February 2026
Member Spotlight
In 2026, we will recognize one member each month, providing an organizational profile and highlighting the member's accomplishments in the smart energy space.
About RUNWITHIT Synthetics (RWI)
RWI works with strategic leaders to converge and generate intelligence that is clarifying, accessible and dynamic, applying innovative digital twin and simulation technology, to accelerate investments in resilient futures.
RWI entered the utility sector in 2019 by modelling a virtual deployment of grid-integrated smart city devices, systems and controls for Itron, one of the world's largest utility suppliers, as the keynote at the 2019 IoT World Expo in Silicon Valley.
The Genesis of Synthetic Cities, with a Grid and People
Shortly thereafter, in December of 2019, RWI launched and commercialized the Synthetic Energy Grid through collaboration with the Canadian Chair in Intelligent Energy Grid Systems at the University of Alberta (U of A), supported by a National Research Council of Canada (NRC) project. RWI worked with the support of the U of A and NRC to extend this utility and energy transition layer to Synthetic Edmonton. In this agentic, AI-based simulation, RWI demonstrated the inflection of behind-the-meter consumption and adoption patterns for electric vehicles (EVs), solar PV, battery storage and energy sharing, along with measures of the associated impacts on grid assets.
Grid Characterization Through Demand-Side and Consumer Sentiment
It was through this initial research that RWI converged grid, people and surrounding influences, bringing into its simulations the effects of behavior and sentiment of households and individuals on demand as well as on adoption of PV, EVs, residential batteries and electrified heating and cooling systems, including heat pumps, today and in various “what if” futures. In RWI Synthetic Environments, the demand side emerges from the adaptive and changing behaviors and sentiments of the household's occupants, dynamically and in response to their environment, both the physical environment (e.g., weather and reliability) and the incentive environment (e.g., rates, adoption affordability and variable rate schedules).
A First Challenge, EPRI Incubatenergy®, Heat-Wave Outage During COVID-19
RWI’s connection to the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) began through RWI’s capability to apply synthetic surveys to Synthetic Populations as part of the 2020 Incubatenergy Challenge.
RWI connected the SECC’s “Consumer Pulse and Market Segmentation – Wave 8” (Pulsewave) survey data, through the RWI capability called Synthetic Learning (SL), to capture the subtlety of consumer sentiment described in the Pulsewave survey data, and then mapped the Pulsewave survey insights into all individuals and households across the entire synthetic population of a city or region, in effect, synthesizing survey results for every individual, while preserving the statistical properties and intent of the original survey.
In collaboration with Salt River Project (SRP) and Ameren, RWI deployed this technology in a resilience modelling environment in metro Phoenix/Tempe. RWI simulated a seven-hour grid outage on a sweltering July afternoon to calculate the impacts and outcomes of a dual-disaster grid outage during COVID-19. RWI factored in backup power access, utility communication investments and COVID-19 rates to determine their effects on vulnerable populations and consumer energy-sufficiency plans. RWI also applied the Pulsewave-derived SL to assess willingness to pay and trust in the utility's response to the dynamic outage and communication plans. RWI also assessed health risks, GDP losses, future GHG emissions and changes in the location and scale of electricity demand.
A Second EPRI Incubatenergy® Selection
In 2023, RWI modelled Synthetic Nashville in collaboration with the City of Nashville, Nashville Electric Service (NES), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and EPRI. RWI demonstrated the application of its synthetic environment and data visualization to model a seven-day cold-snap scenario in Nashville-Davidson County, including geospatially accurate utility infrastructure, people, households, residences, businesses, community centers and services.
RWI applied an evolved SL, incorporating the latest Pulsewave data and further evolution of its synthetic learning, used in combination with other techniques, to map the current state of electrification in Nashville, including factors like those who had retained strip heating, installed heat pumps and had access to high-wattage space heating. The assignment forecasted, synthetically and house by house, electricity demand as temperatures fell to historic lows to identify and quantify hotspots, while pinpointing the location and types of resilience support required versus the capacity available.
Several novel themes emerged from the assignment, including the application of location- and human-impact-based indices as inputs to load shedding to optimize for minimal human impact and resilience needs. Another key outcome was the concept that adopting technologies like household batteries could be incentivized to minimize the resilience support required during unprecedented, cold-condition outages.
Recent and Current Work
RWI forecasted adoption and demand of PV, EVs, batteries, heat pumps and AC through to 2070, household by household, and grid component by grid component, in the Calgary region, a region of 1.8 million people, in partnership with ENMAX, the generator and distributor in Calgary. SECC survey insights were a critical input to modelling consumer sentiment, trust, willingness to pay and adoption responsiveness under different rate structures, incentives and climate trajectories.
RWI has also conducted an interactive tabletop experience of an outage in a Canadian region, in partnership with Industry Science and Economic Development (ISED) and Shared Services Canada (SSC), that featured the concept of incentivizing the deployment of PV and batteries to minimize resilience requirements, both acute and overall.
In parallel with these utility-focused engagements, RWI continues to advance its synthetic modelling framework as a decision-support tool for long-term decarbonization, clean energy and infrastructure investment planning. These efforts reinforce RWI’s ability to connect consumer behavior, infrastructure performance and policy decisions to measurable emissions outcomes at scale.
