Consulting firm Frost and Sullivan has unveiled its run down of the top 10 industry trends that it believes will help to shape the future of convergence between the energy and ICT sectors.
The progress being made within the technology used in energy systems means that a whole host of significant opportunities have now arisen in terms of energy and communication solutions.
In an upcoming video conference on Wednesday October 2nd, industry manager Yiru Zhong, and senior consultant Jonathan Robinson will outline what trends can be expected to have a meaningful impact on the energy grid by the year 2020.
The firm claims that the level of investment in smart equipment is set to increase by nearly 400 per cent from $27 billion (£16.72 million) in 2011 to $125 billion in 2017.
This will cover an array of services including advanced metering and grid automation to high voltage cabling and demand response.
But it does warn that even such a large amount of extra money will still not be enough to set up what it refers to as a 'smart grid', and make it a reality.
Mr Robinson explained: “There is actually limited bandwidth within the energy utility companies to handle all the potential innovations that are taking place.
“Factors such as the growth in renewable energy and distributed generation are proving quite disruptive to the status quo in the energy market. Utilities are having to take on this challenge, whilst also investing in a range of grid upgrade projects”.
Ms Zhong added that the ICT sector is very often willing to participate in a particular technology, while also believing that strong demand exists, but is then confused by the slow rate of adoption in the energy sector.
An understanding of the energy sector's smart grid priorities is therefore considered by Zhong to be extremely helpful to vendors within the sector.
The webinar is therefore expected to appeal to telecom service providers, big data vendors, system integrators, as well as software developers.
Search Mindbench.com for the latest management consultancy jobs and consulting recruitment opportunities or contact us on +44(0)207 089 9017