Threat to utilities

Utilities face the greatest risk of lost revenues from distributed generation (DG), including residential solar photovoltaics and fuel cells, according to Accenture’s Digitally Enabled Grid research, now in its fourth year. The survey of over 100 utilities executives across more than 20 countries revealed that 58 per cent of distribution utility executives believe DG will cause revenue reduction by 2030.
 
The concern is higher in North America and Asia Pacific than in Europe, due to the prevalence in these regions of vertically integrated utilities, which face the double impact of declining energy sales revenue and increased network costs to