Rising environmental awareness, higher energy prices, aging infrastructure and growing energy demand are some of the main drivers of the development of smart grids. It?s a growing market that operators can tap into to raise substantial new revenues.
Phones, laptops, printers, cameras, exercise monitors and vehicles are some of the many types of smart, connected devices that are bringing new levels of convenience and security to people?s lives. Meanwhile, connected machines are helping to reduce operational costs for businesses, adding value to their products and services and helping to meet ambitious CO2 reduction targets.
Machine-to-machine (M2M), or smart object, communications is a fast developing market and one that operators are well placed to profit from. As the providers of connectivity, operators can also offer well-developed provisioning, authentication, charging and billing solutions, all of which underpin successful M2M operations.
One of the most advanced sectors to deploy smart objects, in the form of smart meters, is the power industry. As energy networks transform from centralized to distributed architectures, utilities are seeing smart grids as critical for achieving more efficient operations, as well as meeting new regulatory pressures.
Huge potential for smart grids Smart grids ? electricity transmission and distribution that uses two-way communications to optimise supply and demand are vital in managing energy consumption, integrating renewable and micro power generation, and supporting the greater use of electric vehicles.
The benefits of smart grids could be substantial. In the United States alone, ?successful deployment of smart grid technologies could yield savings to society of $130 billion annually?, claims a recent McKinsey magazine.
The deployment of smart metering is already well advanced in Finland, Italy, Sweden and California. Smart meters provide information for utilities to measure energy consumption in real time and for customers to follow the amount and cost of their consumption. Trials have shown that peak loads can be reduced by 20 per cent by simply by making consumption data available to consumers.
