EEI Financial Conference: Exploring Opportunities for Grid Connectivity

By Ryan Gerbrandt , COO, Anterix |

Safe. Resilient. Secure. Sustainable. Affordable. The future of energy is all of these and more. And this future is happening—today.

A few weeks ago, I joined Anterix’s recently appointed President & CEO Scott Lang and Vice Chairman Tom Kuhn at the Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI’s) Financial Conference to participate in the conversation about how our nation’s utilities are delivering this energy future—and the investments and public policies that are needed to build and sustain it.

Against the backdrop of this steady and strong energy transition, Anterix is privileged to play a foundational and necessary role.

As the energy grid evolves to accommodate more distributed resources, to withstand more extreme weather, a barrage of threats from hostile actors, and to support the growth in demand from data centers, AI, and electrification, grid operators need real-time control and grid intelligence. Simply put, the imperative that modern grids require modern communications is arguably even more important now than it was 5 years ago.

Already, Anterix is partnering with seven leading utilities to leverage private wireless broadband networks built on foundational 900 MHz to enable a host of critical utility use cases, from distribution automation to advanced metering, wildfire protection, cybersecurity, and more. And, by leading an Ecosystem of more than 100 innovative technology companies and solutions providers, Anterix is helping to ensure an evergreen future for advanced grid technology, enabling solutions to address more and more of utilities’ key challenges and opportunities.

EEI’s Financial Conference highlighted the dynamism and excitement that surrounds the critical infrastructure sector today. To summarize just a few of my observations from three days of dialogue and engagement:

First, the appetite for innovation across the sector has never been stronger. If Anterix weren’t already focused on serving critical infrastructure industries like utilities, we would be getting into the business. The opportunities—for all stakeholders, from electricity customers to communities, employees, innovators, policymakers, and investors—for combining and harnessing cutting-edge connectivity with other grid innovations are breathtaking.

Second, utilities are laser-focused on the imperative of delivering solutions that advance grid resiliency and grid security—not just coping with today’s challenges, but with providing resources that advance a secure and resilient future across the economy. Here again, Anterix and our Security Collective offer compelling sector-specific expertise to fortify grids with multiple layers of standards-based fortifications.

Finally, events like EEI’s Financial Conference underscore the reality that utilities deeply value their long-term connections and partnerships with customers, communities, policymakers—and vendors, too. As Scott and I engaged with our fellow attendees, we saw firsthand how relationships in our industry need to be built on trust, like those that we have developed throughout our careers—like Scott’s during his past leadership of Silver Spring Networks, Tom’s during his decades-long service as the president and CEO of EEI, and my own during my time as a leader at Trilliant.

As we look ahead to another year of innovation and engagement, Anterix is excited to build on opportunities like those I saw at EEI—and I invite you to join us by exploring the secure, resilient connectivity solutions 900 MHz offers for smart grids and critical infrastructure.