Lessons from the world's smartest grid

Well known for being an early adopter of technology, Japan has been no different when it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT). Tokyo, Japan’s capital city, recently modernised its traditional electric power grid, the fourth biggest in the world, with more than 10 million advanced meters and devices.

From what was once a static infrastructure, the electricity grid is now a highly connected network of devices and sensors. Japan’s willingness to embrace the development of smart networks through IoT has proved that these kind of deployments are possible in even the most densely populated locations on the planet.

Japan’s main utility company, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), has been able to optimise capital, better manage repairs to the grid and respond faster to peak demand and supply by accessing real-time information from Landis+Gyr’s smart meters. This also enables the utility to provide its customers with real-time energy usage data and respond to millions of demand response requests each hour.

Globally, the introduction of smart networks has the potential to change the game for the utility industry and offer a compelling cost saving proposition to end customers. To date, though, outside of Japan, the adoption of smart grid and communication and information technologies has been slow-moving.

While a number of different sectors have willingly embraced the idea of IoT and smart networks, the true possibilities of the utility industry in advancing smarter solution initiatives are yet to be seen.

So what’s holding us back?

Over the last decade, we’ve seen advancements in cloud infrastructure, open-source data software and scalable storage which can now accommodate big data.

Subsequently, in many industries, conversations have shifted around how to make more informed decisions for our future, using the data at our disposal; data that didn’t exist even five years ago. And although there are many different permutations of IoT and big data which could take up to a decade to realise, we’re already witnessing some of the large-scale rewards of smart solutions.

Access to real-time information enables cities and governments to monitor urban congestion and pollution, generate more efficient waste collection systems and create responsive households that can react to dynamic energy prices. Australia is a leader in many of these fields; however, in today’s global market, our local utilities must innovate too.

Opportunities for utilities

There’s a significant opportunity for Australia to learn from other countries in Asia — and the developing world — that are leveraging data and analytics and smart networks to monitor electricity outages and optimise storage on the grid, because there is a seemingly more pressing need to do so. These are countries with population multiple times what we have, and just like what we’ve seen in the telecommunications sector, we’ll see a leapfrog in technological innovation as these countries build out increasingly sophisticated energy solutions.

The ability to extract data from a network of connected devices will enable utility companies to make smarter decisions around demand, know where to upgrade services and know which infrastructure has to be replaced within the grid. It will also help utilities manage, measure and optimise flows and consumption to help predict future usage and outages.

For retailers, the access to new information from this network will mean they can better service their customers, be proactive in managing their billing and provide insights to optimise their use of capital. It’s this ability to foresee demand and loads, and respond to problems more quickly, that has benefits for the entire population.

Smart meters allow for electricity use to be measured in real time, and they can send and receive data remotely on electricity consumption and outages. They allow meters to be read remotely too and eliminate the need for a service person for connections and disconnections. They also allow for varying prices for electricity, depending on demand. We’re advancing the development of networks in Australia connecting to Telstra’s CAT-M1 network in Australia to extend the depth and breadth of coverage.

For utilities, this will provide robust coverage to ensure the success of smart metering rollouts. For households and individuals, the benefits come from increased control of consumption and devices, with usage adjustable depending on prices. It’s a compelling value proposition for the customer.

The good news is that some regions in Australia, for example state governments in Victoria and New South Wales, are beginning to embrace and support IoT infrastructure with the rollout of smart meters, encouraging all households to make the switch. The fact that we’re seeing legislation change, ensuring all new meters installed in homes are smart, is certainly a step in the right direction. It’s the infrastructure that’s built around this that will be the next step towards a truly smart network, the sort of which we’re already seeing in Japan.

Overcoming challenges

In Australia, one of the key challenges we face is that a myriad of different stakeholders are involved in the decision-making processes for this sort of initiative. Local councils, state governments and utilities are each accountable to a diverse range of communities and they all have to follow different policies and regulations. The structure of these siloed organisations creates a complex path to develop a framework for deployment of smart solutions. To overcome this, it’s important for all decision-making parties to align. There are a few countries where all responsible organisations are streamlined in this way.

It’s not surprising that we have seen significant progress in the developing world, because it often takes a lot longer to refresh a generation of infrastructure than it does to build from scratch. In developed countries, it’s often difficult to convince all parties of the requirement for change. A way around this is to encourage greater collaboration between leaders across different industries that all place public benefit at the centre, and hear from leaders in those sectors who can talk about the benefits of their own initiatives.

For utilities, as we’ve observed in Japan, smart meters and grids could put the power back into the customer’s hands for high-tech, home energy control. The integration of renewable energy sources can also be far simpler, and ultimately shift mindsets when it comes to how we view our energy consumption.

By exploring new partnerships and ecosystems, utilities can become important strategic partners to governments and drive the advancement of smart networks. If all technology initiatives require energy to function, it seems flawed that we’d ever leave this sector behind in considerations of IoT. In fact, it presents some of the richest territory in which to innovate.

As the CEO of Landis+Gyr’s ANZ and SEA businesses, Clark works in a market with the highest penetration of solar per capita in the world and a fast-changing regulatory environment in Australia. Under his leadership, he has defined a whole new business proposition, featuring smart grid, smart cities and AMI investments, across Asia Pacific. In response to this, he led the creation of a new services business, intelliHUB, to facilitate a market-led smart technology deployment. Before joining Landis+Gyr, Clark was the Chief Technology Officer for Australia’s largest utility, Ausgrid, where he won and delivered the federal government’s landmark ‘Smart Grid, Smart Cities’ program.

Top image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/jamesteohart