Energy transition and digitalisation are transforming the power sector

In an exclusive interaction with EPR Magazine, Eaton highlights its products’ key features that make them more competent in the market.

How are energy trends impacting the energy equipment and accessories market?
In 2021, the renewable energy sector remained remarkably resilient, primarily driven by strong core fundamentals and a supportive policy environment. Rapid technology improvements, decreasing costs of renewable energy resources, and increased battery storage competitiveness have made renewables one of the most competitive energy sources in many areas. Despite suffering from supply chain constraints, increased shipping costs, and rising prices for essential commodities, capacitation installations remained at an all-time high. The Indian government plans to establish a renewable energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030.
With so much focus on renewable energy generation, it’s imperative to develop a robust transmission and distribution framework, and therein precisely lies the vast potential for electrical equipment and accessories. From a small fuse to large energy storage solutions, every component is now being explicitly modelled for renewable energy usage.
Transmission development is the key to connecting new, often remotely located renewable energy capacity to electricity-consuming centres and is expected to be an essential part of the renewable energy industry’s plan in 2023.
Digital innovation and adoption are increasing in the energy sector, with the global Energy Management Systems industry valued at USD 45.11 billion in 2021 and expected to exceed USD 153.62 billion by 2030, growing at a 14.55 percent CAGR from 2022 to 2030.

How does the energy equipment business respond to India’s ever-increasing demand for uninterrupted power?
India’s electrical equipment market share is expected to increase by USD 33.74 billion from 2021 to 2025, and the market’s growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 9 percent. The increase in the number of residential and commercial building projects is notably driving the growth of the Indian electrical equipment market. However, factors such as the threat from cyberattacks in the power generation industry may impede the market’s growth.
What are the major concerns regarding the cost and sourcing of raw materials?
An increase in commodity input costs due to the rise in copper and aluminium prices was effectively passed on to the consumer by companies. Infrastructure and construction activities were slow in the first quarter of FY22 but saw a sequential increase as the second wave of the pandemic subsided.

What are the demand projections for efficient equipment solutions in a green global energy climate?
We have spotted two megatrends in the energy segment. One is the energy transition, and the other one is digitalisation. Everything is upgraded to the entire generation, from distribution to consumption. All of our products will play an important role in assisting with the transition in the energy journey in terms of upgrading. Carbon neutral is the slogan as most people want to reduce greenhouse gases and make low-power, which is very efficient and eco-friendly. Industries need to move away from SF6 gas-filled switchgear. Eaton has a unique product called solid insulated switchgear (SIS) named XIRIA, which is already present across world utilities in more than 100,000 units. The entire current-carrying part of the switchgear is insulated with an Eaton-patented insulating compound which ensures that you can reduce the overall size of the switchgear amazingly. Also, one can achieve the same high breaking capacity and safety standards as SF6 insulated RMUs. This switchgear is available now in 24Kv up to 1250A, 25KA-3 sec (12KV).
Digitalisation is another focus area for us. We have conceptualised the whole thing as a Brightlayer TM suite, and we enable our products with IoT, which makes our products intelligent. Currently, whatever products we make will be competent enough that they can talk to each other, add values, record data, and pick up data. So, these are two focus areas for keeping pace with technology.