Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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Disrup ve technology: the results and why they ma er Neil Pennington, Thought leader in innova on through decentralised technology " What these disrup ve technologies have in common is a recogni on that the future is much more local and decentralised than ever before and the days of the domina on of centralised large-scale assets, systems and processes are numbered. The future is one where autonomous, intelligent devices operate on a hyper-local basis aggrega ng up to underpin the whole system in tandem with large scale assets – whether it be solar, hydrogen, IoT, renewables, or EVs. This is driven by a shi in society. In our world people are interconnected, iden fying with communi es never previously imagined; individualisa on and a demand for fair treatment is paramount; control of personal iden ty, personal data and the ability to transact with others on a one-to-one basis without complex systems of brokerage and trust are essen al; this is profound social change that will not be reversed. With such a seismic shi in the individual and community, the incumbent technologies, IT systems and business models that exist today are increasingly unfi t for purpose." THE TECH: INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) What's the deal: The IoT has far-reaching implica ons for the whole u li es industry. The prolifera on of embedded intelligence within everyday devices and assets – and their ability to interact via the internet – is driving a revolu on in business models, service opportuni es and asset management approaches. Why it ma ers: The IoT is the founda on upon which u li es can build smart home and smart network proposi ons. By enabling consumer and industrial assets to communicate over the internet, it has already enabled concepts like smart metering to become a reality and introduced some step changes to the way industrial assets are monitored and maintained. As the number of connected devices grows however, opportuni es for new customer services and opera onal effi ciencies related to the IoT are also likely to emerge. In the home, smart thermostats and water monitors, connected directly to u li es IT systems, could be widely leveraged for new consump on monitoring, safety and leakage alerts and effi ciency advice services. Out in the fi eld, many u li es have only scratched the surface of opportuni es to embrace IoT-enabled predic ve asset management, which can reduce costs associated with deploying engineers on the road and increase the overall life of expensive assets. Say what?: "The IoT network will make it increasingly easy for u li es to connect devices in the smart home and in their own opera ons beyond the smart grid." "U li es assets and the IoT are a match made in heaven." - Survey respondents w w w . u t i l i t y w e e k l i v e . c o . u k TOP TEN TECHNOLOGIES DISRUPTING UTILITIES 1. Energy storage 2. Electric vehicles 3. Ar fi cial intelligence 4. Smart meters 5. Data analy cs 6. Internet of Things (IoT) 7. Renewable energy advances 8. Blockchain 9. Water re-use technologies 10. Hydrogen I N A S S O C I A T I O N W I T H www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | MARCH 2018 | 33