Digital grid powering the future of utilities

NYC -

According to a new EY report Digital grid: powering the future of utilities, digital grid is becoming a primary focus area for the global power and utilities sector, with 92% of companies surveyed planning to invest in the next 12 months. In the next 5 to 7 years, investment in digital grid is expected to be in the region of $500 billion. Forty-six percent of respondents confirmed that digital grid – the digitization of electricity, gas and water networks – is a top strategic program or a target for investment over the next year. Growth in renewables (72%), improvement in infrastructure operations and performance (72%) and cybersecurity risks (60%) were cited as the primary drivers for investment in this area.

An equal number of survey respondents (48%) identified difficulty making a business case, immature technologies and supplier inexperience, and a lack of understanding of the implications as the top barriers to digital grid adoption.

Fifty-six percent of respondents agree that non-traditional utility entrants will completely transform the sector. These new competitors – from telecommunication and technology companies to energy aggregators and energy service companies – are investing in offerings that have the potential to erode traditional utilities’ returns on digital grid investment. This includes connected home products, home energy management solutions and off-grid solutions among other products. The report highlights innovative approaches undertaken by utilities to manage disruption from new entrants, including developing a virtual power plant based on battery storage, promoting a “bring your own battery” business model and testing blockchain for electric vehicle charging

Related News

Yale Report Promotes Western Grid

Yale Report on Western Grid Integration: Just Say Yes

SAN FRANCISCO - A strong and timely endorsement for western grid integration forcefully rebuts claims that moving from a balkanized system with 38 separate entities to a regional operation could introduce environmental problems, raise costs, or open state energy and climate policies to challenge by federal regulators. In fact, Yale University’s Environmental Protection Clinic identifies numerous economic and environmental benefits from allowing the California Independent System Operator to become a regional grid operator.

The groundbreaking report comprehensively examines the policy and legal merits of allowing the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to become a regional grid operator, open to any western…

READ MORE
us-nonprofit-invests-in-electric-trucks

U.S. Nonprofit Invests $250M in Electric Trucks for California Ports

READ MORE

Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Can Nearly Level Southeast Electricity Demand

Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Can Nearly Level Southeast Electricity Demand for More than a Decade

READ MORE

power lines

Electricity sales in the U.S. actually dropped over the past 7 years

READ MORE

california solar power

California just made more clean energy than it needed

READ MORE