This new model exposes the shortcomings of today’s communications infrastructure, subjecting it to pressures it was never intended to withstand.

Unlike transmission and distribution, communications networks were not designed as a unified platform for a coordinated grid. Most were built incrementally, solving one use case at a time.

These single-purpose solutions continue to perform well in their intended roles. But they create friction when utilities try to scale automation, mobile workflows, distributed visibility and cyber monitoring across the enterprise. The issue is not that legacy systems failed; it is that the operating model has moved beyond what those systems were designed to support.

This piecemeal evolution means today’s communications networks are a patchwork of disconnected networks that often operate across different coverage, security, vendor and support models. On a dynamic grid that depends on real-time shared information, that fragmentation is a constraint.

Legacy architectures also now carry real operational costs. Independent networks make coordination across data, controls and cybersecurity more difficult. Bandwidth limitations and coverage gaps can slow the flow of information and narrow where automation and mobile workflows can be deployed. At a time when utilities need greater integration, current communications systems instead increase complexity and reduce visibility.

The point isn’t that every utility needs a single network or technology; rather, communications must be planned as coordinated infrastructure. Utilities need systems built for a connected environment, linking more assets, workflows and decisions. That calls for a broad-scale infrastructure plan that accounts for all use cases and aligns diverse technologies in a unified strategy.

This is what the Third Grid concept is meant to address. It is not a claim that communications is new to utilities; it is a call to treat communications as intentional infrastructure. In that model, fiber, microwave, private wireless, public carrier services and legacy systems each have a defined role within a broader strategy. It marks a shift away from isolated tactical decisions and toward communications as a strategic foundation for grid operations, expanding what utilities can see, control and accomplish across the grid.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Communication Technologies guidance supports this more systematic approach. 

Consider what happens when the physical grid fails. An effective communications grid can quickly identify the failure’s cause and scope, isolate affected areas, and restore service to customers while providing timely updates to the community, coordinating field crews and protecting the rest of the system.

This makes the Third Grid a resilience multiplier. It helps utilities get more from existing assets even as the utilities add load, integrate new resources and modernize aging infrastructure.

The value of the Third Grid becomes clear when communications is treated as infrastructure rather than a supporting technology. Across nearly every area of grid operations, better communications translates into better decisions only when information can be trusted, transported, secured and acted upon quickly enough to change an operating outcome. Some examples:

• Distribution automation — Timely field data allows distribution automation to adjust feeders automatically as grid conditions change, improving reliability and performance.
• FLISR — Fault location, isolation and service restoration (FLISR) uses high-speed communications among field devices, control systems and operators to identify faulted sections, isolate them automatically and restore service to affected customers in seconds. The result is shorter outages and improved service reliability.
• DER orchestration — Distributed energy resource orchestration benefits from telemetry and control signals that adjust inverter output, dispatch storage, manage EV charging, curtail flexible load and coordinate resources as operating conditions change. These capabilities help maintain grid stability while enabling utilities to make better use of distributed energy assets.
• Mobile workforce — These applications become more powerful when operational information goes beyond locating crews. By directing crews to the right assets, confirming switching status, updating restoration sequencing and reducing unnecessary truck rolls, mobile workforce applications help utilities make faster, better-informed decisions.
• Cybersecurity — Utilities’ cybersecurity posture is strengthened by network and device telemetry that can detect anomalies, isolate affected systems and preserve trusted operations. These tools help contain cyber incidents and minimize their impact on the grid. 

The Third Grid won’t prevent physical grid failures. Its value is in reducing the operational impact of those failures and materially improving outcomes.

One clear example can be found in an Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) case study of the Electric Power Board (EPB) of Chattanooga. ORNL found that EPB’s investment in distribution automation and communications reduced annual outage minutes by 43.5% under normal operations. During one severe weather event, the utility restored nearly 56% of affected customers within one to two seconds and saved customers an estimated $23.2 million. Those improvements came not from generating more electricity but from giving operators better visibility and faster control of the system.

As other utilities recognize the power of the Third Grid, they are rethinking communications investments, using them to support multiple modernization objectives.

Some utilities are already making this transition. Southern Linc — Southern Company's wireless subsidiary — has modernized its private LTE network to support mission-critical communications and growing data needs. Oncor, a Texas transmission and distribution utility, has tied its broadband spectrum strategy to greater grid awareness, intelligence and resilience.

Tampa Electric and Evergy have likewise invested in private broadband communications to support long-term modernization. Tampa Electric structured its 900 MHz spectrum agreement to support critical broadband communications across its west-central Florida service territory, while Evergy deployed a private LTE communications network to support grid modernization for its Kansas and Missouri customers. 

The Third Grid reframes communications from an enabling technology into essential utility infrastructure. Just as transmission moves electricity and distribution delivers it, communications connects utilities to the operational information that allows the modern grid to operate safely, efficiently and resiliently.

For that reason, communications should be prioritized as capital infrastructure and planned from the outset of any modernization effort. Deferring these investments doesn’t avoid costs; it leads to slower automation, limited visibility, more operational complexity and increased dependence on external networks that utilities do not control.

Similarly, utility networks such as private LTE offer value far beyond any single application. Their worth is defined by the expanded capabilities they make possible: enabling faster power restoration, stronger coordination, improved resilience and more effective oversight of a more complex grid.

Utilities that recognize this shift will be better positioned to manage today’s grid as well as whatever tomorrow's grid becomes.