Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/944532
THE TECH: ENERGY STORAGE What's the deal: Storage emerged as the most disrup ve technology cited in the survey by a country mile, with ba ery storage gleaning the most air me. While lithium ion ba eries remain the technology of choice for most ba ery storage applica ons, other op ons including flow ba eries and compressed air are figh ng to prove their worth too. To help sort the wheat from the chaff in terms of the technologies with the most poten al for high value applica ons, government is pouring in money, with £42m commi ed in 2017 to the Faraday Ins tu on to support ba ery storage research and development. Why it ma ers: Energy storage is star ng to play a broader role in energy markets, moving from niche applica ons to mainstream interac on with crucial grid balancing mechanisms and enabling higher reliance on renewable genera on, the intermi ency of which would otherwise necessitate con nued reliance on more carbon intensive power sources. The technology is making its presence felt at every level in the energy market, with uptake steadily growing among consumers, industrial and commercial users and on the grid. And sensing the poten al for value crea on, investors are now crowding in to grab a slice of the ba ery storage pie, where just a few short years ago they watched from the sidelines. Say what?: Richard Catlow, foreign secretary of the Royal Society and professor at University College London (UCL): "Using more electricity will be key in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Advances in large-scale electricity storage are a priority to manage our increasing dependence on renewable energies." THE TECH: DATA ANALYTICS What's the deal: U li es are si ng on a goldmine of opportunity in the form of data analy cs. With more informa on than ever before flowing from smart meters and other sensors alongside tradi onal sources of data about their opera ons, the informa on is there for the taking. Why it ma ers: The importance of analy cs isn't news for most, who see the poten al to mine data for invaluable insights. Analy cs can help large u li es increase capital produc vity and save millions in opera ons and maintenance expenditures by helping them improve opera ons, op mise capital deployment and understand their procurement be er. They can also help boost reliability by preven ng outages through more accurate predic ons about when to replace failing equipment, or improve outage response through situa onal awareness and be er management of performance. In short u li es can understand customers and their energy and water use be er through data analy cs – knowledge they can use to design new products and services, such as demand- side management programs that reduce electricity use at peak mes. The possibili es are endless – but if our research is to be heeded, u li es have a long way to go in realising the full poten al data has to offer. Say what?: "U lity leaders are using the data and tools they already have in hand to begin improving the ways they work." "From rising capital costs to increased global compe on and more stringent regula on and compliance requirements, power and u li es firms are leveraging data and analy cs to stay ahead."- Survey respondents THE TECH: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) What's the deal: A er decades in the realms of science fic on, real life applica ons for ar ficial intelligence have sped to market in the last couple of years. Consumer-focused AI applica ons have manifested in chat bots and voice-controlled smart home assistants like Amazon's Echo (with Alexa) and the Google Assistant. But commercial technology providers have also busily enhanced their enterprise and opera onal solu ons with AI capability. Some network control systems, for instance, now use AI to deliver autonomous network op misa on. And recruitment and workforce development professionals are increasingly eyeing its poten al to plug a looming skills gaps, by powering digital training and support services to staff in the office and in the field. Why it ma ers: AI could open up a wealth of opportuni es for u li es to standardise customer services, op mise use of resources and realise opera onal efficiencies. In U lity Week Live's market research, chatbots in par cular appeared to have captured the imagina on of customer-facing u li es for their poten al to boost customer engagement. But other u lity applica ons of AI are also emerging: recently, water company United U li es revealed it will employ "so ware robots" which use AI to help an cipate disrup ons to supply. Say what?: Dr Rafik Salama, lead data scien st, Energy Systems Catapult: "AI in the energy domain is no longer advancing incrementally. Customer sa sfac on, real me se lement, adap ve tariffs are all compe ng elements in the energy market, and AI features at the heart of those services." P R E S E N T S 32 | MARCH 2018 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk