The power and utilities industry in the United States is one of the most reliable in the world. The average U.S. customer experiences power outages fewer than two times per year, for a total of less than five hours, representing 99.95% reliability. When outages do occur, they are usually within local T&D networks which where on averaged, 5% of electricity was lost in transmission and distribution annually.
NERC monitors the reliability of the transmission system, as measured by overall transmission outage severity (TOS), and has shown improved continuously over the past five years. While fairly reliable, 70% of lines and transformers on the U.S. grid are over 25 years old presenting companies another layer of complexity. This aging grid, coupled with more frequent extreme weather events, contributed to a 20% surge in power outages in the last decade.
Grid planners expect US electricity load growth forecast to surge 456%, to 128 GW within the next 5 years. Utilities are adopting grid-enhancing tools and advanced conductors to boost capacity and flexibility cost-effectively, avoiding costly transmission line rebuilds. Utilities spent $17.4 billion on overhead infrastructure—lines, poles, and towers—in 2023, 11% higher than 2022, and a 220% increase from 2003. Upgrading U.S. power lines could quadruple capacity by 2035, and some states now mandate utilities to consider grid-enhancing technologies as a shorter-term solution.
Engineering document management software can enhance grid efficiency in three key areas: centralizing, organizing, and providing easy access to critical documentation, streamlining workflows, and improving collaboration, ultimately leading to faster project completion and reduced downtime. Here’s how:
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Centralized, searchable documentation: Gartner says professionals spend 47% of their time searching for information, and on average, take 18 minutes to locate each document. Synergis Adept offers centralized and organized documentation through a single, centralized repository for all engineering documents, drawings, and data. This allows for efficient organization and categorization of documents, making it easy to find specific information quickly. It tracks document versions and revisions, ensuring that users always have access to the most up-to-date information.
On any given day, we have crews dealing with problems in the field. The EDM system must be there for them every time, regardless of where they’re working at the moment. - Donal Fortune, IT Manager, Con Edison
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Streamlined workflows: In project execution, delays are often blamed on poor document management. In one study, 75% of respondents said that project document issues caused the overruns with a further 25% saying that poor documentation had led to construction delays. Adept can automate tasks like document routing, approval workflows, and version control, reducing manual effort and potential errors. By making it easier to access and share information, Adept can significantly accelerate project timelines, especially in handover. With easy access to accurate and up-to-date documentation, operators, field, and maintenance teams can quickly identify and address issues, minimizing downtime and improving grid reliability.
Time is money. Cutting down costs on time and streamlining and simplifying processes ensures the tools you're using with Adept are reliable. People are getting the most accurate drawings causing less room for human error. —Donal Fortune, IT Manager, Con Edison
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Enhanced collaboration: The capability to work together on documents with ease, efficiency, and control can deliver big results. 73% of employees say they do better work when collaborating. A single source of truth facilitates seamless collaboration between engineers, operators, and field teams by providing a shared platform for accessing and sharing documents. By eliminating the need for manual document sharing and version control, Adept reduces communication barriers and improves team coordination. Teams can work more efficiently and effectively, leading to increased productivity.
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Improved compliance: Utilities are confronted with a dual challenge: limited personnel and budgets prevent them from thoroughly inspecting every asset, yet the risk of hefty fines for non-compliance is too great to ignore. This situation demands technological solutions that allow them to achieve more with fewer resources. Adept can help organizations meet regulatory requirements by providing a centralized and auditable record of documents and processes. Adept can reduce the risk of a regulatory compliance issue by about 25%. As well, you can gain another 10 – 15% in efficiency by using Adept to assemble compliance documents required for audits, etc.
We provide energy for 10 million people who live in New York City and Westchester County. That comes with a great responsibility, so risk mitigation is really important. This is why we have our entire infrastructure— all of our drawings— is stored in the Adept system. The end goal here is not only to make sure that we're in compliance with NERC and CIP regulations, but anything that can help us improve reliability. —Donal Fortune, IT Manager, Con Edison
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Enhanced safety: Due to the nature of work, the utility sector has a higher Serious Injury/Fatality (SIF) exposure rate at 32% than the average across all industries at 25%. With easy access to accurate and up-to-date documentation, Adept can help teams make informed decisions and work more safely, reducing the risk of accidents and incidents.
Document management software like Adept can significantly benefit power and utility companies by streamlining operations, saving time, reducing manual tasks, and enabling faster decision-making. Companies can expect to save 15-30% in operational costs through improved document handling, processing, and retrieval. For large power and utility companies, this could easily result in hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in savings over time.
