Last week, we held our flagship event, Itron Inspire EMEA, which virtually gathered utilities, customers, partners, municipalities and other industry experts and thought leaders throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa to discuss the key challenges our world is facing. Itron’s CEO, Tom Deitrich, pointed out in his keynote presentation that the industry is facing four key trials related to:

 

• Infrastructure – The network in which energy and resources are delivered is aging, outdated and open to security concerns.
• Environment – Not only is the number of natural disasters on the rise, but there are also concerns on integrating renewable energy sources and addressing climate disruption.
• Social Interactions – Customers are seeking real-time level transparency into their energy use similar to the ease of accessing information they have in other aspects of their life.
• Governmental commitments – As countries set environmental goals to reach a net zero carbon footprint by the middle of the century and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, utilities are turning to more renewable sources of energy. The crisis in the Ukraine and the resulting increase in energy prices is only hastening changes.

 

Throughout the Itron Inspire EMEA breakout sessions, speakers and participants discussed and brainstormed ideas on how to overcome these challenges. The sessions looked at solutions related to the key theme of this year’s conference – smart cities, water operations and data – where Distributed Intelligence (DI) augments each to create a new, resilient infrastructure for utilities.

 

• Smart Cities – The future lies in how technology solutions and IoT networks will drive greater environmental sustainability, economic visibility and provide better quality of life for residents. As shared by customers, initiatives such as smart streetlights are the tip of the iceberg on what can be done with the network. Applications ranging from parking, public safety, electric vehicle (EV) charging and smart metering of utilities are a few examples of what cities are exploring for the future.
• Water Management – Participants and speakers discussed the challenges water utilities face which range from revenue loss from non-revenue water and an inability to collect data, to customer service and more. With Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) meters, utilities have greater access to data for driving efficiency, improved billing and the ability to combat water losses.
• Data & Analytics – Proper management of smart cities, energy and water could not happen without data insights. This is essential to building a reliable infrastructure. Through DI and meter data management systems solutions, utilities have streaming data for real-time customer engagement and analysis. It is critical to collect, monitor and manage this information to identify the challenges for quick remediation.

 

It is clear a new model is needed for managing our energy and water infrastructures for future resiliency. Climate disruption is driving the need for this change and the requirement to embrace the DI and demand energy response programs. We are already experiencing this with the soaring energy prices around the world due in part to the crisis in the Ukraine, an important tipping point for utilities and consumers to take stronger action to combat this issue. Utilities must embrace renewable energy sources for better grid management but also to meet the goals outlined by COP26 for a reduced carbon footprint. And consumers must have the right knowledge of their energy use to better manage their resource use.

 

There are many changes on the horizon that will impact the reliable delivery of energy including EVs and renewables. Utilities and cities can overcome these challenges by adopting AMI, deploying DI, using real-time monitoring and grid intelligence at the edge and real-time analytics to deliver reliability and resiliency of the grid.

 

The same is true for the resourceful management of water – an economic and moral imperative. Operational visibility gives cities and utilities efficient management of their water infrastructure. This insight alongside regulatory management will best manage this precious resource.

 

To learn more, watch Itron Inspire EMEA sessions on demand and free of charge through May 6, 2022. The conference was recorded in English with close captioning options available in French, German, Spanish and Italian. Click here to watch the sessions on demand and gain insight into how to create a more resilient, reliable energy infrastructure.