While utilities have traditionally been slow-moving beasts when it comes to adoption of technology, unprecedented change in the industry is forcing utilities’ hands, with pressures at the top of the agenda including: the aging workforce, aging infrastructure, operational inefficiencies, fuel price volatility, market liberalization, and technological advancements through smart metering and smart grid projects.
Of these pressures, smart metering and smart grids are the principal drivers for technology investment in the utilities industry, and will remain so for the next decade at least. This research stream assists both utilities and technology vendors to better understand the wider business context, benefits of, and barriers to investment in new technologies.
A robust communications network is the backbone of smart meter deployments and distribution automation technologies. This theme will explore the communications options available to utilities, and the opportunities for telecommunications vendors and services companies.
The disaster at the Fukushima reactor in Japan sent the nuclear industry into a tailspin. The German government has already announced it will close all of its existing nuclear fleet; will other countries follow suit? What will the nuclear landscape look like once the memory of Fukushima starts to fade? This report will look at the future for nuclear power and what this means for the services companies that serve it.
Smart metering and smart grid projects cause an exponential growth in the data volumes a utility has to manage. This stream looks at the drivers of “smart” and the consequences of Big Data on a utility: getting the basics of data management right, the effect on a utility’s IT architecture, data analytics, standards, and security.
It should come as no surprise that utilities are covered by the most stringent CO2 regulations. Power generation is responsible for huge carbon emissions; the pumping of gas and water consumes vast amounts of power. However, with large mobile workforces and huge data centers to run, utilities’ carbon footprints are created by more than just the obvious culprits. This theme looks at what utilities are doing to reduce their carbon emissions.
One of the biggest concerns for the utility business is the lack of clear policy on renewable electricity generation. Renewable power is highly politicized and relies on long-term subsidies and grants to ensure its economic viability. In addition, renewables require a decentralisation of generation infrastructure that creates huge problems for utilities. This theme looks at the technologies that support renewables and the strategies utilities can adopt in the face of long-term uncertainties.
Smart energy projects require utilities to build new IP networks that extend into their customers’ premises. The massive growth in the number of end points creates many new potential weak spots for potential cyber attacks. In addition, the Stuxnet virus focused the importance of protecting critical national infrastructure. This theme looks at trends in security standards and recommended strategies for utilities.
Electric vehicles are nothing new. Battery-powered cars have been around for over a century; their biggest barrier to broad adoption has been the convenience and lower cost of petrol-powered vehicles. However, as fuel costs rise and carbon emissions become an increasing concern, the prospect of ubiquitous electric vehicles is becoming very real. There are a number of potential scenarios for electric vehicles that could develop over the next decade. This theme examines what must happen in technology and distribution network infrastructure to cope with rapid growth of electric vehicles.
