IOT forcing utilities into brave new future

The rapid growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) is forcing traditional utilities and industry providers to adapt, or be outmanoeuvred by strong new entrants. Power Engineering International spoke to PwC’s Director, Digital Transformation, Richard Hepworth about how the technology is impacting the power sector.

2018 is, according to some analysts, set to be the year of ‘IoT everywhere’. US electric utilities alone are expected to indulge in a $1.3trn opportunity to cut operating costs over the next decade by adopting technologies and processes enabled by the technology.Read full article at Power Engineering

One estimate indicates why that could be the case, asserting that the industry collects less than 2 per cent of the potential data generated by a typical power plant.

That just applies to the US, so what does that opportunity add up to for the rest of the world and why has it taken this long for understanding of this opportunity to be understood?

The ‘grid edge’ is another phrase set to become common parlance, with Bizztechnology website defining it as the “hardware, software and business innovations that are increasingly enabling smart, connected infrastructure to be installed at or near the ‘edge’ of the electric power grid. The edge means the proximity to end-use customers (at their homes, businesses or at distribution systems very close to both) rather than at power plants or along transmission lines.”