In last Janaury, we outlined some key trends for the year 2011.
- Automation is the new mantra
- Improving Power Quality
- Negotiating risks with scarce resources
- Shift from IEC 60439 to IEC 61439
On the same lines, we discussed with electrical professionals, experts and analysts to mine the trends for 2012.
In this newsletter, we carve out the ‘trends to watch for 2012’ for professionals related to electrical systems.
Year 2011 was slightly sluggish for the Indian power scenario. India continues to face significant shortages, both energy and peak to the tune of 10-12%.
- With the nuclear plants at Jaitapur and Koodankulam facing resistance from locals to slow progress on the overall power generation capacity in public sector, the demand still outpaces the supply. Events at Fakushima in Japan further intensified the questions on safety of nuclear power.
- Jitters were also felt after coal mining problems in Andhra Pradesh and other regions as we still depend on black gold for more than half of our total power requirements.
- Meanwhile, the industry, especially the large ones, have aggressively added captive power plants to insulate themselves from the ups and downs in Indian power scenario.
With the above macro-drivers in view, given below are some of the key trends that are likely to lead our work in 2012.
Advantage Automation
In 2011, we had highlighted three factors that would drive automation – Change in mindset to evaluate lifecycle costs rather than product costs, availability of technology and need to cut cost and dependencies on human resources. This and the next year, these factors driving the automation trend are likely to intensify further.
Influx of affordable automation systems and products from South East Asian countries and availability of expertise in India will see greater adaptation of automation in electrical systems. Prices of components in say temperature monitoring, lighting systems etc. have began to stabilize over the last few years.
With a mixed economic outlook ahead in 2012, cost cutting is likely to occupy the center stage. Power remains both a significant cost component as well as an opportunity to create savings. Automation will continue to be a major tool to extract cost savings from power.
Networked and Informed Power
In 2011 we saw home AC’s, refrigerators and TV’s being integrated with the web through internet. We believe a similar trend is underway in industrial systems.
Year 2012 could see some successful pilots in connecting and greater integration of electrical systems to the web. With more equipment enabled on Ethernet, the components can stream it’s performance or health through the internet from a remote location.
Electrical professionals can monitor the health of systems on the go or from some central location. However, this also means the professionals have to pick up and master new skills that allow them to take advantage of this technology.
Availability of information, as opposed to the current system that requires physical checking of equipment or component for updates, means far better control and convenience.
This also means more time for professionals in maintenance which could be now focused on getting a better performance from the system rather than a more singular focus on maintaining system uptime.
Small Opportunities for Big Gains
In 2012, we will have to mine for more number of smaller opportunities for power savings for two reasons. One, the larger ones typically cost more. Second, the sheer number of small untapped improvement opportunities that exist today in the industry is huge.
For example, retrofitting existing lighting systems for lower power consumption and better working experience could be one such area. Although it’s the AC’s or some manufacturing equipment that consumes significant share of power, the costs of upgrading or changing the same might be inhibitive in an uncertain economic environment. Peripheral opportunities of saving power like lighting systems etc. become more attractive in sluggish economic environment.
Welcome Renewable Energy
A relatively lower clarity on emerging power scenario and attractive benefits (tax as well as savings) on renewable energy, solar and wind will gain greater prominence. Many companies would be seriously looking to meet 1-5% of their total energy requirements from solar, wind or both. After initial glitches the success of wind farms in Gujarat, pockets of Maharashtra, Karnatak, Tamil Nadu etc. could translate into greater awareness and adoption of renewable energy by the industry.
Today, investments in Solar and wind energy are affordable due to reduction in overall price and the possibility of investing in relatively smaller units. In fact, solar energy is pegged to be at an inflection point in both commercial and domestic applications in the next two years. As professionals in the electrical field we need be abreast with the developments and be proactive in adopting the same to stay competitive.
We sincerely hope that the above outline helps you to extract specific action points for the year ahead. Please let us know your thoughts and feedback on the trends in 2012. We would be happy to share your ideas with other members on e-power platform.
