NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nashville Electric Service (NES) is working with the city of Nashville to modernize its power grid with sustainable enhancements. The new effort is a result of a partnership between NES, Metro Nashville, Middle-West Tennessee Clean Fuels and the Urban League of Middle Tennessee. These enhancements will allow NES to upgrade technology that will provide more secure, reliable, resilient, equitable, affordable and clean power to its customers.
The new project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Clean Energy to Communities program. The DOE is allocating $500,000 to the partners of this project and up to $3.5 million in technical assistance over 2-3 years. Nashville was selected to work with national laboratories to build a digital twin of NES’ current distribution network. The digital twin will help NES keep up with the city’s fast-paced growth and meet customer expectations for more clean energy resources and offerings through the utility. Digital twins enable collaboration among utilities, government agencies and stakeholder groups by providing shared, accurate representations of electrical, building and transportation infrastructure.
“Continually bringing more sustainable offerings to our customers has always been a top priority,” says Teresa Broyles-Aplin, President and CEO of Nashville Electric Service. “This new endeavor will not only allow us to enhance NES’ infrastructure, but overall, will make the city of Nashville more sustainable.”
These changes will help improve the overall quality of life for NES customers, with improvements to their overall health, safety and livelihood. With the implementation of the digital twin network, NES will be able to yield data to better understand how to incorporate new energy technologies to provide greater resiliency and reliability to customers. This sustainable infrastructure will also help the city better identify emergency routes or key services, reducing the cost and time of travel and access to critical services. In addition, the project will also help NES with outage restoration times and to better prepare for the impact natural disasters will have on its grid.
As a result of this project, NES will help Metro Nashville reach its carbon reduction goals of 80% by 2050, and the Tennessee Valley Authority’s aspirational net-zero carbon targets by 2050. For more information on NES’ clean energy programs and offerings, visit https://nescleanenergy.com/.
