Meeting the increasingly important but complex needs of the energy industry requires not only excellent design and engineering, but also advanced sensor capabilities that extend beyond the limits of current technology. A piece of the solution for enhanced technology will come from quantum sensors, which leverage quantum mechanics to deliver tools that will push past inherent boundaries of the classical sensor platforms available today.
In a recent paper, “Review of Quantum Technology for Practical Sensing Applications in Energy Supply,” EPRI highlights how quantum sensing may help make this next technological step possible. By leveraging quantum phenomena such as superposition, entanglement, tunneling, coherence, and energy quantization, quantum sensors offer the potential for enhanced sensitivity, improved stability, and new measurement modalities that surpass the performance boundaries of classical sensors.
The brief outlines a set of Quantum Sensor Ambitions—characteristics that describe what next‑generation sensing platforms must achieve to support future energy applications such as fleet optimization and data collection. Together, these ambitions point to where utility sensing is headed and why quantum technologies may play a meaningful role.
Seeing the Unseeable: Advancing Resolution, Precision, and Accuracy
Quantum sensors operate at the atomic and subatomic scale, enabling the detection of minute changes in magnetic fields, electric fields, strain, temperature, pressure, and other quantities. Their ability to leverage quantized energy levels, spin states, and wave‑based interference can support advanced resolution and precision beyond classical limits.
These capabilities may allow utilities to detect early-stage degradation, microstructural changes, and subtle anomalies that are not observable with conventional inspection tools. This is not simply higher-resolution data—it represents enhanced accuracy and high-contrast measurements that can strengthen asset awareness, support earlier intervention, and reduce the likelihood of unplanned outages, all while maintaining a baseline of safe operations. For utilities managing aging infrastructure, this level of insight becomes a strategic advantage. For utilities implementing novel infrastructure, design-appropriate sensing technologies can help ensure and demonstrate operational safety.
Built for the Impossible: Harsh Environment Readiness and Low-Drift Operation
Many energy environments, including nuclear systems, geothermal wells, and corrosive industrial settings, push classical sensors to their operational limits. Quantum materials such as nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond, silicon carbide color centers, superconducting circuits, and rare earth-doped solids exhibit properties that support operation under high temperature, high radiation, high pressure, and other extreme conditions.
Quantum sensor platforms also show potential for drift-free sensing, reduced recalibration needs, and long-duration monitoring where classical devices degrade. Improved stability and environmental resilience translate into lower maintenance requirements and greater confidence in the data used to inform critical decisions.
More With Less: Multimodality, Miniaturization, and Integrated Platforms
The brief highlights the ambition for versatile data collection, in which a single quantum sensor platform can measure multiple physical quantities simultaneously—such as magnetic fields, strain, temperature, and electric fields. This multimodality may reduce the number of devices required for comprehensive monitoring while bringing a new sensing advantage of data fusion involving separate data collected at mutually identical time and spatial locations.
Quantum sensing platforms are also advancing toward miniaturization and portability, enabling handheld inspection tools, drone-based sensing, and embedded monitoring in locations that are difficult to access with traditional equipment. As fabrication techniques mature and commercial off-the-shelf components become more widely available, quantum sensors may become increasingly cost-effective and practical for utility applications.
Ready for the Grid of the Future: Standardization, Integration, and Secure Data Transmission
What’s more, EPRI published another report that provides an overview of current sensor platforms, highlights those with the strongest near-term relevance for energy applications, and outlines potential contributions to sensor-driven fleet optimization. It is intended as an entry point for stakeholders seeking to understand where quantum sensing may offer practical value across the power sector.
For quantum sensing to scale, it must integrate seamlessly with existing utility systems. This research emphasizes the need for integrated platforms, standardized designs, and qualifiable sensor units that can be deployed within regulated environments—particularly nuclear applications, where qualification requirements are stringent.
Emerging designs prioritize interoperability, cybersecurity, and secure (including cabled) data transmission, ensuring compatibility with digital twins, advanced analytics platforms, and modern grid monitoring architectures. As quantum communication technologies mature, they may further enhance the security and reliability of critical infrastructure sensing.
The Road Ahead: Complementing Classical Sensors and Enabling New Capabilities
Quantum sensors are not expected to replace classical sensors. Instead, they will complement and extend existing tools, filling measurement gaps, improving precision, and enabling new forms of monitoring that support a safe, reliable, and affordable energy system. Utilities that engage early, through pilots, partnerships, and participation in EPRI’s research, can help shape standards, guide investment, and build the workforce needed for this next era of sensing.
Quantum sensing represents more than an incremental technological advancement. It offers a new way of understanding the grid, and with it, new opportunities to strengthen the energy systems of the future.
—Luke Breon is principal technical leader at EPRI.
