By RhizomeLearning Objectives
- Describe what Rhizome does and why quantifying grid resilience matters
- Explain how machine learning helps utilities prioritize investments against extreme weather and wildfire
- Identify the factors that go into a project's value of resilience
What Is Rhizome?
Rhizome is a software company that helps electric utilities answer a hard question: of all the possible grid investments, which ones actually buy the most protection against extreme weather, wildfire, and outages? Utilities have long lists of projects competing for limited budgets, and it is difficult to compare, say, hardening a wildfire-prone line against upgrading equipment in a flood zone. Founded in 2022 and based in Seattle, Rhizome draws on national-laboratory resilience research and machine learning to put a defensible number on the resilience value of each proposed project, so planning decisions rest on evidence rather than intuition.
The result is a clearer way to prioritize spending. Rhizome weighs how exposed each part of the grid is to hazards, what regulatory requirements apply, and how vulnerable the surrounding community is, then translates that into a quantified value that utilities can use to rank and justify investments. Rhizome's work includes users such as Seattle City Light, VELCO, and National Grid, the last of which has applied it in an AI-powered wildfire-risk initiative.
💡Key Concept
Grid resilience investment planning: The process of deciding which upgrades and hardening projects a utility should fund to best withstand hazards like storms, heat, wildfire, and flooding. Because budgets are finite, the challenge is comparing very different projects on a common scale — a task that improves when each project's expected protection can be quantified rather than judged case by case.
What Rhizome Does
- Value of resilience — assigns a quantified resilience value to each proposed grid investment
- Hazard exposure analysis — weighs how exposed assets are to extreme weather, wildfire, and outages
- Investment prioritization — ranks projects so limited budgets go where protection is greatest
- Compliance awareness — factors regulatory requirements into the planning picture
- Community-vulnerability weighting — considers the vulnerability of the communities each project serves
How AI Is Applied
Rhizome applies machine learning to the planning and prioritization problem, grounding its models in resilience research from national laboratories. Rather than detecting objects in imagery, its AI is used to weigh many factors at once — hazard exposure, asset condition, regulatory obligations, and community vulnerability — and estimate how much resilience a given project would add. The output is a quantified value of resilience that makes very different projects comparable on a single scale.
That quantification is what changes utility decision-making. Instead of ranking projects by gut feel or by whichever risk is most top-of-mind, planners can sort investments by the protection each is expected to deliver per dollar, and defend those choices to regulators and stakeholders. Because the approach draws on established resilience science, the numbers are meant to be explainable rather than a black box.
Who Uses Rhizome
Rhizome is used by electric utilities and grid operators that must plan resilience investments under tight budgets and regulatory scrutiny. Its users include grid-planning teams, resilience and reliability engineers, and regulatory-affairs groups. Named users include Seattle City Light, VELCO, and National Grid.
Pricing
Rhizome is enterprise software with quote-based pricing. Cost depends on the scope of the utility's planning needs, the size of the network analyzed, and which capabilities are included. Utilities contact Rhizome directly for a tailored quote.
Company Details
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Company | Rhizome |
| Founded | 2022 |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington |
| Category | Grid resilience investment planning |
| Foundation | Machine learning grounded in national-lab resilience research |
| Notable Users | Seattle City Light, VELCO, National Grid |
| Website | rhizomedata.com |
Strengths
- Quantified decisions — turns hard-to-compare projects into a common, defensible resilience value
- Research-grounded — builds on national-laboratory resilience science rather than opaque scoring
- Budget efficiency — helps utilities direct limited funds where protection is greatest
- Regulatory alignment — factors compliance and community vulnerability into planning
- Proven adoption — used by utilities including Seattle City Light, VELCO, and National Grid
Limitations and Considerations
- Data quality matters — resilience estimates are only as good as the hazard, asset, and community data behind them
- Planning tool, not construction — Rhizome informs which projects to fund; utilities still build them
- Model assumptions — quantified values rest on modeling choices that planners should understand and scrutinize
- Enterprise scope — quote-based utility software, not a consumer product
Key Takeaways
- Rhizome helps utilities decide which grid investments best protect against extreme weather, wildfire, and outages
- It uses machine learning grounded in national-lab research to assign a quantified value of resilience to each project
- The value weighs hazard exposure, compliance, and community vulnerability, making very different projects comparable
- Best for utilities that must prioritize resilience spending under tight budgets and justify those choices to regulators
