Siemens and 1898 & Co., part of Burns & McDonnell, announced a strategic agreement to automate one of the utility sector’s most manual and error-prone tasks: protection coordination. Under the new agreement, 1898 & Co. will resell and implement Siemens’ Gridscale X™ Advanced Protection Assessment software, creating a turnkey solution that replaces static spreadsheets with dynamic Digital Twins.
Power utilities will benefit with streamlined rigorous documentation and study requirements for various protection and control regulations, automation of repetitive calculation tasks and re-allocation of engineering resources, and faster identification of protection flaws prior to a fault occurring and subsequent prevention of cascading outages.
“The path to autonomous grids requires us to digitize the most critical layer of our infrastructure: protection,” said Marcus McCarthy, President, Grid Software Americas at Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
The Crisis: Complexity vs. Capacity
The US power grid is facing a ‘protection cliff.’ As utilities race to integrate inverter-based resources, traditional protection schemes are failing to handle the resulting bidirectional power flows. Simultaneously, strict regulations like NERC PRC-027-1 require rigorous coordination studies that most utilities—particularly municipalities and electric co-operatives—lack the manpower to execute manually, creating a critical vulnerability.
“Our clients, especially in the public power sector, are facing a ‘perfect storm’ of a retiring workforce and increasing regulatory scrutiny,” said Chris Underwood, Vice President and General Manager, 1898 & Co. “They don’t just need software; they need an effective solution that provides a roadmap to compliance. This agreement allows us to hand our clients a solution that is automated, repeatable, and scalable—tailored specifically to the constraints of the modern utility.”
This strategic alliance fills the void being left by a retiring engineering workforce. It bridges the gap between advanced software and operational execution:
The Engine (Siemens): Gridscale X Advanced Protection Assessment automatically validates relay settings and simulates fault scenarios in seconds, identifying hidden vulnerabilities like blind spots or false tripping.
The Driver (1898 & Co.): 1898 & Co. leverages this engine to provide the implementation muscle—interpreting data, remediating settings, and guiding utilities through complex compliance audits.
“We cannot manage a dynamic grid with static tools,” added Siemens’ McCarthy. “By combining our Gridscale X Advanced Protection Assessment engine with 1898 & Co.’s engineering pedigree, we are giving US utilities the speed and precision needed to ensure the lights stay on.”
Siemens is accelerating the energy transition by enabling grid operators to manage the increasing complexity of energy infrastructure. As part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio, Gridscale X paves the way for autonomous grid management. It provides modular software that enables grid operators to reliably operate grids closer to their physical limits, turn DERs into valuable assets for grid flexibility, make well-informed investment decisions, and improve customer satisfaction.
