Itron Inspire 2026: From AMI 2.0 potential to real-world applications
Utilities are moving beyond exploring the potential of AMI 2.0 and focusing on how next-generation metering infrastructure can address practical challenges across the grid. From identifying EV charging activity to improving solar visibility and enabling more responsive load management, grid-edge intelligence is becoming increasingly relevant to day-to-day utility operations.
These developments were central to discussions at Itron Inspire 2026, held at the Marriott Marquis in Houston, Texas. The event brought together more than 1,000 industry professionals from the electric, water, gas, and smart city sectors to examine the technologies and strategies shaping the future of utility infrastructure.
For NET2GRID, Inspire 2026 provided an opportunity to share how NET2GRID EnergyAI® translates smart meter data into actionable insights. Through discussions with utility partners, technical sessions, and demonstrations of real-world applications, the focus was on moving from grid-edge visibility to practical outcomes in EV management, distributed energy resource monitoring, and utility operations.
Tackling Grid-Edge Realities: Managed EVs, Solar, and TOU
Managing growing EV adoption, improving solar visibility, and optimizing time-of-use (TOU) programs require utilities to understand how electricity is consumed behind the meter. These challenges were at the center of a featured panel at Itron Inspire 2026 on October 20, where NET2GRID's Martijn Hemelrijk joined representatives from Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and TECO Energy to discuss strategies for managed EV charging, solar visibility, and TOU optimization.
A key part of the discussion focused on SMUD's field validation of NET2GRID EnergyAI® Edge EV Awareness, demonstrating how an edge application can provide visibility into EV charging without relying on cloud computing, historical consumption data, or additional infrastructure.
By analyzing electricity load signatures directly at the meter, the application identifies EV charging activity in real time and provides utilities with insights into EV presence across their service territories. The results presented at Itron Inspire highlighted both the accuracy of the approach and how quickly EVs could be identified once the edge agent was deployed to the meter:
97% accuracy in identifying EV presence.
87% of EVs detected within seven days.
93% detected within 14 days.
These results illustrate the potential of edge-based analytics to accelerate EV visibility and give utilities more timely information about changing electricity demand.
Reflecting on the session, Martijn Hemelrijk highlighted the importance of moving from technical discussions to practical utility applications:
"For years, the conversation around AMI 2.0 felt like looking into the distant future. But now SMUD and TECO show that forward-thinking utilities are already delivering significant value through grid edge intelligence by pinpointing transformer strain, engaging customers more effectively, and turning real-time insights into impactful load-management strategies."
Cloud, Edge, or Both? The Future of Utility Intelligence
As utilities modernize their metering infrastructure, architectural debates often stall at a single question: should intelligence live at the edge, in the cloud, or across both? During NET2GRID’s sponsored live session, Emily Fisher joined host Jeremiah Karpowicz to discuss the role of flexible architectures in delivering actionable utility intelligence.
The discussion explored how edge and cloud computing can serve different but complementary purposes. Edge-based processing enables applications such as EV detection to analyze electricity consumption directly at the meter, providing timely insights without depending on centralized cloud processing. Cloud environments, meanwhile, offer the scalability needed for broader analytics, portfolio-level visibility, and longer-term planning.
By leveraging NET2GRID EnergyAI®, utilities can apply load disaggregation and advanced analytics across supported metering environments, selecting the appropriate processing approach according to the application and operational requirements. A hybrid architecture brings these capabilities together, allowing utilities to address immediate grid-edge needs while building towards broader data-driven operations.
Emily also emphasized that technology decisions need to reflect the priorities and maturity of each utility. EV charging visibility may be an immediate operational requirement, while customer engagement and flexibility programs represent additional opportunities over time. The challenge is to establish a roadmap that addresses current needs without limiting what utilities can achieve as their AMI 2.0 infrastructure evolves. As Emily Fisher explained:
"Different utilities have very different top-of-mind challenges. For many, the immediate need is simply knowing where EVs are charging on their network right now. That's a pressing operational use case that has to be tackled today, and different utility contexts may require that information to be more real-time, while others may have their needs satisfied with just monthly historical lookbacks. But addressing that urgent need shouldn't have to mean sidelining customer experience benefits six or twelve months down the road. It's about how we prioritize use cases, understand utility workflows, and build an actionable roadmap. What's so exciting about this year is that AMI 2.0 is no longer just a forward-looking talking point; we are hearing directly from utilities on how they are operationalizing it in the field. To make that happen, it's vital that industry ecosystems come together, creating spaces where different players collaborate to solve these use cases collectively."
Beyond the Sessions: Connecting with Industry Peers
NET2GRID's participation at Itron Inspire 2026 also included opportunities to connect with industry peers outside the conference sessions. On Sunday morning, team members joined participants from across the industry for the Itron Inspire 5K Fun Run through downtown Houston. Paired with informal gatherings and the distribution of popular NET2GRID team gear, the event underscored a broader evolution in how utility professionals collaborate.
Reflecting on the event, Bert Lutje Berenbroek highlighted the value of these conversations and the growing focus on practical collaboration:
"Itron Inspire 2026 proved to be an important conference of the year for advancing real-world grid modernization. The conversations have clearly matured from introductory pitches to scaling operational deployments. Whether we were running side-by-side with partners during the early morning fun run or diving into deep, bilateral roadmap discussions on the floor, the appetite for genuine, scalable collaboration was incredible. This is where the future of the grid is actually being built."
"We’ve moved past the phase where utilities are entertained by abstract deep tech for the sake of technology," noted Christos Athanasiadis. "The entire dialogue at Inspire was centered on practical utility execution. Whether that means detecting unmanaged EV load in a matter of minutes or turning existing AMI meters into distributed PV intelligence sensors, providers want robust, field-tested tools that integrate into daily operations and solve measurable grid-edge challenges today."
The lessons from Houston are clear: the AMI 2.0 era has arrived, and its success will be measured by real-world utility outcomes. By combining scalable artificial intelligence, flexible edge-to-cloud architectures, and strong customer-partner ecosystems, NET2GRID remains focused on turning grid-edge potential into operational standard practice.
