Chairing a keynote panel on the first day of the summit, Baard will speak about a once in a generation opportunity to radically alter the energy market, and how it is possible to combine Internet of Things capabilities and cloud-based data management to drive down energy consumption at the same time as increasing profit for utilities.
Building on 15 years of information and communication technology experience, Maingate provides Internet of Things capabilities for a smart energy ecosystem by combining M2M connectivity with cloud-based data management. The company’s open standard platform is able to integrate the complex range of stakeholders, technologies and services that are emerging in this sector, enabling both decentralised and demand side solutions.
“Everything is stacked against the current model: increasing costs, declining margins, and encouragement to switch suppliers. At the same time there is more pressure on utilities due to carbon emissions targets and the gap between shutting down outdated assets and getting new generation on stream.
Cloud-based, open standard solutions offer connection and integration without boundaries. They unlock the possibility for utilities to evolve, innovate and capitalise on the opportunity that this changing market presents”, explains Baard.
Baard will be presenting findings from recent projects with major European utilities including E.ON Sverige and Norway’s NTE, which successfully demonstrated that the aggregation and analysis of usage data, when coupled with the right visualisation tools, can offer utilities a means of considerably reducing demand as well as creating potential new revenue streams.
51% of participants in these trials indicated that they would be willing to pay for a similar home energy management service from their energy service provider. The trials have also demonstrated that a reduction in churn in the region of 10-20% is possible due to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The Next Generation Utilities Summit 2014 brings together decision makers and senior executives from across the European utilities industry to collaborate, share and explore solutions. This year’s summit takes place in Berlin from 20–22 May 2014.