure, private data access to external analysts. Joe also noted that TAC has an important advantage as a new product: unlike some future-oriented blockchain applications, TAC helps energy companies address challenges and opportunities they already experience, so using TAC allows companies to realize substantial benefits right away.

VIA is now engaging in a series of proof of concept pilots to confirm TAC’s evolution from a prototype to a production-ready application. The company plans to officially launch TAC in 2019.

VIA CEO Colin Gounden Gives Keynote Speech at Siemens, Intelligent Energi Event

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Earlier this month, VIA CEO Colin Gounden gave the keynote speech during an event hosted at Siemens’ Denmark offices. The Danish Intelligent Energy Alliance, Intelligent Energi, organized the event for its members. Intelligent Energi’s goal was to encourage dialogue between network companies, suppliers, and academics about opportunities and challenges to adapt to variable and renewable generation in the electricity distribution network.

Colin shared VIA’s AI and blockchain expertise, with a particular focus on its AI results to improve operations and maintenance and its Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) application. One major topic of discussion at the event was related to the massive transformation that electrification is having (e.g., changing consumption due to electric vehicles and electric heat pumps). In particular, participants agreed that to ensure the reliability of the grid under new stresses like electrification and renewables, improved sharing of digital information and AI are necessities.

Colin Gounden Shares Expertise on Panel at Elemental Excelerator’s Interactive Event

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VIA’s CEO Colin Gounden was handpicked to speak on a panel, moderated by California Energy Commissioner, Carla Peterman, at Elemental Excelerator’s (EEx) Interactive Event held in San Francisco last week. The panel, titled “Energy’s Digital Grid”, touched on the ways data is changing electrical grid operations in terms of predictability and visibility.

Over 200 people were in attendance, including some of the world’s largest utilities, as Colin talked about the ways VIA is applying artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to reduce risks associated with the aging electrical infrastructure. EEx captured a memorable quote from Colin, which was shared to Twitter:

For more information on VIA’s involvement in the EEx program, visit their website.

Iberdrola Innoday Recap: “We rely on power for everything”

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In late May, VIA was invited to Iberdrola’s Innoday at its international campus in Madrid, Spain. The invite-only event was attended by over 600 people, with 25 companies showcasing the latest technology innovations to hit the energy industry. There were a number of technologies like drones for wind turbine inspection and AI solutions for the electrical grid being exhibited at the event.

CEO Colin Gounden attended Innoday and was the only participant to both be invited to speak on stage and give an exclusive video interview with Iberdrola. In the interview, Colin talked about the current state of the energy industry, how it will change over time, and the critical role VIA will play in the future of the energy. Check out the full video interview below, featured on Iberdrola’s website:

 

Colin Gounden Presents at FERC Technical Conference

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Colin Gounden, CEO of VIA, gave a presentation last week at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) conference, “Increasing Market and Planning Efficiency and Enhancing Resilience through Improved Software.” This is the second time Colin has been selected to present at this invitation-only conference.

During his presentation, titled “AI for forecasting and resiliency in energy” Colin discussed the issues that limit AI learning to improve grid resiliency. These include too little data / signal, too much data, physically distributed data, and information privacy. His presentation focused on how VIA’s application, Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC), addresses these four common AI training data issues.

The three-day conference culminated with a final session with multiple speakers focused on the importance of data access and data sharing. There was widespread consensus from participants that improved access to energy data and modeling frameworks would allow faster and better analytical solutions. In particular, widening the scope for expert collaboration would have a dramatic impact on the quality of technical solutions that could improve grid resiliency and day ahead forecasting.

View the presentation slides:

For a copy of Colin’s presentation, please visit the FERC event page.

Pepper Hamilton Features Colin Gounden at Energy Blockchain Event

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VIA CEO Colin Gounden was a featured speaker alongside Scott Clavenna, Chairman of Greentech Media, at Pepper Hamilton’s Energy Blockchain event last week. Hosted at the firm’s Boston office, the event focused on current applications of blockchain in the energy industry as well as opportunities and obstacles facing further development of the technology. Colin’s presentation addressed how VIA is supporting utilities in their efforts to adopt these solutions.

VIA is developing a blockchain application, Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC), currently in beta testing. TAC will allow businesses to pool their data in order to improve analytical outcomes without having to physically transfer or aggregate the data. By moving the algorithm instead of the data, TAC ensures all client data remains on premise. Additionally, the application uses homomorphic encryption and differential privacy to keep client data secure and anonymous, which solves some of the key concerns utilities have about implementing AI solutions. To learn more about this and other solutions VIA provides, please visit our website.

Blockchain energy VIA

Scott Clavenna (left) and Colin Gounden both presented and led Q&A sessions about the growing opportunities for blockchain in energy.

blockchain energy VIA

Gounden spoke to VIA’s work supporting utilities’ adoption of AI initiatives.