Asia/Pacific’s Utility Industry is Poised to Enter into the Next Cycle of Business Transformation in 2011, says IDC Energy Insights

Singapore and Hong Kong – February 9, 2011 – The utility industry in Asia/Pacific has entered into a year marked by new business initiatives and technology investments as well as a greater emphasis on customer-centricity, according to an annual report by IDC Energy Insights. More insights are revealed in the report, “Asia/Pacific Utility Industry 2011 Top 10 Predictions” (Doc # AP9492101T, February 2011), which discusses the top 10 predictions for the Asia/Pacific utility industry in 2011.

In 2010, the region was recovering from the economic downturn that plagued the world in 2009. The utility industry was generally tracking the overall economic health of the region, as economic activity fuels a significant portion of the demand for utility products and services.

Debashis Tarafdar, Vice President, Energy & Utilities Research for IDC Energy Insights Asia/Pacific says, “2011 will be a year of cautious optimism. The Asia/Pacific utility industry will be driven by a stronger focus on quality, security and reliability of services. With greater demand and positive business sentiments returning, the industry will start investing in forward-looking initiatives that increase customer focus as well as improve business and IT alignment. Investments will also be made on customer-centric business models, intelligent grid technologies, and initiatives that promote energy efficiency and sustainability.”

Key findings of this report include:

  • Intelligent grid will be a key focus in 2011. Profit growth, quality of service, efficiency and sustainability issues will drive the industry to adopt technologies that enables it to become more proactive to demand signals. In 2011, intelligent grid initiatives will be more than just technology test-beds; scalability and commercial viability will be key to its success.
  • Telecommunication service providers will evolve to support new business models. With the explosion and complexity of data from intelligent grid systems, testing of efficient communication systems like Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wimax) to ensure security of data transferred from geographically distributed assets as well as robust machine-to-machine capabilities will be explored. Telecommunication service providers will be strong contenders for managing the network traffic and providing value-added services to multiple stakeholders that need access to such information.
  • Renewable energy sector will see fresh investments under more stringent policy guidelines. With key countries in Asia/Pacific setting targets for the contribution of renewable energy towards total energy generation by 2020, there will be a stronger focus on developing solar wind and biomass projects.
  • IT services in Asia/Pacific will experience significant growth in 2011, with a projected 2010-2014 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3%. Increased attention to security of information, and improved distribution management and network automation will drive the utilities industry to spend a major portion of their IT budget on developing and testing applications, particularly to manage network infrastructure and storage systems as well as create capabilities for customer information management, business intelligence and analytics.

This report also discusses the importance of China and India in shaping up the utility ecosystem and business models, roadmap to intelligent utility as well as trends in plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging infrastructure.