by Julia Riemer | Sep 14, 2022 | Interviews, Know-How and inspiration, Market development & Trends, New Mobility, Smart City, Technologies for new markets
With technological progress, the demand for electrical energy is increasing immensely, making not only generation but also distribution a challenge. This growing demand increases the complexity of power grids as requirements for reliability, efficiency, safety, and environmental and energy compatibility increase. These circumstances require an intelligent grid, now known as the “smart grid.” This is a technology in which intelligent functions are implemented to make the power distribution system more efficient, reliable, and sustainable. This article provides an overview of “smart grids” with its features and application scenarios. Read in the following why smart grids are becoming increasingly important and what solutions are already on the market.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), headquartered in Paris, cites grid integration as one of the four biggest challenges in expanding renewable energy capacity, along with the non-technical challenges of financing, permitting and social acceptance.
By 2026, renewables could grow 60% faster than in the past five years, as the technology to harness wind and solar power has matured and 137 countries have pledged to reduce their fossil fuel power generation to zero. But for the promises to become reality, we need smart grids so that this energy generation and, above all, energy distribution can function properly.
Smart grids perform four important tasks for the energy transition: They increase the resilience of the grid, increase the integration of renewable energies, reduce costs and enable universal access to clean electricity.
What makes smart grids so special?
The constantly increasing demand for energy should no longer be met, or only in exceptional political situations, by building more power plants that use fossil fuels, as these pollute the environment and contribute to global warming. Therefore, renewable energy is preferred instead – but these are distributed, volatile resources that must be managed within a smart grid infrastructure to ensure a steady supply of energy at all times.
Smart grids allow real-time data from line sensors, loads and generators to be collected and transmitted to a central control point that can perform analysis and control functions. This enables power load balancing, outage restoration and distribution management.
Limitations of the traditional network
Unlike renewable energy generators, whose output depends largely on prevailing weather conditions, conventional fossil fuel power plants provide predictably steady energy. However, they come up against the barrier of environmental sustainability and should accordingly be taken off the grid wherever and whenever possible.
In the meantime, demand for electricity is steadily increasing as, for example, we increasingly take our personal and work lives online and use more and more electric vehicles. So without technological advances, we would be faced with a shrinking stock of fossil fuel power plants that would have to serve an incessant increase in demand for electricity.
This strain would have led to an increasing frequency of power anomalies and blackouts on aging grids that have limited ability to detect and respond to faults in real time.
Fortunately, there are now new technologies being deployed to address these issues. These technologies, and in particular the way they work together, can be grouped under the umbrella term “smart grid”.
[infobox headline=”The morst important facts in brief”]
- Power grids are becoming more complex as demands for reliability, efficiency, safety, and environmental and energy sustainability continue to rise
- The technology behind smart grids makes the power distribution system more efficient, reliable and sustainable
- Smart grids enable power load balancing, outage restoration, and optimize distribution management
- With smart grids and renewable energy sources, electricity consumers can move from pure consumption to “prosumerism”
- Smart meters: By 2032, all electricity consumers in Germany must have at least one digital meter without a gateway
- Semiconductors: The use of modern power electronics could save more than a quarter of electrical energy
- Smart grids could also solve the problem of charging stations for electric vehicles in the future
- Once the technology is fully installed, including in the field, the potential for energy costs to drop significantly and for real-time data control and large-scale charging to become easier increases
- Hive Power offers innovative solutions for smart grids
[/infobox]
Smart grid technologies and interactions
Renewable energies have the advantage that they are clean and cost less and less. However, in addition to the aforementioned disadvantage of volatility, there is also the challenge that plants such as wind farms tend to be widely dispersed rather than centralized.
For this newer grid model, with its multiple distributed energy sources, to function reliably and efficiently, it must be monitored and controlled. It can be thought of as a typical IoT application. Data can be collected in real time from line sensors, loads and generators and relayed to a central control point that can perform analysis and control functions. This enables balancing of power loads, troubleshooting of outages, and management of distribution.
It also facilitates peak shaving, where grid operators can draw on energy supplies from users’ on-site renewable energy systems or even batteries to supplement their own capacity during periods of high demand.
The grid is developing self-healing properties as control systems can detect simple problems and make repairs without intervention. More serious damage to the infrastructure can be reported to technicians in the control center so that timely repairs can be made. To further improve reliability and uptime, the grid can become adaptive, meaning that power is rerouted to bypass problem areas. In this way, the area affected by power outages is limited.
Germany’s progress in renewable energies
In 2020, Germany exceeded all forecasts and achieved 45% renewable energy based on total gross energy consumption. 33% of this came from solar and wind power, the most volatile energy sources. Globally, a 30% share of renewables has been achieved, and grids today, thanks to a combination of robust infrastructure and smart grid technology, are not only cleaner, but also more reliable and resilient.
Digitization allows us to transform the complexity of the modern grid from a weakness to a strength.
This is necessary for the operation of the modern grid, where distributed energy resources (DERs) are on the rise – from small solar and wind farms to electric vehicles (EVs), homes with solar panels, and commercial microgrids. Literally hundreds of millions of new supply points are added to the grid every year. The number of electric vehicles is also growing exponentially, with 26 million vehicles expected to be sold in the U.S. alone by 2030, up from 5.6 million this year.
Possible savings through smart grids
Digitization – sensors, artificial intelligence, and automation – harnesses the combined power of all these DERs and shifts electricity demand in buildings and e-vehicles to times when solar and wind power are available. In this way, cities can use more renewable energy and less fossil fuel backup power. This demand flexibility also helps to mitigate peak demand. In the EU alone, the flexibility of smart grids could save billions annually from now until 2030, as infrastructure expansion can be adjusted to the necessary level.
And the cost savings go even further, extending to ordinary electricity consumers. With smart grids and renewables, electricity consumers can move from pure consumption to “prosumerism,” meaning they can generate and consume electricity themselves and even sell the rest back to the grid.
Imagine 26 million electric car drivers who can charge their vehicles on the grid. At 40 kWh per e-vehicle, they could sell enough clean electricity back to the grid to power 100,000 U.S. homes for an entire year. Prosumerism could make clean electricity affordable for many more people.
The International Renewable Energy Agency also recommends smart grids for developing countries to meet rising renewable electricity demand while creating new opportunities for economic growth.
Universal access to clean electricity is central to a successful energy transition. Specific care must be taken to ensure that people can use safe, smart, sustainable electricity wherever they cook, heat, cool, drive, etc.
All the answers to the question of how we can achieve net zero emissions globally by 2050 may not yet be answered. The potential of green hydrogen and other innovations is still being explored to curb the emissions in aviation, shipping and heavy industry.
But the technology we need to meet the U.N. Environment Program’s goal of halving global emissions by 2030 already exists. In fact, clean electrification of buildings, industry and transport could eliminate three-quarters of global emissions.
Application scenarios for smart grids
While the conventional power grid distributes the electricity generated centrally by large power plants to consumers, smart grids also bring together all the data streams of the energy supply. For example, the highly fluctuating feed-ins from solar and wind power plants can be efficiently balanced and specifically controlled in the existing power grids. The amounts of energy generated and consumed must be continuously measured and analyzed by IoT-enabled sensors and devices.
Smart meters
On the consumer side, this is addressed with smart meters. They also control the feed-in of solar power when consumers with a solar system on the roof also become electricity producers (prosumers). Installation of the necessary smart metering systems (iMSys) is not mandatory until annual electricity consumption exceeds 6,000 kWh – or when consumers feed electricity into the grid themselves. In this case, a smart meter gateway (SMGW) with an integrated security module receives the metering data and processes it for external market participants, internal controllable energy consumers and energy generators (smart household appliances, photovoltaic systems). By 2032, all electricity consumers in Germany must have at least one digital meter without a gateway.
Semiconductors for the energy transition
Measuring, controlling, transforming and communicating – power electronics are of particular importance in the energy transition. While photovoltaic systems or batteries, for example, supply direct current, wind turbines deliver alternating current at a frequency that cannot be used directly. At the same time, electricity consumers have individual needs in terms of current and voltage. The energy-saving potential is immense, because statistically speaking, electricity already passes through at least one converter on its way from the generator to the consumer. According to a study by the European Center for Power Electronics (ECPE), more than a quarter of electrical energy could be saved by using modern power electronics.
And in some areas, silicon is no longer the first choice. Wide bandgap semiconductors, such as the increasingly used silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), benefit from higher switching power while maintaining low losses. However, according to analysts at Yole Développement, the technology is still at an early stage of development. They expect SiC devices to generate $6.3 billion in sales in 2027. In the meantime, silicon devices continue to surprise with significant performance gains and will continue to be a source of revenue for the industry in the coming decades. In general, thermal management, robustness, reliability and ultimately packaging continue to be key issues in semiconductors.
Embedded systems
Semiconductors are also the building blocks of embedded systems in a digital, networked and automated energy world. For example, they provide data on the state of the grid, the temperature, the current flow and the angle of the cables. The data is processed in the cloud or directly on site (edge) with AI algorithms. Embedded systems are also transforming traditional building automation into a form of prediction-based management that offers significant potential for energy savings. And in the future, buildings with smart meters (iMSys) connected to a smart grid will not only be able to optimize their own consumption, but also take on the role of electricity producer themselves by feeding surplus energy into the grid.
Interview with Hive Power –Innovative solutions for smart grids
Founded in Switzerland in 2017, Hive Power is a leading provider of innovative smart grid solutions. Hive Power offers a SaaS platform that optimizes existing electrical distribution networks, both from a technical and economic point of view.
Hive Power’s team consists of researchers and scientists with deep knowledge in smart grids, data science and optimization with many years of experience in research and pilot projects on distributed energy management. We spoke with Mr. Gianluca Corbellini, CEO of Hive Power and appreciate the informative answers.
5 Questions for Mr. Ginaluca Corbellini from Hive Power
Q: What has your experience been like tackling the traditional grid with new ideas?
A: It’s been an impactful journey. When we set out in 2017, we had a clear objective to optimize flexibility management for distribution grids and energy suppliers. And we have proven our viability and market fit with our applications for Flexibility Orchestration used in operation by our customers who are innovating from the traditional grid into the smart grid.
Through the help of key mobility industry players, we have tested smart-grid applicable solutions like Vehicle-to-Grid and EV smart charging and produced the FLEXO Smart EV Charging solution that serves automotive companies and EV fleet managers.
Q: What’s your most interesting smart grid application project so far?
A: It’s hard to choose because we worked on amazing smart grids, mobility research, and pilot projects around Europe. One that stands out is called DrainSpotter. It’s unique because we’re developing a solution that faces the consumers and the Distribution System Operator – in this case, AEM.
DrainSpotter is an intuitive mobile application that consumers can use to monitor their electricity usage over time, receive informative summaries of their consumer behaviour, and be automatically notified about anomalies detected by machine learning algorithms.
Through this app, AEM’s residential users eliminate excessive standby power – over 200 W. If they do this consecutively for two weeks, AEM will deliver 10% less energy in total, and 5% of customers would reduce their total energy consumption by at least 20%, and 4.2% of customers would save at least €513 off their total energy bill over 1.5 years.
Q: Looking at the entire smart grid market in Europe, how is Germany performing relatively?
A: As you’ve pointed out earlier, Germany excels in their renewable energy journey. In the first half of this year, 49% of the power used in Germany was generated from renewable sources – that translates into a growth in smart grid adoption. Judging from the SINTEG project, the German government seems committed to increasing smart grid technology. There’s a reliable forecast that Germany’s smart grid investment will increase to $23.6 billion between 2016 and 2026.
There’s a lot of potential in this market, especially in the applications of Electric vehicles, as the boom of EVs is coming alongside smart grids. EV charging in Germany will need to be smarter and more cost-effective as they can interact with the grid and provide Vehicle-to-Grid services using enabling platforms like our FLEXO Smart EV Charging.
Q: How important are smart meters in this innovative smart grid journey?
A: Smart meters make smart grids possible! A smart grid uses advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) (which consists of smart meters, sensors, communications protocols and data management systems) to monitor and control energy demand, distribution, and generation in near real-time.
We need more smart meters to enable our innovative grid systems to make accurate decisions and predictions from the data generated at these smart meter points. For example, the AI algorithms we create in Hive Power are made possible by the enormous amount of data collected from smart meters.
Q: Lastly, What would you say are the most important benefits of smart grids?
A: Sustainability, cost-saving, and energy decentralization!
Having sustainable earth is the grand reason why we are promoting renewable energy sources; we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Smart grids make it possible to effectively manage and optimize the mix of these variable sources of energy without interrupting the energy supply. Consequently, smart grids save energy consumers and producers a lot of costs through proper grid balancing, voltage and frequency anomaly detection, and demand response.
Lastly, smart grids make it possible for us to have integrated microgrids. So homes or communities can produce renewable energy, manage their energy, and sell and buy from the main grid as needed. Sounds impressive, right? We are active in this field and making outstanding contributions to projects around Europe with our FLEXO Community Manager.
Thank you Mr. Corbellini for the exciting interview – we at magility look forward to following the developments of Hive Power further.
Magility’s vision of the future
Smart grid technology is booming, and the federal government is offering incentives for implementation. In addition, smart meter installations are expected to increase. As the cumulative market capitalization will increase exponentially in the coming years, this could be the beginning of a new era.
The smart grids of the future could also solve the problem of charging stations for electric vehicles. But they are not only valuable for closing the gap between supply and demand for intermittent renewable energy sources.
With sufficiently intelligent power grids, power spikes and the frequency of power outages can be prevented. Once this technology is fully installed, including in the field, it will also be able to significantly reduce energy costs and facilitate real-time data control and large-scale charging.
At Magility, we are watching these exciting developments and will keep you updated.
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by Nada Welker | Sep 20, 2021 | Alternative Drives, Automotive Industry, New Mobility, Smart City, Startups
400,000 visitors from 95 countries, nearly 1000 speakers and 744 exhibitors gathered at the new IAA Mobility last week. Among them were car manufacturers, important players of the tech industry, numerous relevant companies of the supply industry and suppliers of micromobility products. As every time, we from magility were again active on site.
The new concept
This year, the IAA Mobility presented itself in Munich for the first time in a completely new way. Very ambitious, hybrid in presence and online version, as well as in a B2B and a B2C version. The B2B section was located on the exhibition grounds themselves, while the B2C area was placed in the center of the city. Many areas could be visited free of charge on Munich’s most popular squares, even without a ticket. Those who were not there in person were able to experience the show digitally via IAA Mobility’s new virtual platform.
The demonstrators
In particular, the squares in the city were protected by massive police presence. There has not been a larger police contingent in Germany since the 2017 G20 Summit in Hamburg. Numerous demonstrators gathered at different squares and demanded a turn away from the still car-dominated traffic policy. They stood up for pedestrian, bicycle and local traffic, abseiled from highway bridges, organized a bicycle star ride as well as pedestrian demonstrations or took part in a so-called protest camp on the Theresienwiese. Demonstrators accused the makers of the IAA Mobility of being nothing more than a platform for the image polish of politics and business.
Our impression – magility on site
During our walk around the fair, we could already clearly see the transition from a pure car show to a mobility exhibition. Different vehicle solutions and forms of mobility have found their way into the trade fair. The new IAA Mobility is no longer a pure car show where OEMs present their cars with powerful combustion engines. Only a few vehicles with combustion engines were to be found at the fair, but unfortunately also almost no exhibitors from abroad. The IAA Mobility is supposed to become a networking event and a platform for cooperation as well as for new business models, micro-mobility and urban policy. Under one roof, or one sky, many players came together to shape the mobility of the future.
In her opening speech at the IAA, Chancellor Merkel spoke of a real quantum leap compared to the last IAA. The networking of all forms of mobility was clearly the focus. In addition to the automakers, numerous suppliers, tech startups, bicycle brands and other micro-mobility providers with new offerings bustled around the exhibition areas. On different stages, there were discussions and lectures about the new forms of mobility, and everything related to them. It was also about the cities of the future, about cyber security, about traffic concepts and, of course, about the further advancement of networking.
A tangible vision of the city of the future, climate-neutral, without noise and congestion and with a multimodal and safe traffic concept, has not yet emerged for us at the fair. Due to the very ambitious, future-oriented and decentralized concept and due to the integration of the numerous forms of locomotion, one sometimes felt a bit lost in the large halls or on the streets. The path taken by the makers of the IAA Mobility is a first small step in the right direction and, from magility’s point of view, has great potential for the future. As is well known, transformation away from the tried-and-true to the experimental new never runs smoothly and requires support from experts who can combine the old and the new in a meaningful way.
The biggest weakness of the current concept is the inadequate implementation of the B2B concept. As in the old days, almost all exhibitors have sent pure sales teams to the trade show booths. However, there is a lack of qualified developers and buyers to bring the B2B concept to real life.
The car manufacturers
Electric vehicles clearly dominate the show floor at IAA Mobility. The industry has realized that it needs to rethink and the politically prescribed framework conditions seem to be taking effect. We were able to find only a few vehicles with classic combustion engines at the IAA. This effect is already reflected in the registration statistics of the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA, 2020), which records a total of 25% of registrations for the e-vehicle and hybrid segments. This is almost on a par with diesel (28%), while gasoline still clearly leads with 47% of registrations. The OEMs are therefore perfectly capable of meeting current demand.
The principle of “more sustainable, smarter, shared economy” is increasingly replacing the old principle of “faster, stronger and wider”. At the IAA Mobility, this development has not yet taken hold in the OEM passenger cars on display. For potential buyers from the cross-section of the German population, the range of offers there is still inadequate. According to a study by Statista on the willingness of the German population to spend on the purchase of a passenger car in 2020, only about 6% of the population who planned to buy a new car in 2020 wanted to invest more than €25,000 in this purchase.
The only car at the show with a purchase price below €25,000 was VW’s ID.Life, although according to Volkswagen brand boss Ralf Brandstätter, it will not be available on the market until 2025. So we looked in vain for available electric vehicles for the mass market at the IAA Mobility, as well as hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Internationality was sorely missed at the IAA and should be restored at subsequent trade shows. In addition, the IAA Mobility does not cover the complete range of mobility, because motorcycles, air cabs, hyperloops, electric planes, supersonic aircrafts and spaceships are missing.
Our conclusion: IAA Mobility 2021 was, as always, exciting and at the same time already very different from the past. But for it to be sustainable, it needs to change a lot more. The direction is right, the design still needs significant corrective loops.
The suppliers
The suppliers moved much more into the center of attention at the IAA Mobility. The major suppliers (Tier1) met the automakers on an equal footing. This was quite different at the “old” IAA. Here, a clear shift is visible and the industry “behind” it is more visible. Among suppliers, too, the focus is clearly on electromobility and alternative drive technologies. Bosch, for example, announced at the IAA Mobility that electromobility would become the core business for the company in the future and presented the newly developed “eAxis“, which combines power electronics, electric motor and transmission into a single unit. Continental and Schaeffler also showed innovations around the topic of alternative drives at the trade show.
At the press conference, Wolf-Henning Scheider, Chief Executive Officer of the ZF Group, presented the ZF strategy “Next Generation Mobility. NOW“. He also presented the so-called “Modular eDrive Kit“, a modular construction kit consisting of coordinated components which, in addition to e-motors, also offers inverters, software, and various transmission options. According to Scheider, it bundles the entire expertise of the ZF e-mobility team in system solutions, components and software control in a flexible and modular platform. The consistent modular approach of the eDrive Kit is the optimal complement to the platform strategy of vehicle manufacturers. With the modular drive solution for purely electric passenger cars, ZF promises up to 50 percent shorter development times as well as high maturity levels. From compact cars to the premium segment, everything can be mapped.
The ZF example shows, as do Huawei, Schaeffler, Bosch, Tesla, and others, that the intelligence of future vehicles will be determined by a few, extremely powerful central computers such as the ZF ProAI. According to ZF, the ZF ProAI is the most flexible, scalable, and powerful automotive-grade supercomputer for the automotive industry, effectively becoming the source of vehicle intelligence.
The changeover process from conventional driveline technology to electromobility represents a massive qualification effort in the coming years, also for suppliers, who will have to adapt their services and products to the new requirements. From magility’s point of view, some suppliers are already well ahead of the vehicle manufacturers, while others will not survive this next evolutionary step.
The startups
Startups were much more in focus at the IAA Mobility compared to the last IAA. The startup booths were centrally located next to the big players in the industry and therefore very accessible to trade show visitors. They had the opportunity to network with investors, international partners and political representatives at the numerous networking events and to participate in master classes, discussion panels and lectures. The IAA Mobility Founders Day – a networking event – also reached progressive target groups of the IAA. Many of the most exciting developments came not from the established manufacturers, for example, but precisely from these new young companies and the startups. For example, Johann Jungwirth, Vice President of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) at Mobileye, announced a small sensation from the field of autonomous driving. Starting in 2022, a robot cab service is to be offered in Munich together with the car rental company Sixt, which is to operate without a safety driver. Approval has already been applied for. Tech startups are ahead of established providers, primarily due to their faster development cycles. Many startups from the ADAS sector were also represented at the show. So was Cognata, an Israeli company that offers full product lifecycle simulation for developers of ADAS and autonomous vehicles. We will report on these and other interesting startups at the IAA and their high-tech developments in another article.
Micromobility at the IAA
Cars were not the only focus of attention at this year’s IAA. Micromobility providers also got involved in the trade show action for the first time. Bicycles are in vogue, and even classic car manufacturers such as Porsche are getting involved in the micromobility-market: In cooperation with German bicycle manufacturer Storck Bicycle, Porsche has launched a new brand called Cyklaer. This brand offers fast e-bikes at Porsche’s price level. BMW is active in the cargo bike sector with its “Dynamic Cargo” concept, and VW is also involved with its “e-Bike Cargo” cargo bike, which is even due to be launched this year. Young companies and startups are also getting involved in the micromobility sector at this year’s IAA Mobility. We will report on this in a separate article.
Our conclusion
The path to climate-neutral mobility that is affordable and available to all is visibly progressing, even if there are still some long-established views and behaviors to be rethought along the way! The IAA Mobility has picked up on this trend and given a starting signal with the new concept. The design can be further developed and can move in a promising direction. This year, IAA Mobility was clearly focused on e-drives. ADAS and e-mobility topics were definitely the focus of the show. Suppliers of micro-mobility-products also made their mark at the show. It was also clear to us that the convergence of industries will play an even more important role in the future. Platform providers are now playing a major role in the automotive industry. Huawei in particular stood out to us with its end-to-end solution from the cloud to the vehicle architecture. So telecommunications companies are no longer just appearing on the sidelines in the automotive market. They are right in the middle of the action, and car manufacturers will have to dress warmly. For the next IAA in 2023, we at magility expect the topic of autonomous driving to move further into the spotlight of the trade show.
All in all, we look back on a very interesting trade fair and are already looking forward to the exciting development steps that will (have to) be taken through the mobility transformation by 2023. We are enthusiastically supporting the startups from our network in placing their high-tech developments in the right place at the right time here in Europe. For the industrial companies, we evaluate and review new innovative business models and accompany them during integration and market launch. With our experts in the field of electromobility and alternative drives, we also monitor this submarket. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
by Nada Welker | Dec 3, 2020 | Future Trends, Smart City
Sustainability dominates everything
The fact that the availability of resources is limited forces their careful and economic use. Therefore, sustainability is the guideline for every consideration about the construction industry. As a result, there is a trend towards the use of rapidly renewable organic materials, which contribute to a healthy climate in rooms and can also have interesting characteristics, for example, to facilitate the processing of the building material. Popcorn is one of these promising sustainable products. One third of its granulate is currently added to chipboards, thereby significantly reducing the weight of partition walls, for example. But also old acquaintances such as flax or hemp are helping to shape modern trends in the construction industry. As reinforcements in concrete, of all things, the flexible fibres can hold their own against steel and iron if they are properly prepared, as they are e.g. not affected by corrosion and are therefore more durable. In addition to sheep wool and reed for thermal insulation, seaweed has recently been attracting more attention again. The plant grows on the seabed and seems to have a natural fire protection because of its high salt content.
Digital trends save time and money in the construction industry
The digital trends in the construction industry make it much easier for everyone involved in a building project. Before it even starts, drones probe the terrain. During the construction work, they document the workflow, allow weak points to be recognised more quickly and locate affected areas that are difficult to be identified in the event of damage. In a cloud, all the trades involved can use Building Information Modelling (BIM) to virtually design everything from the laying of the foundation stone to the topping-out ceremony or even the handing over of the keys, which is then carried out one-to-one in reality. Possibly even one day by steel and electronic construction workers via robotics. Heavy work under adverse conditions would then be carried out by robots. The safety risk for human workers and costs could be drastically reduced. Digital systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), e.g. for merchandise management, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for customer-oriented management could be of great benefit. Smart tools can act as a link, giving teams access to schedules, to-do lists, milestones and task management at all times. Forums, chats and messaging would be possible at any time from different locations of the participants. This saves time and money.
A house out of the printer and the fear for jobs
Already today, trends in the construction industry are experimenting with 3D printers. In the future, complex elements are to be created from data sets for modular construction. The finished parts then only have to be assembled on the building site. Long waiting times or even storage periods can thus be avoided. This, on the other hand, gives rise to fears that jobs could be lost. Although the construction industry is currently desperately looking for workers, many of them could be replaced in the near future by digital systems such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) or even 3D printing.
Virtual reality in the construction industry
Nevertheless, the ongoing digitalization in the construction industry offers further tempting opportunities. Among the mega trends in the construction industry are virtual reality and augmented reality (VR and AR). Both areas provide more security in construction, but can also be used by builders and homeowners, for example, to get a better idea of the planned home. While AR, for example, allows the planned building to be embedded in a landscape or already built-up area on the screen, the rooms can be “walked through” in virtual reality using aids such as special VR glasses. In this way, for example, interior decorators, room designers or homeowners can gain an authentic impression for planning the interior design.
Networked living is not yet booming
Although, according to the “Deutsche Handwerks Zeitung”, many consumers are interested in a smart home, only an average of less than ten percent have actually installed such tools as intelligently networked switches, lamps or heaters, according to a survey by the paper. Networked buildings can also lead to more safety and security in addition to comfort and energy efficiency. Automated emergency call systems, burglar alarm systems that register unusual movements or monitoring in lifts can ensure that emergencies do not arise in the first place. This is what makes them so interesting within the trends in the construction industry.
We at magility are on track of the trends in the construction industry. Please contact us for further information on new business models, trend studies or market analyses. Digitalization in the construction industry is currently gaining enormous speed. The future in the construction industry will be smart! Step on the accelerator now and join the transformation of the modern way of living in the future.
by Nada Welker | Sep 11, 2020 | Cyber Security Management, Interviews
In the Smart Cities and Smart Buildings of the future, sensor technology, Big Data platforms, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems will play an increasingly important role. Buildings will more and more be networked with the infrastructure of the modern city through mobile applications in the Internet of Things (IoT). This creates many new entry points for cyber attacks.
Cyber security measures along the entire value-chain and the life cycle of products and processes are therefore also becoming a decisive factor for success in the construction industry.
Cyber Security Management Systems (CSMS), which will soon be required by law for the registration of vehicles, will also play an important role in the construction industry and the real estate sector in the future.
A: In the automotive industry, it is now recognised that vehicles have become more and more mobile computers that must be considered as part of the Internet of Things (IoT). Beyond its physical limitations like tyres or mudguards the vehicle is part of a so-called end-to-end system. This means that the vehicle must be protected over its entire life-cycle and at all points in the value chain. In addition to the product itself, this includes cloud services, back ends and mobile applications. In future, manufacturers will have to present a certificate of conformity for the management of cyber security for their organisation, their processes and products in order to still be allowed to register vehicles. Our managing director, Dr. Michael Müller, spoke about this topic in an interview a few weeks ago.
Buildings, too, are increasingly networked these days. This already starts with smart home applications such as doorbell systems with video switching, intelligent ovens or entire data buses that can be used to control light and temperature throughout the house. Some modern buildings in a smart city already have a connection to a smart grid and are already fully integrated and networked with the infrastructure through energy supply or mobility services such as charging points. If you draw parallels with the automotive industry, it is only a matter of time that the cyber security of buildings is regulated at the legal level as well, since in a networked infrastructure there are numerous entry points for cyber attacks.
Q: How can the construction industry prepare itself reasonably?
A: One approach would be to look at current best practices from the automotive industry and apply them to the construction industry. For example, control units or sensors that are to be installed in buildings could already be checked for cyber security during the sourcing process. Conversely, for suppliers this means that the processes in development, production and operation in future will have to be adapted to meet the customer’s cyber requirements and to further qualify themselves as a supplier.
The introduction of a so-called Cyber Security Management System (CSMS), which adds the aspect of cyber security to products, processes and organisation, is the best solution for this. In this way, all stakeholders involved in a construction project can ensure that their organisation, as well as their suppliers, are cyber-secure and, in the case of the introduction of a mandatory CSMS certification, that they can continue to implement their construction projects.
Q: We have learnt that the integration of a holistic CSMS is a critical success factor for the housing of the future. Smart Cities, which do not function without networking and thus without areas of attack, require a holistic cyber security strategy. What could such a strategy look like?
A: First of all, you must familiarise yourself with the new networked ecosystem in which a modern Smart City is located today. This system consists of an ever-increasing number of networked sensors, which in theory can turn any product, object or device into a Smart Device. This means that each of these objects has its own individual life cycle and value chain. All these different cycles and chains are affected by cyber security, which is why the integration of a management system should be the central point of any cyber security strategy.
Take a new construction project as an example. First of all, we have different actors here to implement such a project. Usually these are investors, construction planners, the actual construction companies and later the operators. Each party must be clear about what needs to be done on the cyber side to ensure that all interfaces are secured.
Especially investors play an important role when selecting partners and must provide an overall picture including the objectives, e.g. that a smart office building is also cyber-secure. These requirements must be taken into account when selecting partners.
As a construction planner, you need to plan the building’s electrical and electronic systems in a sustainable manner, from the initial idea to the completion of the building. This means that a great deal of expertise in networking, sensor technology and communication systems is required to ensure that Cyber Security is considered and implemented at every step.
During the actual construction of the object, the focus is primarily on project management and the monitoring of the implementation and compliance of cyber activities. All E/E systems, sensors and actuators must be correctly installed and tested for functional safety and cyber security.
Ultimately, operating companies must ensure that the cyber security of the property is permanently guaranteed from the time of final acceptance until the end of the building’s life cycle – either by demolition or rededication. This can be done by a so-called Security Operation Centre (SOC). This SOC monitors the corresponding object 24/7 and reacts in the event of a cyber vulnerability in the shortest possible time to rectify faults or ward off potential attacks.
Q: What role does magility play in this process?
A: We at magility see ourselves as a system integrator of CSMS for the European market. By our partnerships with technology companies such as Argus Cyber Security and high-tech start-ups in the fields of cyber security, sensor technology, AI, etc., as well as the independent certification service provider DEKRA and our international network, we can provide cross-interface advice on strategy and action planning for construction projects. Furthermore we can accompany the CSMS implementation process and the implementation of cyber security measures. To this end, we are also already working with players from the construction industry, such as Drees & Sommer.
Q: Thank you very much for the detailed answers. Would you give us a personal estimation at the end of the interview? Where is the construction industry heading to?
A: The construction industry has been undergoing significant digital change for several years now, and this will continue in the future due to the ever-increasing digital networking of buildings and infrastructure. The automotive industry is currently a pioneer, as regulations with binding measures and deadlines for their implementation have already been announced. In future, however, a CSMS will also have to be implemented for the construction industry, as this is the only way to ensure that the infrastructure is protected and the dangers of cyber attacks for the whole society are minimised. Therefore we advise our customers from the construction industry to deal with the topic CSMS already now in order to be prepared for the future and to take the chance to play a pioneering role in this industry.
If you have any further questions on this topic, we at magility will be happy to help. Please contact our CMO Nada Lea Welker directly nada.welker@magility.com or contact us here.
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