Increasing demand for power boosts prospects of automation vendors: Study

The rapid growth of developing economies such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines in Southeast Asia (SEA) is escalating the demand for power in the region. To cater to this demand, the countries are initiating a number of new power projects, providing significant opportunities for the automation and software solution providers.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Automation & Software Solutions for Power Industry, found that the market earned revenues of $202.5 million in 2011 and expects this to reach $328.9 in 2018. It covers the product segments of programmable logic controllers (PLC), distributed control systems (DCS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), human machine interface (HMI), and manufacturing execution systems (MES). DCS is the automation solution of choice in the power industry and is expected to consolidate its position during the forecast period.

“The power industries in countries such as Australia and New Zealand are increasingly integrating operations and this requires a high level of automation,” said Frost & Sullivan Industrial Automation & Process Control research analyst Vineeth Purushotham in a statement. “Further, the scarcity of skilled personnel in the region has compelled plant owners to turn to automation and software solutions.”

Plant owners are also concerned about the loss of power after electricity generation. There is a significant gap in the amount of electricity produced and the amount available for use. Automation can help them reduce this gap and save electricity costs.

The primary aim of automation and software solution vendors is to optimize the efficiency of power plants. However, power industry participants are apprehensive about investing heavily in automation because of their lack of awareness of new technologies and the high initial investments. This can peg the market back considerably, as automation solution providers depend heavily on revenues from retro-fitments.

“Multinational automation providers should work toward educating the potential customers about the advantages of automation systems,” said Purushotham. “They can conduct a thorough lifecycle cost analysis of their automation products and demonstrate the return on investment to power industry participants to encourage wider adoption.”