Metering.com 19 OCTOBER 2016
Navigant Research has announced that it has launched a new research service which will form part of its utility transformations programme.
Navigant’s Internet of Things Research Service provides independent and objective intelligence around IoT applications for utilities, commercial buildings, distributed energy resources (DER) and smart cities.
According to a release, the information service will focus on transformative market forces and technologies shaping the connected energy landscape.
The firm notes that as connected devices proliferate, the Internet of Things will play a key role across a variety of industries and applications. Facility managers, homeowners, utilities, transportation executives, governments, and other entities are already leveraging IoT technologies to provide insights that lead to greater efficiency, automation, security, customer engagement, and occupant comfort. [National Grid uses IoT to balance energy demand and supply]
The adoption of these technologies is expected to expand even further.
Neil Strother, principal research analyst with Navigant Research, said: “The Internet of Things is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without any edge pieces. Hundreds of millions of connected devices are expanding rapidly into tens of billions in the coming decade.
“Communicating devices in the IoT traverse a wide range of industries and sectors—virtually all areas of life can expect to see some form of this connected world.”
‘The energy cloud’
The release adds that the launch of the Internet of Things Research Service coincides with the rapidly expanding market of Internet-connected devices that support a new digital foundation for the grid, which Navigant has defined as the ‘Energy Cloud’. [Reinforcing the power grid in the IoT era]
The emerging IoT touches nearly all aspects of energy generation, transmission and distribution, and consumption. For utilities, the IoT helps utilities transition into new ongoing advisory and managed services relationships to gain better insight into customer loads and improve customer satisfaction. This new approach to customer engagement will direct behaviour modification, load control, and conservation in concert to maximize reliability and resiliency of the grid.
Navigant Research’s key findings and forecasts about Internet of Things markets include the following:
- Overall global commercial and residential IoT revenue is expected to total more than $776 billion on a cumulative basis over the next 10 years.
- Cumulative shipments of residential IoT devices is expected to reach 1.9 billion over the next 10 years
Global revenue attributed to residential Internet of Things devices alone is expected to grow from $26.5 billion in 2016 to $117.3 billion in 2026. - In the US, 70,000 customers are expected to be in pilot-scale utility IoT engagements by 2020, representing an estimated $50 million market.
- Global utility spend for smart grid and smart city networking and communications is projected to grow from $5.4 billion in 2016 to $9.5 billion in 2025.