Power Profile: Bhavani Amirthalingam - SVP & Chief Digital Information Officer

The intersection of electric utilities and telecommunications is an important and interesting crossroads for the energy industry today.

A reliable, secure and smart energy grid is a key focus for electric utilities, and Ameren is working hard to make a smarter grid in order to help meet customer demand for energy and to support the exponential growth in connected devices. Today's energy grid must be reliable and efficient when it comes to providing power, but it must also provide a secure communications infrastructure.

"We often refer to the communications grid as the 'third grid' regarding its foundational capability," said Bhavani Amirthalingam, senior vice president and chief digital information officer for Ameren. "To enable the millions of connected devices going on the grid, we're deploying a fiber optic network across our footprint, utilizing our grid infrastructure to build a highly secure and robust network backbone. We started this a few years ago, and by the end of 2023, we'll have 4,500 miles of fiber across our company."

The new utility fiber lines will offer a more reliable and resilient network than traditional communications infrastructure. Additionally, it supports the expansion of clean energy, including Ameren Missouri’s wind and solar facilities and homeowners' private solar installations.

Bringing the energy and telecommunications systems together has been a key focus for Bhavani and her team since she joined the company in 2018. Their work is leading the company's digital transformation efforts that support enhancing the customer experience, enabling smart grid operations, communications and smart meter technology. They are also focused on driving customer affordability through digitizing processes and reimagining the future of work, along with cybersecurity management and other key elements of Ameren's information and operational technology.

Bhavani brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to Ameren from her previous leadership roles at Schneider Electric and World Wide Technology. She served as chief information officer for both companies and led business transformation, customer solutions and innovation efforts.

"As companies are experiencing rapid technology acceleration and digital adoption, cybersecurity risks continue to escalate at an unprecedented rate," said Bhavani. "With Ameren being a part of the nation's critical infrastructure, protecting Ameren’s assets and customer information is a core part of the strategy. As part of the Smart Energy Plan, we continue to invest in a secure communications infrastructure to ensure we protect our customer and grid assets from evolving cybersecurity threats."

Another great benefit that comes with expanding the fiber network is that Ameren Missouri could lease spare fiber capacity to third-party internet service providers who could then offer broadband service to homes and businesses in unserved or underserved part of the state. The revenue from fiber leasing would be returned to Ameren Missouri customers as a reduction in the revenue requirement in a general regulatory rate review, helping to keep rates affordable.

"Telecom partners can lease spare fiber capacity on lines to reach customers who have no or minimal broadband, improving their quality of life," said Bhavani. "Missouri lags behind other states in broadband access with 1 in 6 Missourians being underserved today."

In 2019, 895,000 Missourians didn't have access to wired broadband service. With events surrounding COVID-19 coming into play, the number of families that had to shift to working from home or attending remote school increased significantly, thus emphasizing the current environment felt from the digital divide.

Bhavani has first-hand experience as she has had to help educate her two children at home during the pandemic. This helps reinforce for her the importance of building a maintaining a smarter, more robust energy grid and telecommunications system.

"I discovered my passion for technology at age 12 when computers first showed up at school and I have followed it ever since. Every courageous move, whether it was picking up and leaving India at age 23 for an opportunity in New York to coming to Ameren in St. Louis, has allowed me to follow my dream and passion to help drive the digital transformation supporting the nation's critical infrastructure which serves the communities where I live," said Bhavani. "It has resulted in tremendous personal learning and opportunity for growth. I am humbled by the many extraordinary leaders, organizations and teams that I have been fortunate to work with and have shaped who I have become throughout this journey."