Sparks Electrical News January 2022

SPARKS DIGITAL

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How electrical contractors can become more profitable with IoT and the cloud

contractor, customer and optimisation and services perspective. If you look at connected energy in general, there is a clear move towards energy efficiency and con- sumption across all kinds of buildings, not just the larger commercial ones. It also occurs in small and medium enterprises, just as it even does in residential homes. In June 2017 IoT investment forecasts, IDC puts smart grids (electricity) and smart buildings among the top IoT use cases in smart industry. It’s a well- known fact that smart buildings de facto mainly re- volves around energy management. and connected power for energy efficiency.

it will), the easier, smarter and user-friendly the solutions become and the more mainstream IoT technology is, the more interrupted all players in traditional markets become. For electrical contractors, the challenges are clear. However, of- ten the benefits aren’t understood well enough. Just consider this though: on average, connected power solutions result in a benefit of 15 percent savings on energy consumption. Demonstrating the ROI (Return On Investment) to end customers of these solutions is one of the things contractors can learn in the EcoXpert Connected Power certification. The choices for electrical contractors are relatively straightfor- ward: do they want to remain in a very competitive and commod- itised market with high cost pressure, low margins and no-repeat business while the uptake of smart panels and smart energy ef- ficiency solutions goes on and in the end makes them less relevant or do they want to become leaders instead of laggards, tapping into new revenue sources with high margins (services, consulting …) and up-sell and cross-sell opportunities as they stay longer and close to customers, up the value chain? The solutions, benefits, programs and certification paths are there, now it’s just a matter of acting.

This isn’t any different in Small and Medium Busi- ness. By definition, this means that the traditional electricity partners of SMBs, the electrical contrac- tors, are poised to face disruption as the demand for energy consumption reduction, maintenance and monitoring goes up due to a variety of reasons. Small and medium business owners want to leverage IoT for energy efficiency On top of regulatory demands these reasons include the common business sense of owners of restaurants, small fast-food chains, re- tail stores and branch offices, which are some types of the small and medium end customers that are served by Connected Power EcoXpert partners as Enrique states. It’s a known fact that approximately 40 percent of energy consump- tion is due to buildings. Yet, not all buildings are the same: while we often look at large energy consumers such as manufacturing plants, to cite one, family homes and certainly the mentioned end customers of EcoXpert certified electrical contractors, which are massively present across the globe, add to it in a significant way as well. One could call it the ‘long tail of energy consumption’. Look at all the electricity and energy consumption going on in restaurants and fast food chains: fridges, freezers, ovens, lighting, potentially climate control, loads of kitchen equipment, the list goes on. However, it isn’t just about saving costs and getting a better grip on energy consumption and energy efficiency through intelligent solu- tions. It’s also about cost avoidance, including indirect costs. As an example: think about restaurants and fast-food chains again. The consequences of a power outage at night, without anyone knowing about it as there is no connected power solution to give an alert, can be quite dramatic for business owners. It’s clear that the last thing you want as a restaurant owner is that all the food in your fridges needs to be thrown away. This doesn’t just cause immediate costs but also business disruption as the next day(s) you might need to spend quite some time cleaning and buying new food again – and maybe even have to close your doors to your customers, missing potential revenues. In other words: it’s also about business continuity and, not to be underestimated, peace of mind with regards to uptime and maintenance. Whether we like it or not: ‘smart electricity’ and intelligent energy ef- ficiency, leveraging data and connected components, is the future, also for smaller organisations. The more connected everything gets (and

E lectrical contractors come in all sizes and shapes, depending on the type of companies they serve and a potential focus on specific sectors. Yet, regardless of their core markets, electrical contractors share quite some similar challenges and opportunities. The Internet of Things (IoT), smart sensors, and connected energy solutions have cer- tainly added to these opportunities as you can read in this article. Smaller contractors who work with small to medium businesses such as restaurants, offices, industries, smaller retail chains and branch offices, to name a few, typically operate in a highly competitive and price-sensitive market with electrical solutions in an increasingly com- moditised low voltage (LV) environment. It’s a rather traditional busi- ness of “design, install and go” as Enrique Birlanga, who is responsible for the Connected Power certification badge of the Schneider Electric EcoXpert partner program, puts it. While there is certainly work enough for electrical contractors and energy experts overall, the business model of the contractor is in- creasingly challenged. Moreover, with the Internet of Things they have opportunities to deliver new, value-added services to customers with higher margins, competitive benefits and a closer relationship to their typical SMB customers than in an ‘install and go’ scenario. These ad- ditional services are also in higher demand, not in the least due to cost saving, energy efficiency and monitoring/maintenance demands. However, this requires electrical contractors to take some steps in areas they are less used to: on top of skill sets with regards to electric- ity, they need skill sets with regards to essential IT and IoT know-how. And that does require seeing the benefits, a culture of growth and innovation and an openness towards digitisation and digital transfor- mation and, most certainly, changing customer needs. That is exactly what Schneider Electric does with the ‘Connected Power’ badge within the EcoXpert partner program: help electrical contractors tap into the clear benefits by training them in acquiring these skillsets and, at least as important, understand the existing connected power solutions such as smart panels, smart metering and the energy management and ef- ficiency systems in the cloud, which make all the difference from the The challenges and opportunities for electrical contractors in an IoT ‘connected power’ reality

Luminous intensity by a light source

Learn what luminous intensity is in this video by BEKA Schréder. Luminous Intensity is the quan- tity of visible light, the amount of light that emits in a unit time per unit solid angle. The unit for the quantity of light emitting from any source for a moment of time (which is the luminous power or flux) is the lumen.

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Importance of CAT III Ratings The Fluke 393 FC is the latest addition to the Fluke portfolio of test tools designed for the solar energy industry. Fluke tools operate relia- bly in the extreme environments – dusty, wet, cold and hot – that solar professionals work in, and are tested to survive drops that can occur

in field work. Fluke tools are designed to keep workers safe in potentially dangerous electrical environments, meeting or exceeding all recom- mended safety standards.

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SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

JANUARY 2022