Blog

Innovative Intersections: Smart Cities Meet Smart Grids

The era of smart cities offers endless possibilities as local government leaders leverage intelligent technologies to enhance safety, mitigate climate impacts and improve the overall quality of life for their citizens.

This is no small feat. The global smart cities market was valued at US$748.7 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.8% through 2030 (Source: Grandview Research).

As cities strive to become smarter, one key dynamic that has emerged is the crucial role of the local electric utility’s smart grid infrastructure. The smart grid forms the foundation for many successful smart city use cases, creating a powerful partnership between cities and their local electric utility companies.

Smart city orchestration

Before a smart city can become a reality with numerous citizen-centric applications, there must be an effort to secure and leverage intelligent infrastructure. This begins with network infrastructure that provides device and system connectivity, acting as a conduit for the massive volumes of data that need to be moved in real-time or near real-time for applications to have their maximum impact.

In short, the network is a key component in orchestrating a smart city.

To scale quickly, manage costs and provide the most value for citizens, the network – often derived from the utility’s smart grid infrastructure – needs to be open and capable of supporting multiple communication protocols while providing 24/7 reliability for a wide variety of use cases, applications and devices.

A single platform that supports a diverse portfolio of use cases offers a powerful ROI for local governments facing increasing financial constraints.

In addition to providing choice, another consideration in building a smart city is the need to move and use data generated by various devices (like smart water meters or lighting sensors) to provide information and insights for better operations and sharper decisions, often in real-time or near real-time.

A truly open, data-agnostic network will enable this critical data movement and sharing, creating scalable business value for the city.

Beyond the benefits to local governments and technical considerations, there is added business value for local utilities. Partnering with local governments with their smart city efforts can create new revenue streams for utilities through lease network agreements. This is a win-win-win scenario that benefits the utility, the city, and most importantly, the citizens they serve.

Smart cities in action

With an open, scalable and reliable network in place, consider some of the use cases that will provide value for a smart city and its citizens.

First, supporting climate and environmental goals mandated by many local governments. This includes integrating a city’s renewable energy sources with the grid, managing EV charging networks and enabling integrated smart buildings and campuses to improve energy usage and peak management.

Another area is public safety. Smart street lighting applications, along with smart camera networks, alarms and more all contribute to a city that is as safe as it is smart.

Additionally, smart water metering is becoming one of the leading use cases as water usage management and conservation becomes critical with often constrained water resources.

During this time of financial belt-tightening, local government leaders are increasingly looking to make their cities more cost-efficient while maintaining or improving how they serve their citizens; in essence, this is a smart city. The success of smart cities starts with a network that is open and scalable and enables a wide array of use cases.

Learn more to discover the resources that smart leaders are using to build smart cities and smart grids.

This article originally appeared in Smart Energy International on October 3, 2024.