Two-thirds of power utilities bullish on digitisation: Survey

Two-thirds of Indian power utilities have citied digitisation of manual processes as one of the biggest drivers of growth and want to invest in technology for making their organisation more agile, a survey said today.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Energy Insights survey commissioned by Schneider Electric, 64 per cent of utility companies cited the digitising of manual processes as one of the biggest drivers for people, process and technology transformation within their organisations.
The survey, done by US-based IDC, found that organisational flexibility and agility is also an issue, with 68 per cent of respondents stating their desire to create a more agile organisation as the top driver behind their information technology investments.

Anil Chaudhry, Country President and Managing Director, Schneider Electric India, said, "Digitisation offers tremendous opportunities for improving competency of power distribution in India."
"Traditionally, we have addressed the energy equation from the supply side - adjusting the amount of electricity generated to ensure that supply matches demand. But depending solely on supply-side solutions will not allow us to meet our obligations to reduce our carbon emissions and reduce energy consumption," he added.
The study, released today, stated that Indian power sector faces several challenges, particularly rapid energy demand growth, infrastructure modernisation, and transmission and distribution inefficiencies.

It found that the operational efficiency and cost are the top priorities the Indian power companies are facing.

The research outlined the heavy focus that Indian utilities have placed on operational efficiency to improve their financial position, with improving efficiencies and reducing costs figuring as their top two priorities in the next 12-18 months.
It found that the manual distribution processes, lack of decision making transparency, insufficient infrastructure, and lack of real-time information are some of the other challenges that are in turn resulting in delayed revenue realisation, poor operating efficiency, and high operating costs.
Among Indian utilities, cloud platforms for data management, IoT and utilisation of data within 3D visualisations are particular priorities for organisations looking at new areas of technology investment.