Energy Transition with Scott Reese, CEO of GE Digital

Industrial Talk is brought to you by Armis. Yes, you are in the digital transformation game, and you need to find trusted companies and individuals to help you along that journey. The Armis platform delivers complete asset intelligence—insights into your connected assets. You're in the digital transformation game; you have to have that insight into what is connected. Go to armis.com to find out more. You will not be disappointed. Also, AI Dash is on a mission to create a greener, cleaner, safer planet from space. AI Dash helps core industries become more resilient, efficient, and sustainable through the power of satellites and AI. Go to aish.com to find out more. Thank you very much for joining Industrial Talk. On this episode, we are broadcasting from DistribuTECH 22. It was an incredible event highlighting some of the great leaders in the utility space and really pushing the envelope on what is taking place in transforming the utility business. We're speaking with Scott Reese, CEO of GE Digital, and I'm telling you, he brings the truth bombs. But before we get into that conversation, I want you to put a couple of events on your calendar. The first is IMTS in Chicago, September 12th through the 17th. If you're in manufacturing, that's where you want to go. We will be broadcasting there, so reach out to me to schedule something on site. The other event is the American Manufacturing Strategy Summit, October 11th through the 12th in Houston. Again, a great event for manufacturing. And the last one is the European Manufacturing Strategy Summit in Berlin, November 7th through the 9th. Put those on your calendars. Let's get to the conversation with Scott Reese. Enjoy the conversation.

Welcome to the Industrial Talk podcast with Scott McKenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting-edge industry-focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's go. Once again, welcome to Industrial Talk, the number one industrial-related podcast in the universe. Scott, that's data, pure data that backs that up, just FYI. So don't start chirping and saying that's impossible. No, it's not. We celebrate industry professionals all around the world because you are bold, you are brave, you dare greatly, you innovate, you solve problems, you're making my life better and the world a better place to live. Thank you for what you do. It is an ever-expanding industrial ecosystem that is including a lot of problems. Mike right next to me, problem solvers. Yes, it is Industrial Talk. We're broadcasting from DistribuTECH 22 in Dallas, Texas. A great place with a lot of wonderful vendors. But we're going to be talking to Scott. He's in the hot seat: energy transition from the software perspective. GE is the company. Let's get cracking.

Yeah, that's you, Scott. I'm worn out. It's all about you. Thank you. Just start talking. Great to get the chance to connect with a fellow Scott. Yes, the world's biggest problems, that's right. What we're doing to make things better. And you're going to notice, listeners, right off the bat that we're both really good-looking. I love your hair. We go to the same barber. How's Ted? Anyway, give the listeners a little background, a little 411 on who you are.

See, that's interesting about the cloud. The cloud is powerful. The cloud allows businesses to do a lot of things that we weren't able to do not that long ago. And then all of a sudden the cloud was there, and it's like, I remember having to figure out what the cloud was, and somebody said just put it in the cloud. What the heck are you talking about? Then you realize what it is. So talk about that. Let's talk about cloud, what GE is doing, and how we're talking about energy transition, the need for technology, the need for software. Where does GE stand on all that?

Yeah, see, I know that the technology is always the technology. You get smart people like you. There's always that human component. And you're always talking to utilities that have that commitment to serve reliably, cost-effectively, safely, wisely. So they're going to always drive this sort of transition. Are you finding any interest when you work with the utilities, sort of like, hey, I don't know if it's secure? Do you have any of those conversations?

What does that look like when we start talking about... Honestly, Scott, I'm glad you're in that. That is way above my pay grade. I'm sort of that old school guy that has that sort of linear thermal model in mind: generator, transmission, substations, and it's just real linear down to that pole top transformer and my light goes on. How do we do this effectively without causing any issues? Because we're talking about that guy's got a solar panel, I want to wheel it into the grid, and I just don't know how you do it.

How do you deal with the stability of the grid? It's always driven by real physical assets. GE turbines are physical and in sync, there's a physical quality to it. How do we address these other generation sources like solar panels to ensure grid stability?

Because the reality is, if you don't have that solution, that software... One of the challenges that we dealt with long ago when I was negotiating power purchase agreements was that the system operator said, 'I'm depending on you.' You said you're 15 megawatts, I want 15 megawatts because I'm depending on you. Today, that's not the case. It has to be solved by software. There's no other way of getting around it.

Along the same lines, we know that I'm a consumer, you're a consumer, and we don't want to go without power. We need it. One of the things I see as critical is asset management, asset prediction. How do you take these disconnected—I can't say disconnected—these other generation sources to ensure that they're reliable, available, and that you and I are just numb to the fact that the power works?

I was just in Atlanta at our monitoring and diagnostic center there, where we monitor over 3,000 power generation units all around the world, 83 countries. That's a place where as soon as something abnormal starts to happen, we know first and we're able to call the customer and say, 'Hey, I don't know exactly what's going on, but you might want to take a look at this.' Then they're able to go out and check it out. With that ability to have insights into the health of that asset, you can press the time. You don't want catastrophic failure. You want to be able to proactively apply the maintenance that is necessary for that asset for minimal impact.

Yeah, that's the game. That's the AI/ML type of component, because we have limitations. We need that ability to have those platforms in place to say that's fine, that's fine, that's fine, there's a piece of data, and do it quickly and then be able to notify you that something's going on.

See, GE brings that trust. GE.com, got it. The majority of all the turbines on the turbine deck are GE, the generator GE. They're out there. So you have this wealth of knowledge. From a utilities perspective, utilities culture is not known for being the leader in this innovation journey. They're going to wait until something is truly okay, it works, then they'll adopt. That's where GE comes into play. You can point to it, it's right there. That gives that comfort, that trust.

So that's pretty cool, huh? You're cool, aren't you? You like your job. I'm a nerd, I just like... This is the digital coffee table, industrial digital coffee table right here. I know that I can continue because I don't even know some of the questions to ask. All I know is that it's happening. We've got to do it. We've got to have that collaborative play with all the parties to come up with a solution that is somewhat invisible to the end user. They don't know what's going on, it just happens magically. Like that cloud SaaS, all of that stuff, it just gets better and they don't even know it.

You're cool. All Scots are cool, did you know that? You can use that on the bumpers. Well, all Scots are handsome and all Scots are cool, and all Scots are just great people. How do people get a hold of this great guy? I heard it here, right here, backed by data, it's science. How do they get a hold of you? Not me, they know how to get a hold of me.

Well, see, hey, if this doesn't work out, you've got a great career in podcasting. Thank you for being on the box. Thank you for having me, Scott. Listeners, we're going to wrap it up on the other side. Thank you very much for joining Industrial Talk. We are broadcasting from DistribuTECH 22. Dallas is the town. It is a great event. It's good to have people together, shaking hands, seeing things, and solving problems. Stay tuned, we will be right back.

You're listening to the Industrial Talk podcast network.

That was a great conversation. Thank you, Scott Reese, CEO of GE Digital, for being on Industrial Talk at the DistribuTECH 22 event. Sorry about the noise in the background; we were right on the floor making things happen. Remember, we've got a couple of things rolling out. One, we're doing a series on the state of utilities. I think there is a necessity to bring people together and paint that cogent picture, so we're going to be putting that live podcast together. Also, those three events: IMTS, the Manufacturing Strategy Summit for Europe and the United States. Put those on your calendar. I'm going to be there. Please look me up if you want to get on the podcast and be interviewed at those events. Be bold, be brave, dare greatly. Reach out to Scott, and I'm telling you, you're going to change the world. Thank you very much for joining Industrial Talk. We're going to have another great conversation.