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2 CONNECTING UTILITY ASSETS USING LORAWAN www.abiresearch.com • Remote Valve Control: Bidirectional, low-latency communications on flow control points address several market needs. They include government-mandated restrictions on water, as most recently seen in South Africa; regulations on utility use when using prepayment services; and gas meter safety valve control. • Eliminate Electricity Theft and Water Losses: A digital metering network deters theft and reduces water leakage loss by effectively lowering nonrevenue water loss due to better accuracy, with electronic meters synchronized with pressure and flow measurements. In some emerging economies, such as Brazil, Mexico, India, and Indonesia, nontechnical losses can account for up to 25% of the power distribution loss. Worldwide water loss (typically through leakages in the distribution network) can represent at least 20% or more than 1.3 million cubic meters of clean water. Compounding this loss is the energy used for pumping water that is never consumed! • Outage Management: Unplanned network outages can be reduced and the response to outages can be hastened through monitoring and analytics technologies on meters and within the grid. • Integration of Renewable or Distributed Energy Resource Systems and Storage: Digital networks with bidirectional communications and metering technologies ease integration and use of distributed or decentralized energy sources, such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, fuel cells, and wind turbines. • Demand Response Programs: These programs incentivize customers toward more energy-conservative usage patterns, giving utilities another tool for managing the use of the utility's infrastructure. The end result is reduced Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operating Expenditure (OPEX) costs, ultimately reducing customer utility bills. LPWAN TECHNOLOGIES EMPOWERING UTILITY MARKET TRANSFORMATION Smart electricity networks have been around for nearly a decade but have been created through the use of a variety of wired and wireless technologies. In North America, energy utilities have deployed sub-GHz Radio Frequency (RF) mesh networks, whereas in Europe and Asia-Pacific, Power-Line Communications (PLCs) have had a dominant connectivity share. By the end of 2018, PLC-enabled smart electricity meters will account for nearly 50% of all worldwide smart meter connections, mesh networks will have 27% share, cellular connections and non-cellular LPWA network connections will account for 11% and 12% share respectively. However, cellular and noncellular LPWA technologies will begin to grow in share because of their benefits toward serving water and gas utility smart meters. According to ABI Research, by 2026 near- ly 20% of smart meters deployed by energy and water utilities worldwide will be connected using noncellular LPWA networks. Non-Cellular LPWA Connections By Smart Meter Type (Source: ABI Research) 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Electricity Gas Water Units: Millions