The global Internet of Things (IoT) in utilities market size will be worth 53.8 billion by 2024 according to a leading research firm and there are various applications that are helping fuel that growth. And yet in PwC’s 15th Global Power & Utilities Survey – 82% of energy and utility executives admit their company is behind the curve when it comes to making the changes demanded by a digital world and simply are not ready for the transformation. But those that are deploying IoT are seeing huge benefit – so it’s no wonder why the survey found that 58% are most attracted to future partnerships with IoT enablers.
Top Three IoT Applications for Smart Energy
Energy is an essential service, key to every aspect of modern life. We use water, electricity and gas to heat our homes and offices, power our mobile tech, our appliances and, increasingly, our cars. The pace and scale of change is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before and the advancement of technology and IoT are helping innovate the energy and utilities markets in many ways.
Smart water: IoT metering solutions are enabling energy and utilities companies, and cities alike to improve the efficiency of their water distribution system (WDS) and reduce infrastructure and operating costs - by employing water use monitoring, water flow metering, leak detection and smart valve control.
Smart Electricity: Smart metering has revolutionised the energy market, with solutions that allow fault detection, remote supplier switching and on and off-peak plans, moving to the creation of the ‘Smart Grid’. The Smart Grid allows energy companies to detect and proactively react to local changes in energy usage and offer energy plans with incentives for off-peak usage.
Smart Gas: As is true for water and electricity – being able to accurately measure gas consumption is also required manually or via smart meter. IoT has enabled the development of gas metering solutions – moving beyond basic meter reading and improving operations and safety, such as pressure, temperate inside the gas pipelines.
Be The 18%...
In a recent IMC Industrial IoT virtual event, KORE hosted a panel presentation with industry experts - Maarten Hektor, Managing Director at Involtum and Daan Bos, Demand Manager IoT at Stedin looking at the digital transformation that the energy and utilities industry is traversing right now. They discuss their experience, offer advice, and share learnings of IoT projects they have deployed.
On this panel, Daan Boss discusses the electricity distribution market in particular has changed quickly and is quite challenging with the enormous increase of electricity usage and the increasing concern on climate change and rising global temperatures has led to the so called ‘electrification of society’. A good working example is an IoT enabled fault indicators - instead of driving around to find the location of a short circuit, mechanics can directly see in which cable the short circuit took place – being able to pinpoint issues in Stedin’s nets will save money and reduce outage of their services. In his own words. ‘IoT enables a quick, scalable, secure and cost-effective data disclosure of our assets and is the key to all the challenges our industry has. Without IoT, we simply would’t be able to make the shift towards a data driven grid operator.’
Through the use of IoT in energy we are seeing fantastic opportunities across the sector, Maarten Hektor explains that, Involtum now can offer ‘an IoT smart activation and transaction platform complete with an integrated billing and payment system. Our platform enables service providers to offer innovative shared-use services, which can be linked to upgrade existing shared-use facilities or applied to new facilities, saving service providers from having to develop a platform themselves.’ Examples include modern shorepower connections allowing boats and ships to connect to electricity on the quay across ports throughout Europe, EV charging facilities with app-based payment services and providing ‘power as a service’ to markets, festivals, parks.
If you want to learn more about the challenges facing utilities and energy, the impact of IoT and examples of IoT projects undertaken – plus practical advice for those just embarking on their journey. Watch an on-demand panel with industry experts to as we delve into the depths of IoT – looking at the rise of e-mobility: smart energy management.
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