IoT in energy sector will increase at 11.8% CAGR: Dr Omkar Rai

Dr Omkar Rai is the Director-General of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). It is an autonomous society under MeitY, Govt. of India to promote software exports from India. From tech solutions like agri-tech and med-tech to start-ups and IoT, the STPI plays an important role in bringing forth the idea of development through technology. In a recent tweet, Dr Omkar Rai supported the view of IoT on the energy sector.

He opines:

Realisation of huge benefits due to adoption of IoT in the energy sector like boosting business productivity, gaining operational agility & enhancing health & safety of employees will drive the global IoT in Energy Market to grow from $20.2 billion in 2020 to $35.2 billion by 2025.

He supported this view based on research by "Markets and Markets". The market research platform conducted intensive research on the use of renewable and non-renewable energy resources. The report predicted an increase in the use of Internet of Things, as more and more sectors are now moving towards a tech-solution-based product structure.

So what drives the IoT Market in Energy Sector?

Major factors expected to drive the growth of the IoT in Energy Market. These are:

- Boosting business productivity

- IoT-based agile systems

- Rising instances of cyberattacks

- Enhancing the health and safety of employees

- Adoption of smart grid architecture, technology upgrades, energy management and regulatory mandates

The Oil and Industry, which leads the energy sector, is a very capital and asset-intensive industry. They require large capital to carry out their day-to-day activities like mining, quarrying and exploration. So, these companies are looking for tech-based solutions to reduce cost and improve process efficiency. One of the major benefits of this industry is that it will never get out of business. They will face losses in case of volatile markets like Coronavirus Pandemic 2020, but in the end, every sector is dependent on the energy sector to ease them out.

But, on the flip side, the competition is very high. Hence, the best course for an energy-company is to reduce costs.

How will IoT solutions benefit in reducing costs?

According to the research, when companies adopt IoT solutions, they will improve the operational efficiency of the oil and gas segment. This will help them to operate in this industry to sustain the drop in oil prices. Further, IoT solutions can be deployed for remote monitoring of oil rigs and maintaining pipeline integrity. Thus, IoT solutions help detect potential accidents and averting them. IoT-enabled sensors and devices allow remote monitoring of operations and improved end-to-end processes in oil and gas facilities.

Further, IoT-enabled asset management solutions (IeAMS) are a combination of processes, assets, workflows, and analytics into a single solution. They offer centrally consolidated tracking, monitoring, and analytics system for the sector. IeAMS includes the management of energy meters, predictive asset maintenance, and control operations of assets.

This, to achieve the organizational strategic plan, IeAMS will take care of performance, risks, and expenditures of the asset. This will offer many advantages like

- Improved capacity and utilization

- Operational visibility and analysis

- Proactive solutions for asset failure situations

- Safety assurance

Finally...

In the past few years, we could also see that the Latin American and Asian economies lack the required infrastructure. But now they are allocating a huge amount of their annual budgets to the development of the utility and the power sector infrastructure. Oil and coal currently dominate the energy market with 70% market share. The renewable energy accounts only 15% market share. And there will be a further rise, visible on the energy sector as we move to a more centralised data and cloud intensive programs.