What will be the economic impact of 5G for utilities. Report Tim
Extract from the Report "Smart Italy 5G – The benefits of 5G for the Italian economy" by the Centro Studi Tim
For over 20 years, the EU has been at the forefront of fighting climate change through ambitious energy and climate policies. A crucial element of these policies is the development of an intelligent network with an increasingly accurate and effective set of sensors for the systems that generate, distribute, manage and protect energy and water. Many of the benefits for utilities derive from the greater diffusion of smart meters, supported by the 5G functionality that will drastically improve the exchange of information in real time and better management of resources. However, the benefits linked to the possibility of remote management and maintenance of plants and infrastructures for these players, using techniques already seen in the manufacturing sector, such as digital twin and the use of 5G connected robots and drones, should not be underestimated. We can identify 2 types of benefits: strategic and operational.
THE BENEFITS FOR ENERGY AND GAS
We can identify 2 types of benefits: strategic and operational.
Strategic benefits. Smart Meters allow you to have information and usage data on customer consumption in real time: this allows you to highlight preferences, seasonality patterns and consequently determine an efficient generation of energy, especially during periods of high demand. According to the analysis of the UE25, smart meters will be able to bring a strategic advantage for the only component linked to 5G (real-time data exchange, increase in data sharing) of about € 2.75 per Smart Meter and given the estimate of Smart Meters in Italy by 2025 equal to approximately 37 million for electricity and 21.5 million for gas, it is possible to estimate an overall annual benefit of over 160 million €.
Operational benefits. The operational advantages are also linked to the data coming from the Smart Meters: better access to data in real time and better data sharing, better CRM (reduction of requests and complaints and call center costs), more precise billing systems, fewer visits for readings meters and security inspections (the latter independent of 5G).
The EU estimates the benefits directly attributable to 5G services alone at around € 10 per Smart Meter, with an overall annual benefit in Italy of around € 580 million by 2025.
THE BENEFITS FOR THE WATER SYSTEM
The water supply chain consists of a peculiarity that distinguishes it from other utilities: the integrated system. In this system in Italy, except in very rare cases, there is only one subject that locally takes care of withdrawing the water, making it drinkable, distributing it to consumers and invoicing the service, managing the end-to-end system with investments and tariffs in mostly controlled by the authority. In this context, a critical element is represented by the huge losses that are generated along the chain, with consequent inefficiencies, inconvenience for consumers and lower earnings for companies in the supply chain. In Italy, in 2019 it was calculated that approximately 42% of the water withdrawn is dispersed along the manufacturing process (one part for purification, another for washing the network) and that 37.3% is actually lost due to inefficiencies in the distribution chain. It would be possible to recover a large part of this loss through 5G Smart Metering systems, which are able to report anomalies on the network in real time and also integrate water quality sensors, thus providing both quantitative and qualitative elements on the chain. This would make it possible to recover efficiency in the distribution chain and reduce the costs of the process, including electricity costs.
Operational benefits. In the hypothesis of reducing losses to the physiological limit (10%), it is possible to estimate the annual benefit for the water supply chain at over € 0.7 billion linked to the implementation of a 5G Smart Metering system throughout the chain.
THE BENEFITS FOR CONSUMERS
Greater use of Smart Meters linked to 5G functionalities will allow customers to better understand their energy consumption (electricity and gas), also by accessing consumption analysis platforms and APPs linked to Smart Meter data, allowing access to historical series and data on consumption statistics and consumption practices of other users (anonymously). This will generate a greater awareness of one's actual consumption, exert a virtuous effect on consumption itself and give the consumer the possibility to choose the most convenient rates on the basis of his own punctual consumption. All this will allow for an estimated energy saving of around 10% as regards Electricity and Gas, which, according to the analyzes carried out by the EU28, can be quantified in approx. € 10.7 for Smart Meter. By applying this estimate to the Italian market, an estimate of the overall benefit of more than € 600 million is obtained.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/quale-sara-limpatto-economico-del-5g-per-le-utility-report-tim/ on Sat, 25 Sep 2021 04:45:39 +0000.