70% of U.S. Substations Are Outdated...Here’s What's Next | NovaTech Automation

Roughly 70% of U.S. substations were built before modern digital technology. Now AI, renewables, batteries, and EVs are forcing a century-old grid to become something fundamentally different.

Company bio:

NovaTech Automation provides automation, monitoring, and control technology for electric utilities, with equipment in roughly 25% of U.S. substations. Founded in 1979, the family-owned company helps utilities modernize aging infrastructure while integrating increasingly complex power sources and loads.

Guest bio:

Conrad Oakey is CEO of NovaTech Automation and the second generation to lead the 45-year-old company. A Duke MBA, he has helped expand the business while navigating utility sales, acquisitions, succession, and technological change.

Seven things you’ll learn in this episode:

1. Why the grid must shift from “plan and predict” to “sense and respond.”
2. Why 4% power-demand growth changes the economics of grid innovation.
3. How to sell new technology into deeply risk-averse utilities.
4. Why customer pull matters more than technically elegant innovation.
5. How a $10K product can expand into a $100K integrated solution.
6. Why buying an established business can beat starting from zero.
7. Why NovaTech kills roughly 98 of every 100 product ideas.

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