By Stefan Zschiegner and Dan Evans, Itron
In 2022, the utility industry was faced with numerous disruptors, including increasingly severe natural disasters, fluctuating energy demands amid accelerated EV adoption, and aging infrastructure. Yet, for each of these challenges, there is a solution in industrial IoT (IIoT)-connected real-time data analytics. Whether the intelligence is located at the network edge or at its very center, these insights are vital for organizations trying to navigate an increasingly challenging and unpredictable world. As we begin 2023, how will industry leaders leverage this technology to adapt to disruptors? We’ll focus on two key areas: the impact of distributed energy resources (DER) and what’s next for smart cities.
Distributed Energy Resources
1) EVs will be the catalyst of the energy transformation.
While aging infrastructure and increasingly severe natural disasters have been major concerns in the utility space, EVs remain the most disruptive element to the energy grid to date. When you consider the full scope of electrification – cars, fleets, trains, planes, etc. – energy demands are unprecedented and rising daily. Though just 3 million EVs were sold in 2020, the global market is expected to skyrocket to 233.9 million by 2027. On top of that, if every motorist in the U.S. switched to an EV, utilities would have to find a way to generate 25% more electricity. Adapting to these surges with resilience in the grid will be the biggest challenge for utilities moving forward – we can expect EVs to be a key focus area for government funding in 2023.
2) While the accelerated adoption of EVs will introduce unique challenges to the grid, it will also provide opportunities for new revenue streams in the utility space.
Many utilities foresee major distribution challenges over the next five years. Consumers are catching onto this as well, as a leading concern with EV adoption is the availability and reliability of charging stations. Switching to an EV makes more sense for a California urban resident with access to charging stations every few miles, compared to those who live in more rural areas. In 2023, utilities will be met with both a challenge and an opportunity to install charging infrastructure that meets current EV adoption rates.
Utilities are reaching an inflection point with countless opportunities for new revenue streams. Many businesses will begin to view EV charging stations as a way to differentiate themselves from nearby competitors, with hotel chains across the country already making these investments. We will begin to see charging stations replace gas stations – with some California cities banning new gas stations altogether. Capitalizing on these industry changes will require education across the industry, leading to many more planning initiatives, pilots, testing, validating and scaling over the next year.
3) Low-voltage network control will change everything.
The low and medium-voltage network — the part of the power grid from the distribution transformer on down to the meter at the home or business, and increasingly behind the meter — will be at the center of many emerging business opportunities in the utility space in 2023. In today’s dynamic energy industry, the low-voltage network plays a critical role through the increased adoption of EVs and distributed energy resources (DERs), including wind, solar and battery storage. What was once a one-dimensional flow of power from generation to end user is becoming an interactive, two-way transactional grid with more unpredictable variables than ever.
In 2023, forward-thinking utility companies will redefine what’s possible with low-voltage network management by leveraging the power of distributed intelligence (DI), continuous insights, analytics and control. Equipped with these actionable insights, utilities will gain real-time visibility of endpoints across the network, ensure grid reliability, lower operating costs, extend the life of vital grid assets, foster the adoption of DERs and EVs, enhance customer engagement and create new revenue streams. Localized improvements to the low-voltage network will be implemented in the next 10 years to drive greater adoption of new DERs in a safe and sustainable way.
4) DI will equip utilities to engage with customers in new ways, taking the integration and adoption of DER programs to new levels.
Striking the balance between consumer expectations and utility priorities around safety and reliability hinges on access to intelligent, real-time data. Personalized insights are such a priority to consumers that half say they’re willing to pay extra to receive them, according to research. This data equips consumers with the tools they need to lower their energy consumption and reduce their bills, while also helping utilities reduce operating expenditures and develop new revenue streams. However, nearly one-fifth of utilities with at least some analytics capability aren’t currently using it. This presents a unique opportunity for technology vendors to partner more closely with utility providers to educate and explore practical ways to fully leverage the power of real-time analytics and insights in 2023. In engaging with customers through real-time data, utilities will better meet consumer expectations, create new revenue streams, improve operational efficiency and accelerate adoption of DER programs.
Related: Inspiring intelligence all the way down to the edge: The autonomic grid
Smart Cities
1) 2023 will be the year for real-time, data-driven insights.
Smart cities are an evolving space, and maturation will require cities and utilities to tap into real-time data analytics. In fact, more than 9 out of 10 utility executives say the ability to gain insights from real-time data is very or extremely important. Utilities are facing an increasingly difficult future, complicated by regulatory mandates, economic realities and climate disruption. However, with the right tools, real-time data collected by a variety of sensors (meters, streetlights, etc.) can cultivate actionable insights to help cities streamline lighting, energy and water service delivery and predict threats to the stability of the grid or other critical infrastructure. In many cases, the data can also reveal potential new revenue streams.
Real-time, intelligent data has many applications from a smart city perspective, including flood monitoring, air quality monitoring, identification of optimal EV charging areas, sustainability through streetlights, parking management, optimal traffic management schemes and even public safety measures such as gunshot detection. When infrastructure is intelligently connected, and when it is equipped with the right technology throughout, analytics can add value anywhere—and everywhere.
2) Urbanization will complicate climate disruption.
In the past few years, urbanization has rapidly increased. By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities and urban areas. To accommodate this constant influx of residents, city managers will rely heavily on smart city solutions to help manage and mitigate the impact on municipal services, citizen quality of life and public safety.
As urbanization increases, new buildings and roadways are built, which can result in what is called the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Urban heat islands occur when cities replace natural land cover with dense concentrations of pavement, buildings and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat. City managers can leverage smart city technology to monitor these rising temperature levels around the city to understand the environmental impacts and inform actions that can be taken to address these impacts more effectively.
3) Public safety will become one of the most critical smart city applications.
When we discuss modern safety applications, we’re typically referencing sufficient lighting on roadways, bike paths and walkways, air quality monitoring, traffic management and flood monitoring to identify trends and predict imminent danger. When used in tandem with predictive analytics, the IIoT sensors deployed under a smart streetlight canopy can enable city governments to pro-actively detect and act on issues.
Today, smart city applications include those that can literally save lives. For example, in Annapolis, Maryland, local law enforcement worked with the regional utility to install gunshot detection sensors. By operating on the intelligent utility network, the sensors use advanced technology to detect the occurrence of an event (while filtering out false alarms, e.g. fireworks), a more precise location of it, and a video recording of the event for police records. Most importantly, gunshot detection sensors can immediately dispatch police to the area for potentially life-saving intervention.
While this breakthrough technology unfortunately cannot prevent crime altogether, it helps law enforcement identify the location, differentiate between the shooter, victim and bystander, and react more quickly when incidents do occur. In 2023, we can expect to see many more cities interested in deploying this type of technology.
Looking ahead
The utility industry now has a unique opportunity to improve its understanding and management of disruptors through real-time data analytics. Intelligent insights maximize the smart infrastructure investments utilities have already made, offering countless possibilities for improvements, efficiencies, and new products and services. This data can help improve grid resiliency in the face of rising threats from weather, meet unpredictable demand from EVs, and more. With a future marked by constant change, gaining intelligent insights from existing investments is the most critical next step for 2023.
About the Authors
Stefan Zschiegner joined Itron in March 2020 as VP Product Management for the Outcomes business. Prior to joining Itron, he held product business leadership roles driving digital transformation in telecom (leading Mitel’s Cloud business) and in manufacturing (Velo3D). Previously Zschiegner held product leadership positions in energy solutions at Enphase Energy and driving global growth with grid connected solutions for First Solar. His education includes the Executive Marketing Management Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a masters equivalent degree in electrical engineering from Technical-University Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany.
Dan Evans is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Itron, where he is responsible for the Smart Cities Line of Business. The role includes driving the product strategy and Go To Market commercial offerings and partnerships. Dan joined Itron through the 2018 acquisition of Silver Spring Networks. Dan joined Silver Spring Networks in 2007 and was instrumental in building the product, processes and team who took the Silver Spring Networks installed base from 5,000 units when he joined to over 30 million at the time of acquisition. Prior to Silver Spring Networks, Dan has over 27 years of experience in the networking space in a variety of roles at SkyPilot Networks, Excite@Home and NASA. Dan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from San Jose State University, in California.
