The energy sector is evolving rapidly—modern grids rely on renewables, real-time forecasting, and AI-driven operations. But without reliable data governance, these innovations create more complexity than efficiency.

For many energy teams, the challenge isn’t collecting data—it’s making sense of it. Utilities are merging wind and solar inputs with traditional grid systems, each with different formats and quality standards. EV charging networks are sorting through inconsistent usage records that disrupt billing and forecasting. Oil and gas operators are monitoring remote assets that generate massive streams of sensor data, often with gaps or duplicates.

As these systems scale, fragmented and unreliable data becomes more than just an inconvenience. Without clear governance, teams face growing risks to accuracy, security, and performance—no matter how advanced the technology on top of that data becomes.

If these challenges sound familiar, you're not alone. On April 9, 2025, join us at Data Leaders Forum, a virtual event for data and energy leaders focused on the future of governance. In our closing session, Smarter Governance for the Future of Energy, industry experts will share how they’re securing critical infrastructure, managing renewable complexity, and unlocking new customer experiences through modern governance strategies.

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How data fragmentation disrupts energy operations

For many energy organizations, fragmented data is one of the most common obstacles to reliable operations. When systems process conflicting or incomplete data, even routine tasks become unmanageable.

Consider how fragmentation shows up across the industry:

• Utilities are processing millions of data points from smart meters, outage management systems, and distributed energy resources. Without standardized formats and shared quality controls, discrepancies slow down outage response and disrupt load balancing.
  
  
• Renewable energy providers depend on accurate weather and production data to forecast variable power generation. When key inputs are missing or out of sync, demand forecasts drift—leading to overproduction, underproduction, or costly grid instability.
  
  
• EV charging networks handle high volumes of usage data across hundreds of charging stations. Inconsistent records between chargers and backend systems result in billing disputes and gaps in customer reporting.
  
  
• Oil and gas operators monitor remote assets through real-time sensor feeds. Latency issues, duplicate entries, and manual corrections introduce errors that compound across maintenance schedules, safety systems, and production reporting.
  
  

When these sources operate in silos or under weak governance, the downstream impact is felt everywhere:

• Metrics don’t align between teams, creating conflicting reports on system performance.
• Critical systems can’t share information, forcing manual workarounds and slowing response times.
• Forecasting models produce unreliable outputs, leading to real-world supply and demand issues.
• Security gaps emerge as data moves between unmanaged endpoints, exposing infrastructure to risk.

Fragmented data puts reliability, safety, and profitability at risk across the entire energy operation.

The risks of poor data governance in energy

Energy systems depend on accurate, secure, and complete data for grid operations, trading platforms, maintenance schedules, and customer applications. When data integrity fails, risks escalate quickly.

Without strong governance in place:

• AI models make decisions based on inconsistent data, leading to inaccurate demand forecasts.
• Predictive maintenance misses critical issues when sensor data is incomplete or delayed.
• Security gaps widen as access points grow, exposing infrastructure to cyber threats.
• Compliance becomes difficult when regulatory data can’t be reliably tracked or audited.

These aren’t hypothetical problems. In 2021, the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack exploited weak access controls, forcing a 5,500-mile fuel pipeline offline and disrupting nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel supply. The $4.4 million ransom was only part of the cost.

What made the incident worse wasn’t just a lack of cybersecurity—it was a lack of governance. Basic safeguards around user access, password management, and system monitoring could have helped prevent the shutdown or reduced its impact.

Transforming energy operations through governed data

With robust governance frameworks in place, energy organizations are making AI work for them—without the operational risk.

Grid operations

• Balance renewables and traditional generation in real time
• Predict and prevent outages with confidence
• Optimize load distribution for maximum efficiency

Predictive maintenance

• Identify failures before they disrupt operations
• Reduce downtime across transmission and generation assets
• Extend the life of high-cost infrastructure

Customer engagement

• Ensure accurate billing through consistent data pipelines
• Provide usage insights to help customers manage energy consumption
• Support new services like EV charging optimization and dynamic pricing

None of this is possible with unreliable data. Governance ensures every system—whether it's in the field, the back office, or the control center—is working from the same, trusted information.

Why energy organizations need purpose-built data governance

Energy operations depend on high volumes of complex, interconnected data. From grid performance to customer billing, small discrepancies can create system-wide issues if left unchecked. Managing this data requires governance tools designed specifically for the scale and complexity of critical infrastructure.

With modern governance in place, energy teams can:

• Standardize metrics – Ensure consistent definitions across grid operations, billing systems, and customer platforms.
• Secure infrastructure data – Apply access controls and monitor usage to prevent unauthorized changes.
• Automate compliance – Stay aligned with NERC CIP, FERC, and ISO standards without manual effort.
• Improve data quality – Detect and correct anomalies before they affect operations.
• Enable full lineage – Track data from generation to delivery, making it easier to audit and troubleshoot.
• Reduce operational overhead – Cut down on manual reconciliations and duplicated work.
• Accelerate decision-making – Provide reliable insights for energy trading, load forecasting, and resource planning.

Short-term fixes keep systems operational, but only structured governance ensures long-term security and reliability.

Essential capabilities for effective energy data governance

Managing grid, asset, and customer data at scale takes more than static policies. Energy organizations need technology that keeps governance consistent across complex, distributed environments.

That starts with capabilities like:

• Enterprise-wide data cataloging – Automatically identify and manage grid, asset, and customer data across all systems.
• Metadata management – Organize operational details like asset status, maintenance records, and usage logs.
• Data contracts – Formalize agreements between data producers (like grid operators) and consumers (like analytics teams) to ensure quality standards.
• Policy automation – Detect and flag issues in real time, from missing sensor data to out-of-spec energy production.
• Governance visibility – Monitor coverage and compliance across the entire organization.
• Incident management – Get alerted to governance issues as they happen to minimize downtime.

With these systems in place, teams can shift from fixing data problems after the fact to preventing them altogether. Automating tasks like infrastructure tagging and renewable energy tracking through platforms like Secoda makes it easier to maintain reliable operations at scale.

Case study

Panasonic energy

Accurate, secure, and trusted data is essential for Panasonic to power safer transportation and improve energy efficiency. For the Smart Mobility Office at Panasonic, strong governance is critical to delivering the insights that make transportation safer and more energy efficient.

As the centralized data team supporting Panasonic’s North American business units, they  manage over 3TB of connected vehicle, connected intersections, telematics, IoT, weather, and geospatial data each week. With data coming from multiple sources and business units, clear governance is essential to help their teams work efficiently and maintain trust in the data they share across the organization.

The team needed a way to streamline discovery, secure sensitive information, and provide clear context around how data is used. Without strong governance, growing data complexity made it difficult for teams to collaborate, deploy products quickly, and support continuous improvement across mobility projects.

To address these challenges, Panasonic put governance at the center of their data strategy by:

• Using role-based access controls (RBAC) to ensure that data consumers only see information provisioned for their role.
• Creating business-unit-specific schemas to align how data is ingested and organized.
• Documenting calculations, refresh schedules, and dependencies so users have the context they need to trust and apply data.
• Consolidating common questions and answers with Secoda’s Questions feature, giving stakeholders a self-serve way to find information and avoid repetitive requests.

This approach helps Panasonic deliver faster product handoffs, maintain a tight feedback loop, and keep their data consumers informed without slowing down the work of the centralized team. With governance built into their daily workflows, they’ve reduced repetitive questions, eliminated manual guidance, and created a more efficient system for managing data at scale.

Why energy data leaders should attend our forum

The Data Leaders Forum is designed for energy professionals managing the complexities of modern grids, renewables, and customer systems. Join our panel, "Smarter Governance for the Future of Energy," to learn:

• How to implement modern governance across diverse energy systems
• Ways to secure critical infrastructure while supporting innovation
• How to move from reactive data management to proactive optimization
• Automation strategies that free up teams to focus on high-value projects

Take action now

Energy data is a strategic asset. Organizations with strong governance will set the standard for reliability, sustainability, and customer trust.

If you're navigating data fragmentation, operational blind spots, or the balance between compliance and innovation, you’re not alone.

Join us at the Data Leaders Forum to hear how forward-thinking energy leaders are solving these challenges and powering the future of energy.

Register Now