The transition to sustainable energy systems is one of the most significant challenges of our time, requiring innovative technologies to optimize efficiency and integration at the enterprise level across numerous sectors. Among the most transformative technologies in this regard is the Internet of Things (IoT), which is continuously reshaping the landscape of energy management.

By enabling more efficient monitoring, management, and optimization of energy, IoT technologies are pivotal in advancing the energy transition across multiple fronts by enabling more efficient monitoring, management, and optimization of energy.

Secure and Efficient Energy Systems with IoT

Secure connectivity is essential in today’s energy systems, providing the backbone for reliable and resilient energy management. IoT technology augments this foundation by facilitating safe, real-time monitoring and data collection from various distributed energy resources. This secure data transit is crucial for protecting systems against cyber threats while ensuring that energy operations are efficient and adaptable to real-time conditions.

Furthermore, IoT’s impact extends significantly to optimizing renewable energy sources such as solar power. Through IoT-enabled devices, energy providers can perform real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance, which are vital for minimizing downtime and improving grid stability. These systems utilize advanced analytics to forecast energy output and adjust grid operations dynamically, enhancing the integration of renewable resources like solar and wind. Despite the cybersecurity challenges and the complexity of achieving seamless interoperability among diverse technologies, the robust capabilities of IoT provide a solid foundation for overcoming these hurdles and maximizing the efficiency of solar energy solutions.

Empowering Consumer Engagement and Decentralized Systems

IoT-driven advancements in the energy space extend beyond industry-level operations; they also directly impact everyday consumers. These technologies revolutionize how energy providers operate and transform how consumers conceptualize, interact with, and manage their energy usage.

By delivering detailed consumption data directly to consumers, IoT devices empower individuals with the knowledge to make informed decisions about their energy use through real-time monitoring, personalized insights, and demand response capabilities. These factors drive behavioral changes and foster greater energy efficiency and sustainability at the consumer level.

Additionally, IoT plays a crucial role in facilitating the rise of decentralized energy systems. These systems allow for more localized management of energy resources, reducing dependencies on centralized grids and enhancing community resilience to energy disruptions. IoT enables efficient management and coordination of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as residential solar panels and community battery storage, providing a seamless flow of energy and real-time adjustments based on local consumption and production patterns.

Navigating Challenges and Seizing Opportunities

While IoT introduces transformative potential for the energy sector, it also brings challenges, particularly in cybersecurity and data privacy. These concerns are paramount as energy systems become increasingly interconnected and reliant on digital infrastructures. However, the strategic implementation of IoT can address these challenges by enhancing system security and reliability through continuous monitoring and advanced cybersecurity protocols.

The opportunities for growth and improvement are vast. IoT technologies not only enhance operational efficiencies but also support crucial sustainability goals by more effectively integrating renewable energy sources into the grid. Moreover, they enable predictive maintenance capabilities that reduce downtime and operational costs, all while improving the reliability and lifespan of energy equipment.

As the energy sector continues to evolve, integrating IoT technologies will play an increasingly vital role in shaping a sustainable future. IoT is at the heart of the energy transition by enhancing grid stability, optimizing renewable integration, and empowering consumers. For energy stakeholders, investing in IoT is a technological upgrade and a strategic move towards a resilient, efficient, and sustainable energy framework, promising a brighter future for global energy systems.

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Berg Insight, the world’s leading IoT market research provider, today released a new market report covering the Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) market.

In this study, a HEMS is defined as a system that at minimum consists of a solar PV system, battery storage system and a web-based management portal or smartphone app that allows for remote monitoring and control of the system. A wider HEMS also integrates backup generators, EV chargers, heat pumps, home appliances and other connected products and systems in the home.

There were an estimated 950,000 HEMS installed in European homes at the end of 2022. An estimated 320,000 systems were added to the installed base during the year. This figure includes both new installations of solar PV + battery storage systems as well as installations of battery storage systems in existing solar PV systems (i.e. retrofits). The penetration rate is still very low in Europe, below one percent. Germany is by far the leading market. Growing at a CAGR of 40.3 percent, the installed base of HEMS in Europe is estimated to reach 5.2 million systems at the end of 2027.

There were at the same time an estimated 520,000 HEMS installed in North American homes at the end of 2022. Shipments including both new installations and retrofits reached 250,000 systems during the year. Only about 0.5 percent of the houses and MDUs in the region now have a HEMS installed. The installed base of HEMS in North America is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 49.4 percent to reach 3.9 million systems at the end of 2027.

The HEMS value chain spans various companies from different industry sectors. Some companies are vertically integrated, offering a complete HEMS based on in-house developed hardware and software solutions. Other companies develop and manufacture one of the components of HEMS. Some of these companies integrate components from third-party companies to be able to offer a complete HEMS. There are also several companies that specialises in providing a software platform that enables other companies to offer HEMS. US-based Enphase Energy, Tesla and Generac, Israel-based SolarEdge, and Germany-based E3/DC (Hager Group), Senec (EnBW) and Solarwatt are leading companies in the HEMS market in North America and Europe. All seven companies offer a range of software and hardware solutions that make it possible to control the electricity generation, storage and usage at home.

Additional important players in the European and North American HEMS market include Germany-based Kostal, SMA Solar and Sonnen (Shell); Italy-based FIMER (McLaren Applied); Austria-based Fronius; France-based Schneider Electric; and US-based Eaton, SimpliPhi Power (Briggs & Stratton) and Tigo Energy. There are also a number of Asia-based companies active in Europe and North America. Key players include BYD Electronic, LG Energy Solution, Huawei, Growatt New Energy and Pylon Technologies.

“A number of factors indicate that the market for HEMS is on the verge of entering a strong growth period that will last for several decades”, says Martin Backman, Principal Analyst at Berg Insight. The residential sector accounts for about a fourth of the total energy consumption in North America and Europe. As the adoption of electric cars and heating systems are expected to grow fast during the coming years, household electricity consumption is also expected to increase.

Mr. Backman, continues:

“The ability to control and optimize the household energy consumption and even generate and store electricity in the home will be of key importance for both individual households and the society as a whole going forward.”

HEMS help homeowners to reduce the electricity bill and increase independence from the electricity grid.

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IoT Connectivity Will Help Solar Homes and Small Businesses Have More Reliable and Flexible Energy Management.

Enphase Energy, Inc., a global energy technology company, has selected AT&T to provide Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity to cellular modems that are part of the Envoy-S with Mobile Connect, a new gateway to energy management.

Enphase will use AT&T’s fast and reliable network with its next generation Envoy-S with Mobile Connect, also announced today, to strengthen reliability and to enhance speed to communicate with each Enphase solar system. The Enphase system combines solar generation, energy storage and load control to create an integrated, efficient and scalable platform that saves system users money, helps installers grow their business and enables a more stable utility grid.

Envoy-S provides innovative features that enable system owners to manage their energy use more efficiently including: energy usage insight, consumption monitoring, revenue grade metering, remote update capabilities and load management.

Enphase also offers Mobile Connect, a cellular modem with service provided by AT&T that offers independent Internet connectivity. In addition, Envoy-S offers integrated Wi-Fi and flexible networking options that includes AT&T connectivity. With this next generation solution, solar installers can ensure Internet connectivity is consistent and reliable independent of the Internet setup in the home. Installers can also use the Enphase Installer Tool Kit mobile app for use with smart phones and tablets to quickly and easily configure an Enphase system, commission Envoy-S and confirm a solar installation.

“We’re developing IoT solutions that help address the needs of a rapidly growing renewable energy market,” said Mike Zeto, general manager of Smart Cities, AT&T IoT Solutions. “Utility companies can offer their customers better choices and more control of their usage to save energy and money.”

“AT&T’s IoT technology helps us carry out our vision for a clean energy economy,” said Stefan Zschiegner, vice president of product management, Enphase Energy.

“More than 10 billion measurements from our microinverters are carried via tens of millions of messages—equivalent to about 2 terabytes of data – to our Enlighten cloud-based monitoring systems every day.”

“The ability to send this amount of information over a fast and reliable cellular network enables us to offer more comprehensive solutions to our customers, such as the connected home for consumers, asset management for financiers, and grid services for utility companies.”

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RacoWireless powers the next generation in connected facilities and energy management.

RacoWireless, the leading machine-to-machine (M2M) enabler, announced today that it has partnered with EnTouch Controls, a leader in energy management systems for restaurants, retail and small businesses, to provide a connected solution for facility management.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, retail companies and restaurants spend nearly $20 billion annually on energy – and cutting these costs by even 10 percent can boost profit margins by as much as 2 to 4 percent. EnTouch is helping small business operators capture some of those savings by providing an energy management system (EMS) to reduce energy usage through data analytics, performance diagnostics and managed services.

The EnTouch EMS platform integrates wireless thermostats and monitoring controllers with a cloud-based facility management dashboard that customers can access from anywhere. The connected systems feed the dashboard every minute with usage data that can be analyzed for trends to identify maintenance issues or usage patterns. The company also offers EnTouch 360°, a 24/7 managed service to analyze this data to detect abnormal energy usage and also to alert facilities staff to potential maintenance issues.

Greg Fasullo, CEO of EnTouch, said:

“The EnTouch platform is disrupting the EMS space by bringing the technology to small businesses that would not otherwise be able to afford traditional building automation solutions.”

“The wireless connectivity solutions provided by RacoWireless are allowing our customers a better understanding of how energy is being used or wasted, identifying hidden maintenance issues, and optimizing energy levels.”

EnTouch’s energy management system has demonstrated energy cost reductions of up to 25 percent.

“The connected facilities space is on the cusp of exploding right now, and no company is providing more innovative solutions than EnTouch Controls,” commented John Horn, President of RacoWireless.

“Once again, we are starting to see how limitless the applications are for M2M technologies.”

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GL865-DUAL Embedded in Elster Energy ICT’s AM110-R Communication Module for Wireless Wide-area Network Connectivity.

Telit Wireless Solutions, a global provider of high-quality machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions, products and services, today announced that the company’s GL865-DUAL, smallest GSM/GPRS dual-band 900/1800 wireless module in LCC-castellation packaging is to become the cellular M2M technology integrated into ElsterEnergyICT’s AM110-R Communication Module. The AM110-R provides wireless wide-area network connectivity for Elster’s AS300 Smart electricity meter. Elster Energy ICT develops complete, end-to-end solutions that deliver the insight, intelligence and information needed to power energy management and smart grid strategies formulti-site, commercial organizations and to support asset management, load optimization and customer services at utilities of all sizes.

As an integral part of Elster’s advanced metering infrastructure solution, the AS300 offers utilities the ability to manage data from smart electricity, gas and water meters. With a comprehensive array of interchangeable features and functions, Elster plans to propose country specific variants of the AS300 meeting the varying and unique market specific requirements across Europe. It offers a modular solution for wide area network (WAN)/local area network (LAN) and home area network (HAN) communication infrastructures. This modular design allows utilities the flexibility to quickly and easily exchange communications technologies throughout the life of the meter to future prooftheir investment as technology and regulatory requirements evolve. The AS300 can be easily integrated with meter data management (MDM) and head end applications. Its range of communications solutions ensures secure and reliable two-way communication fromthe metering devices all the way through to the utilities backend.

Elster EnergyICT offers a range of communication devices for both the Smart Grid and Energy Management systems. Many utilities around the globe put daily trust in these devices enabling a level of interoperability for their existing and new multi-vendor metering infrastructure. This makes it easier to manage and operate their network, and apply new Smart Grid use cases.

The Telit xL865 is a Telit module family featuring a compact LCC castellation packaging that offers the option for manual soldering and removal, making this product suitable for low-volume niche applications. The GL865-DUAL variant in its LCC castellation packaging technology, ultra-small form factor, excellent energy efficiency, and low unit price is the ideal module for mobile applications from low to high-volume across all industries. Areas of application include smart metering, medical monitoring equipment, miniaturized security systems, and tracking devices for people, animals, and assets.

“The utility sector is vibrating with demand for solutions such as ElsterEnergyICT’s multi-utility approach”, said Emmanuel Maçon-Dauxerre, VP Global Energy Segment at Telit Wireless Solutions.

“These types of solutions serving various vendors, technologies and utilities are as elegant as they are a very viable path forward for this segment which is seeking to achieve total rationalization in use of resources.”

“The GL865-DUAL is totally in line with this rationalization focus. It is dual-band product for the European market which can be easily replaced when needed by its quad-band sibling for other markets.”

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The GSMA today unveiled an update to its 2009 landmark report “Mobile’s Green Manifesto” which outlines the positive impact of operator initiatives in the areas of energy and carbon management.

Analysis of 34 mobile networks worldwide(1) shows that, despite considerable growth in mobile connections and traffic, total network energy consumption increased only slightly from 2009 to 2010. The analysis also shows that the total energy per unit traffic declined by approximately 20 percent and energy per connection declined by five percent over this period, indicating that the industry is making strong progress towards its goal of reducing its total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per connection by 40 percent by 2020.

“This is the first ever detailed global estimate of mobile network energy consumption and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO(2)e) emissions and it shows that the mobile industry is making progress in reducing its own emissions and energy costs, as well as those in other industry sectors,” said Gabriel Solomon, Head of Regulatory Policy, GSMA.

“Mobile can enable savings through a range of smart applications and can contribute to a reduction of total emissions that is at least four to five times its own carbon footprint.”

The report used data and analysis from the GSMA’s Mobile Energy Efficiency Benchmarking (MEE) service to calculate both the energy costs and the CO(2)e emissions that result from the electricity and diesel consumption of mobile networks(2) globally. The MEE Benchmarking analysis shows that if all networks with above average energy consumption are improved to the industry average, there is a potential energy cost saving for mobile operators of $1 billion per annum at 2010 prices; improving to the top quartile could save over $2 billion annually.

Smartphones, tablets, consumer electronics and machine-to-machine (M2M) devices are beginning to connect everything from cars to health services and even entire cities, which will have a positive impact on many industries. Through these and other developments, the mobile industry today is enabling significant reductions in GHG emissions and energy costs across a range of sectors of the economy, and the opportunity exists for mobile to enable even further savings. Approximately 26 million mobile M2M connections worldwide(3) are enabling GHG emissions savings estimated to be about 3 million tonnes (Mt) of CO(2)e annually. On a regional basis:

• The US and Canada together comprise 50 per cent of mobile M2M connections and 38 per cent of global GHG emissions savings;
• Asia Pacific accounts for 23 per cent of M2M connections and 30 per cent of emissions savings;
• Western Europe represents 17 per cent of connections and 23 per cent of GHG savings.

Future savings come from smart applications, often as a result of M2M communications, particularly in applications such as smart grids and meters, as well as smart transportation and logistics. The mobile industry has the potential to contribute to an abatement of man-made GHG emissions. In the future, there is a significant environmental and commercial opportunity for mobile operators to help companies in other sectors and industries to both reduce their GHG emissions and cut energy costs, for example:

• Global mobile M2M connections in smart grids, smart meters and fleet management are forecast to grow strongly, at 30 to 40 per cent per annum, reaching approximately 100 million mobile M2M connections(4) worldwide by 2015. This would result in possible GHG savings of 18 Mt CO(2)e, the equivalent of taking over 4 million cars off the road(5)
• Mobile has the potential to enable much greater emissions savings of at least 900 Mt CO(2)e in 2020, which is 1.7 per cent of the global 2020 GHG emissions forecast by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its “business-as-usual” scenario(6);
• Emissions savings in 2020 will result from the use of 3.5 billion mobile M2M connections(7) and also from mobile dematerialisation applications, where travel, products and processes are substituted by virtual alternatives.

As more operators join the GSMA’s MEE benchmarking service, the accuracy of the estimations of total mobile network energy consumption, energy cost and CO(2)e emissions can be improved and the results used to track industry performance over time. The GSMA will continue to work with regulators and standards bodies to ensure the MEE Benchmarking methodology, already included in a global standard by the International Telecommunication Union, fits with other methodologies developed by the global ICT industry. Future development may include life cycle assessment of energy and carbon emissions based on an approach agreed by operators and manufacturers.

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Companies reduce energy costs and enhance the overall effectiveness of the smart grid. Open networks, machine-to-machine (M2M) technology and collaboration make the grid smarter.

Modernizing the nation’s electric infrastructure will likely be a daunting task that will take utilities years to implement; however, there are proactive steps that businesses and homeowners can take today to more effectively manage energy consumption. With that in mind, Sprint is working with Proliphix and SmartLabs to make energy management tools available and easy to install for end users, including businesses and consumers.

Sprint today announced that the Proliphix IMT-550 Internet Managed Thermostat is now available with Sprint wireless network connectivity. This connected thermostat allows small- to medium-sized retail business owners to reduce energy expenses and remotely monitor their storefronts while achieving a positive return on investment in just months. It supports three external wired sensors, which can sense temperature or dry contact closures from external equipment. Each of the sensors can provide independent alarms via email or text message when alerts are needed. Proliphix, an energy conservation controls company, is the creator of the first IP-enabled intelligent network thermostat.

Sprint today also announced that SmartLabs INSTEON will be available in late 2011 with embedded Sprint network connectivity. This plug-n-play system will allow property owners to access and control energy consumption from a Web portal or a Sprint smartphone. INSTEON-compatible products enable energy management, demand response and scheduled load-shedding with real-time reporting and alerts. Property owners can schedule electrical devices to be turned on or off based on time of day, occupancy, weather conditions or ambient light levels. Property owners can also opt-in for the utility to turn devices off when the local demand for electricity is exceedingly high. INSTEON can be used to control indoor and outdoor lighting, security systems, heating and cooling (HVAC), appliances, door locks and more while using existing wired infrastructure. Pilot testing is under way at a Sprint retail store where energy savings exceeds 28 percent.

Empowering application developers

Proliphix and SmartLabs are examples of the collaborative approach Sprint takes to enable wireless, smart energy solutions. Rather than dictating what developers can do on the Sprint network, Sprint makes available application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow businesses to develop their own wireless applications that take advantage of capabilities at the network, IT, service and device levels.

“With more than a dozen years developing communications products in the M2M market, Sprint is dedicated to working with smart energy companies like Proliphix and SmartLabs to bring innovative and sustainable technology to market,” said Wayne Ward, vice president-Emerging Solutions Group, Sprint.

“Developers have told us they thrive in an open development environment that accelerates their speed to market with simple, unencumbered access to our full complement of network capabilities. Considering that they are delivering wireless applications for the purpose of energy management and conversation, Sprint is eager to invest in those technologies and processes.”

To meet the demand for developer support and network certification, Sprint opened the Sprint M2M Collaboration Center in Burlingame, Calif. last year. The center is a hands-on, interactive lab where ideas, knowledge and technology unite to produce wirelessly enabled M2M concepts and products. Engineers from Sprint and other companies collaborate to rapidly bring new M2M solutions to the marketplace.

Sprint recently introduced the Sprint Command Center, a Web-based portal that allows businesses with Sprint wireless-connected products the ability to manage, activate and de-activate each device. In addition, businesses can suspend service, run usage reports and set alerts on how much data each module is consuming, without ever having to call Sprint directly.

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