Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wong: ThinkLabs cuts nine-month grid interconnection studies to under 10 minutes
“So studies that would take previously nine months, right, as I mentioned, interconnection studies, now it takes us only a matter of a couple of minutes, like 10 minutes or less.”
Opinion
Wong: AI has higher potential upside in grid operations than planning
“I think it is the complete opposite. I think the potential is even higher.”
Opinion
Wong: The grid has enough latent capacity for most data centers today
“So let me just make a statement here, which is, I believe the grid has enough existing latent capacity to connect the majority, if not all of the data centers today.”
Assertion Supported
Wong: Transmission interconnection studies take 6-9 months and cost $250K
“I think most utilities are talking about six to nine months to perform one of those studies, and it's a one-time, right, so risk of restudies will compound that, and it does cost internal utility, typically a hundred, A couple of 100,000 dollars. The typical b…”
Assertion Partly supported
Wong: SCE projects up to 10,000 monthly energization requests taking 30-45 days
“I think when we public study that we did with SCE, I think they are projecting like up to 10,000 of these energization requests per month, and each one of them takes like 30 to 45 days.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wong: ThinkLabs' physics-informed AI models are deterministic and cannot hallucinate
“So our models actually can't hallucinate. It's actually deterministic. You ask it the same thing, it will give you the same answer all the time.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wong: ThinkLabs trains state-sized utility models in 10 minutes for $5
“And we have done that for multiple large IOUs now, a couple of thousand buses, it takes us about 10 minutes per training run. For a Powerflow model the size of a state, typically. And that 10 minute training run cost maybe five bucks of compute. And we were ab…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wong: Utilities cannot determine historical utilization of distribution cables
“Like how much is that cable actually being utilized historically? Nobody can really tell you that answer today in planning or operations, especially in distribution.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wong: Over half of utility study time goes to cleaning data
“So studies today, I would say half if not more of the time, especially for distribution, is on cleaning up data.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wong: Grid congestion is preventing utilities from scheduling planned maintenance outages
“The grid is getting so congested that if we do worst case scenario all the time we are, the utilities are beginning to struggle to find time to take the grid into contingency for planned work.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wong: Utilities lack operational closed-loop feedback until FERC-level post-mortems occur
“Currently, there is no closed-loop feedback until you have a post-mortem. You have a, an event that drives an investigation that needs to be reported back up to FERC.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Wong: Utility planning studies rarely feed into real-time operations
“Of course, each utility might be different, but that is a very, very rare scenario, that they, these study assumptions and results actually feed into operations because they're measured by the different results and KPIs and all that kind of stuff.”
Insight
Wong: Utilities adapt workflows to match legacy software limitations
“And so, in some ways, I would say the utilities are actually adapting their people and processes around the limitations of the analytics, intelligence, and decision-making frameworks that they have.”
Insight
Wong: Islanded energy microgrids are always more expensive than interconnected grids
“Let's remember why we have a grid in the first place, which is so that we don't become individual islands. And individual islands are always more expensive. Than sharing the resources that we have.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Wong: Behind-the-meter data center generation will complicate grid transients
“Bringing these additional generators and batteries and fuel cells, et cetera, will complex the other side of the equation, which are the non-steady states. All your transients, all your EMT, like electromagnetic transients, will get way more complicated with a…”
