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The power sector has been showing remarkable progress in the past years. In fact the year 2017 was phenomenal in terms of a rise in energy storage accompanied by a steady decline of coal power. Today the power sector is standing absolutely on the brink of massive developments and transformations and a huge revolution proving this has already started. Thus the year 2018 assumes great significance for Electrical installation companies in calgary since it will see many trends which have the potency of shaking the power sector. The trends are:
Uneven deployment and cost reduction in renewables:
The deployment of renewables has assumed asymmetric patterns across the world especially Europe. Thus some countries are seen as strong proponents of renewable energy while for others its deployment would either take place at a very slow rate or would be totally absent altogether. Cost-reductions especially of variable renewables to continue to promote the use of renewable source of energy. But paradoxically, even today the successful deployments of this form of energy for the production of energy, depends more on political factors than on economical ones. Thus the continuance of renewables deployment can only be done if there are:
- Consistent yet predictable frameworks in place,
- Public acceptance is enabled using targeted measures and
- Relaxation of permitting issues.
Hydro will remain the king of storage: Developments in the storage space is set be quite significant in the form of:
- Lithium-Ion batteries which will see further reduction in prices with the advent of new technologies,
- Other technologies related to storage like power-to-X, thermal storage etc., are set to become part of storage space,
- Hydro will continue to dominate where bulk potential, flexibility specs and installed capacity are concerned.
Digitization benefits:
This is one development which is set to bring about positive developments in all aspects related to the power sector. Hence all facilities connected to the:
- Generation of the power,
- Distribution from its site of generation to its sites of utility and
- Retailing of the generated power, are set to get revamped and redefined.
Thus keeping in step with the digital advances, companies related to the power sector today are adopting various means and strategies to revamp their style of functioning and align their business and product models to be more conducive to this technology. Customers are also expected to be benefitted from the digitization of power sector in the form of:
- More options to choose from,
- Tailoring of products to meet their individual needs,
- A decentralised management of the whole energy system,
- Smart home control and mobility,
- Improved customer satisfaction etc.
However, in order to fully realise the potential of this digital revolution, especially in the power sector, regulatory barriers have to be either lessened or removed wherever possible.
Imbalance in supply and demand:
As a direct consequence of the economic boom taking place worldwide, there will be a demand for more power as:
- Customers opt for advanced gadgets to make life easy and
- Manufacturers hasten to fulfil this demand for more gadgets by increasing production.
Important factors which will have a negative impact on the supply of power to meet this increased demand in the following years are:
- The decommissioning of sizeable amount of energy dispatchable capacities
- Grid constraints,
- Continued restrictions and regional bottlenecks to affect cross-border flows etc.
Upcoming new avenues:
The year 2017 saw the electrification of vehicles but year 2018 is set to come up with potentially lucrative ways for electricity to prove its mettle in areas related to maritime, road transport, 2-wheelers, aviation and industry.
The power sector is thus slated to become even more powerful than it was before. But this can only happen when both potential and opportunities are conducive to the same.
