This IDC Market Perspective provides an overview of utilities' asset operations in 4Q23. It covers M&As, agreements, reorganizations, and major business developments; new financial deals; major renewables infrastructure projects; major green hydrogen projects; smart meter and smart grid initiatives; microgrid initiatives and agreements; major flexibility, EV, and battery energy storage projects; IT ecosystem major acquisitions and agreements; major IT and OT contract wins; IT product announcements; and GenAI."Unpredictability has become the name of the game for utilities — and the events of the past two years have changed the game. While more immediate matters such as supply security, demand efficiency, and tariff impacts on energy consumers are drawing attention from long-term initiatives, contingent factors such as extreme drought and catastrophic weather events are a vivid reminder that climate is a nonlinear factor that must be addressed with extreme urgency. Utilities will continue to prioritize their net-zero journeys and sustainability efforts, with affordability being of paramount importance." — Associate Research Director Gaia Gallotti, IDC Energy Insights
Please Note: Extended description available upon request.
Executive Snapshot
New Market Developments and Dynamics
Situation Overview
Clean Energy and Sustainability
Hydrogen
Energy Efficiency
Business Environment
Demand and Prices
Oil Prices
Indicators of Renewable Performances on Financial Markets
Listed Utilities Performance
Utilities and GenAI
M&As, Agreements, Reorganizations, and Major Business Developments
U.K.'s Octopus Energy Launches Offshore Wind Fund with Tokyo Gas
Galicia Launches Clean Power Utility
Iberdrola's New York Utilities Win Approval for Reliable Energy Plan
ENGIE Reach Deal on Extension of Tihange 3 And Doel 4 Nuclear Reactors
New Financing Deals
Greece's HEDNO to Deploy 3.1 Million Smart Meters
EU to Boost Gabreta Smart Grids Project with $107.6M
EBRD Lends $87.5 million to Delgaz Grid in Romania
Major Renewables Infrastructure Projects
South America's Floating Solar Farm Launched in Colombia
Washington Utility PSE to Build 248MW Wind Farm in Montana
Octopus Energy to Build Sierra Leone's First Wind Farm with Sherbro
Ilmatar to Build 186MW Onshore Wind in Finland
Suzlon Wins 100.8MW Wind Turbine Order in Gujarat in India
Statkraft Starts Building 42.2MW Solar Farm in Southern Spain
Neoen Starts Construction of Solar Farm in Australia
Hitachi Energy Chosen for Brazil HVDC Transmission System
Hitachi Energy's Technology Selected for Finland's Solar PV Power Plant
Major Green Hydrogen Projects
Canadian Firm to Build $2.9 billion Green Hydrogen Project in Quebec
ACWA Power Signs Deal for $1bn Green Hydrogen Project in Indonesia
Australia Funds New Hydrogen Hub Project at Port Bonython
EDF Renewables U.K. and Hynamics Get Fund for Green Hydrogen Project
Smart Meter and Smart Grid Initiatives
Puerto Rico's 1.5 Million Smart Meter Replacement Gets Go Ahead
Serbian DSO Selects Suppliers for 470,000 Smart Meters
373,000 Smart Meter Program Launched by Snohomish PUD in U.S.
EMASESA to Deploy 77,300 Smart Water Meters in Seville
New Jersey's TWW Launches Smart Water Meters Program
Smart Water Metering Pilots in Western Australia
German TSOs to Cooperate on 4 Grid Expansion Projects
National Grid Refurbishes 170km of U.K. Transmission Network
U.K. Power Networks Invest $7.6 Million in Substation Communications
Enel Unveils Plan for Grid Investment
Italgas and Tokyo Gas Agree to Develop Future Gas Distribution Networks
Aspern Smart City Grid to Be Modeled with Digital Twin
Microgrid Initiatives and Agreements
Canadian Government Invests in First Nation Microgrid Project
Cuyahoga County to Launch Nation's First Microgrid Utility
Reon Energy to Build Microgrid for Arabian Yemen Cement
Major Flexibility, EV, and Battery Energy Storage Projects
Quebec City Chose Hitachi Energy for Centralized EV Bus Charging System
Hitachi Energy to Deploy Ultrafast Charging E-Mobility Solution in Italy
Türkiye Chooses Siemens for 200 EV Fast Chargers and Digital Services
Ford Buys EV Energy Company AMP for Charging and Battery Management
Spain's Naturgy to Study Reusing Old EV Batteries for Stationary BESS
Kaluza and Ovo Energy Tap Volvo for Vehicle to Everything Tech
SDG&E and Toyota to Collaborate on Vehicle to Grid Technology
GreenV Makes Electric Vehicle Chargers Smart with IoT Technology
Honeywell to Provide U.S. Virgin Islands Battery Energy Storage System
Major IT Ecosystem, IT Contract, IT Product Announcements
Cognizant Buying Thirdera in Move to Build ServiceNow Business
Vector and AWS Extend Renewable Energy Data Platform Partnership
Siemens Acquires BuntPlanet to Strengthen AI Portfolio in the Water Sector
Siemens and ServiceNow Enable Cloud-Based Management of OT Assets
Itron Joins the Green Button Alliance to Help Green Button Standard
Goodwill Launches Major Green Jobs Program in Partnership with Accenture
Subeca Launches Amazon Sidewalk-based Solution for Water Metering
National Grid U.K. to Develop Digital Twin for Regional Energy Planning
U.K. Power Networks' Smart Metering Data Moved to Azure Cloud Storage
Varberg Energi Selects Hansen to Power Intraday Trading
GE Vernova Awarded Service Agreement for New CCPP in Senegal
Alectra to Deploy Itron's Distributed Intelligence Technology
Italgas Monitors 8 Million Smart Meters with New Assurance Solution
OpenADR 3.0 Launched for Distributed Energy Resource Management
Utilities and GenAI
E.ON Launches GenAI 'Assistant'
Microsoft Launches Security Copilot Early Access Program
Microsoft Launches Two New Copilots for Service and Sales
IBM Continues AI Push with $500M Enterprise AI Venture Fund
Accenture Collaborates with SAP to Help Organizations Adopt GenAI
Deloitte, ServiceNow Extend Partnership with GenAI Integration
CGI and Google to Drive Innovation in the Responsible Use of GenAI
Siemens and Microsoft Partner to Drive Cross-Industry AI Adoption
Schneider Electric Drives GenAI by Integrating Microsoft Azure OpenAI
C3 AI Expands Strategic Collaboration Agreement with AWS
Advice for Technology Suppliers and Services Providers