Innovations delivering major growth across smart grid-related sectors

Distribution automation growing
Continued investments into distribution automation systems are also expected to have a heavy impact on smart grid deployments, with an anticipated 8.67 percent CAGR in global distribution automation markets from 2013 to 2018. This growth is specifically being driven by power loss assessment needs, TechNavio noted in its recent "Global Distribution Automation Market 2014-2018" report. This trend will directly influence smart investments as firms seek to optimize their grid infrastructure with advanced terminal servers and the connectivity hardware necessary to support automation.

Smarter cities means smarter energy
On a global scale, smart city investments are also expected to rise, with a CAGR of 14.1 percent from 2014 to 2019 in global smart city markets. According to MarketsandMarkets' "Smart Cities Market - Worldwide Market Forecasts and Analysis (2014 - 2019)," this trend will drive smart grid and related investments to exceed $1,266.58 billion - an impressive deployment change over the $654.57 billion expected to be invested in smarter city infrastructure this year.

Perle offers a range of cost effective serial-to-Ethernet converters to help meet NERC-CIP compliance for the protection of critical cyberassets in substations. The IOLAN SDS HV/LDC Terminal Server is designed to meet harsh environments associated with Power Substations with attributes such as support for substation AC and DC voltage ranges, extended operating temperatures and meeting emission, immunity and safety approvals associated with substation IT equipment.