Power management system integrators WANTED for our changing world

Author: Kevin Morin Schneider Electric Blog

Our ever-changing world has big implications for business owners and power management solutions. Energy efficiency and power reliability requirements are growing, while external influences are resulting in a complete restructuring of our electrical grids. It is clear…there is a changing mindset in the boardrooms of the world’s businesses in relation to electrical power. Electrical power is now seen as a tool of trade and a critical productivity resource. As we start another year, innovation will play a huge role in not only how we consume electrical power, but also in how we manage it.

The arrival of the Internet of Things (IoT) within our electrical distribution systems opens new opportunities for power management beyond ‘metering’. Power management in 2018 is drastically different from how it was viewed when the first digital power meter was introduced in the 1980’s. Today, programmable power analyzers integrated with our electrical distribution equipment deliver business-critical applications. Take power factor control as an example: even passive solutions supported by capacitor banks become integral to the management of power availability and cost, and require communication and intelligence. Power management is now synonymous with the ability to mitigate risk, and decision making based on actionable information and analytics; meaning it relies on well thought out architecture of connected device, on-premise or cloud edge control software and accompanying analytics and services. This next generation platform stack has huge implications for system integrators (check out my blog post on Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure platform from last winter).

One of my ambitions for 2018 is to connect with different system integration companies around the world, who are interested in exploring topics related to power management. A White Paper published this month (Power Management for Changing World) highlights some trends that these system integrators will want to consider. Key trends that are reviewed are:

• Growing influence of distributed generation sources on grid stability.
• Increasingly complex distributions systems within our buildings.
• Energy cost and reliability as an indicator of business productivity.
• Pervasive regulatory requirements.
• Responding to cybersecurity threats.

System integration companies provide both agility and customer intimacy to be able to respond to these trends in ways that can have a hugely positive business impact to their install base. For partner companies in Schneider Electric’s EcoXpert™ program, training and coaching provide new business opportunities that leverage the EcoStruxure platform for power distribution.

New and updated products from Schneider Electric are being launched in 2018 that offer a response to these market trends with a system level view that simplify power quality analysis, reduce response time in power system forensics, with the highest levels of accuracy and modularity. These power management applications are increasingly connected (and interconnected with operational technology systems) and so cybersecurity is top of mind in all of this.

It’s this combination of Schneider Electric’s innovative product and platform development with tailored customer deployments by certified EcoXpert system integrators that provide businesses around the world with the ability to respond to these trends that impact how we will think about power management.

Do you know of any companies that would be interested in learning more about how they can take advantage of our changing world with power management applications?

Please share the white paper Power Management for Changing World and comment below to find out what we can do to start them on this journey.