(Credit: Pixabay)More data insights and technology to help improve grid resiliency, along with an increase in the development of smart cities are seen as key investment and development areas for utilities moving forward, according to a new report by Itron.
Data and smart systems will help improve reliability as increased demand, threats from natural events, and unpredictable use from the deployment of electric vehicles add pressure to the grid, the report finds. As a result, none of these areas are currently the highest priorities of utilities but will be top investment areas over the next five years.
Within smart cities, electric vehicle infrastructure is one of the highest concerns, especially as countries around the world add policies and requirements for adoption of the vehicles. Electric vehicle charging will be the top investment priority in the next five years, Itron says.
Recently, the United States approved charging infrastructure plans for 35 states. Developing resources to increase the implementation of electric fleets is also becoming a focus of many companies.
Other smart city tools include smart sensors and meters to help monitor demand, potential disruptions, and renewable energy sources. Other smart systems, such as efficient streetlights, are highlighted in the report.
Distribution automation, load monitoring, control systems, and predictive analytics are all seen as priorities to improve operations over the coming years. Artificial Intelligence could save more than $1 trillion in energy transitions over the next 30 years, according to a U+ report, and the smart meter market is expected to reach nearly $30 billion by 2026, Report Linker finds.
Overall, data analytics becomes a top-three investment priority over the next five years as a way to address energy and water management and reliability. For utilities and cities to make the most out of advancing technologies and data, the report says, the next step is to make strategic use of the increased information.
According to the report, data analytics technology will rank first for managing extreme weather, second for operational efficiency and for personalization, and third for sustainability for utilities over the next five years. The report finds that 77% of energy users see grid resilience as a key priority, and they believe it is extremely or very important that utilities use data analytics with extreme weather.
Grid reliability due to heat in California, and a hurricane in Puerto Rico in recent weeks have highlighted why this type of effort is becoming more of a priority across the US.
The Itron report outlined examples of three top smart cities. It says Glasgow, Scotland, incorporates data streams from 60 organizations into a central data warehouse to monitor areas like energy use and streetlights. It says Copenhagen, Denmark, has more than 19,000 smart lighting points and the city also monitors energy use and waste management. Smart streetlights in Tampa, Florida, have saved more than $2.5 million per year.
As smart cities grow, electric vehicles are seen as a key component. According to the report, electric vehicle owners are five times more likely to generate electricity and are more than two-and-a-half times more likely to have battery storage.
Of those producing their own electricity, more than three-quarters have battery storage and 84% would like to sell that electricity back to the grid. The expected massive increase in electric vehicle use also has nearly all utilities concerned with how the grid will adjust to that new demand. That also has distributed energy resources and managing the influx of renewable energy generation is also a significant piece of future data use for utilities, according to the report.
The report surveyed 600 utility executives and 600 consumers from the US, Australia, India, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It focused on what data and analytics usage, priorities, and barriers bring to the utility market.
