7 October 2009

ARC: Energy key trend, but unknown future

By Ellen Fussell Policastro

Energy is going to be a major driver with investments in the near future, said Wil Chin, ARC's research director at Tuesday's ARC Advisory Group press conference at ISA EXPO.

One major topic on the landscape is the lack of energy and “the fact we’re so focused on creating clean energy,” he said. “Wireless is gaining much more traction. Most recently, suppliers are beginning to push control with wireless. “We are seeing integration between power and automation systems,” Chin said. “We see integration of HVAC systems with security systems, with lighting all to reduce energy.

Researchers at ARC are also looking at asset lifecycle management. “Not only do we have to look at something failing, but we have to consider what kind of energy those assets are using,” Chin said. “We’re doing studies in geospatial information systems, Smart Grid, and laser scanning systems (used in asset management where you can take a 3-D picture of plant as built).”

“We’re not sure where power is going,” Chin said. There is so much money being put into power. There is an investment from the stimulus, but it provides opportunities for end users, utilities, and automation suppliers. “We’ll look at a lot of things from management system for smart grid to storage of power to smart lighting, wind, and solar,” he said.

One of the new topics is transmission distribution assets. “Once you generate power, you use it to send power to our homes. A lot of that is under-automated. We don’t know when it’s going to fail. We’ll look at that much more closely going forward.”

Survey says

When ARC analysts asked manufacturers, suppliers, and systems integrators across industries about their outlook from June to July, what they heard was big improvements, said Allen Avery, an analyst at ARC Advisory Group.

Researchers also asked about spending and what it will be like going forward. “We found they’re still hesitant to make big expenditures,” Avery said. But they are spending on software—smaller ticket items, field devices. “They’re holding off on big automation systems because they want to see a shorter return on their investment. So they’re buying software to help them do more with what they’ve got,” he said.

Asia has improved, but North America and Europe are pretty hard hit and are seeing a slower recovery. “In general, there is uncertainly about what’s going to happen going forward. That’s keeping people on the fence as to whether they’ll spend in a big way,” Avery said.