In the context of the development of the digital economy, the mainland is accelerating the construction of a new power system, and the digital and intelligent transformation of the power industry is advancing in depth, driving the ICT expenditure of the mainland power industry to grow.
On May 7, IDC released the "China Power Industry ICT Market Forecast, 2023-2028" report, which said that the ICT market size of China's power industry will grow from 58.17 billion yuan in 2023 to 84.06 billion yuan in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.7%.
The ICT market in the power industry has shown strong development potential, how can ICT service providers make efforts and seize market opportunities?
The acceleration of intelligent power supply and the increase in ICT investment are increasing year by year
With the deep integration of digitalization, intelligence and greening of various industries, the relevant investment in the energy industry in mainland China is transforming from infrastructure to industrial modernization, intelligence and greening, and has promoted the acceleration of the construction of a new power system that is based on the carrier to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality, with the smart grid platform as the hub, and the source-grid-load-storage as the support.
At present, the mainland is actively promoting the intelligence of the power and energy industry at the policy level. The relevant documents issued by the National Energy Administration last year pointed out that it is necessary to focus on key areas and key links, excavate and expand intelligent applications according to local conditions, and promote the application of smart power plants, intelligent inspection and disaster monitoring of transmission lines, intelligent substations, intelligent coal mines, intelligent oil and gas fields and other scenarios.
Under the new power system, digitalization and intelligence have become new engines for the development of the industry. Further, cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, mobile Internet, smart cities and power systems are widely integrated with the power generation, transmission and transformation, distribution and sales of power systems to support the coordinated operation of massive scattered objects of source, grid, load and storage, as well as the accurate perception, regulation and scheduling of complex operating states of the system under various mechanisms.
The power ICT market is mainly divided into hardware, software, IT services, telecommunication services, business services and other market segments, and hardware currently ranks first in the overall proportion of 33.8%, much larger than the proportion of software and service market, followed by software and IT service market, of which the software market has the fastest growth rate, and the compound growth rate will reach 16.3% in the next five years.
IDC predicts that by 2025, 40% of leading energy providers will use GenAI technology to improve customer experience. By 2027, 50% of grid companies will implement digital twins to improve grid asset optimization; By 2026, 20% of utilities will adopt multispectral satellite imaging and AI computer vision to improve the efficiency of power inspections.
Based on the above technology investment trends, IDC recommends that ICT providers actively apply cutting-edge digital technologies and increase technological innovation and product research and development efforts to provide more optimized energy transition solutions. In addition, technology providers should pay attention to the macro policy trends of the power industry in a timely manner, deeply understand the needs of power end users, and expand industry cooperation and ecosystem construction, so as to provide more efficient and safer solutions for the digital transformation of power.
Deeply cultivating power intelligence, new IT shows multi-dimensional empowerment
In the process of digital transformation and upgrading of the power industry, ICT technology companies with intelligent technologies and capabilities are continuously promoting the practice of intelligent power transformation and continuously improving their competitiveness with professional and innovative empowerment capabilities. As a leading enterprise in China's digital economy, Lenovo Group provides digital and intelligent solutions and services for all walks of life, including the power industry, with the all-round and three-dimensional empowerment capabilities of "device-edge-cloud-network-intelligence" all-factor new IT technology.
In terms of intelligence in the power industry, Lenovo Group focuses on intelligent power inspection and synergy to empower the construction of smart grids. In the process of the development of new power systems, the power industry's demand for unmanned, specialized, safe, energy and efficiency improvement of power stations is increasing, and intelligent power inspection has become indispensable.
Based on digital twins, AI, image recognition, automatic navigation and other technologies, the program uses various terminal equipment such as Morningstar robots, PDAs, low-power cameras, drones, and smart cameras to complete the unmanned inspection of substations by means of three-dimensional visualization, which can save 30% of labor costs for power companies.
At present, Lenovo Morningstar's intelligent power inspection solution has been applied in the State Grid, China Southern Power Grid and many other new energy stations, and has been widely recognized by customers, such as the "AI and CV substation inspection and operation smart dog R&D project" jointly created by Lenovo Group and Guangdong Power Grid Dongguan Power Supply Bureau and other units won the "2023 Energy Enterprise Informatization Innovation Achievements and Practice Cases" award.
Lenovo Group's initiatives to promote the development of intelligent power do not stop there. IDC pointed out that in order to better serve the intelligent power industry, ICT providers should participate in the formulation and promotion of international, national, and industry standards related to the digitalization of the power industry to ensure that products and services comply with market norms. In this regard, Lenovo Group has cooperated with State Grid, Sichuan University, China Electronics Standards Research Institute and other units to compile the first international standard in the field of power knowledge graph, that is, the IEEE Power Knowledge Graph (P2807.3) standard "Power Knowledge Graph Application Guide", which further demonstrates the strength and confidence of Lenovo Group in the field of power intelligence.
With the support of new IT technology, Lenovo Group has formed AI-native solution services with product advantages and technology accumulation in terminal hardware, AI, cloud computing, edge computing, etc., and then used the intelligent IT engine "Qingtian" driven by enterprise large models to help customers from all walks of life achieve AI-driven intelligent transformation and upgrading. At present, Lenovo Group has provided "new IT" intelligent solutions for nearly 1,000 large industry enterprises such as Sany Heavy Industry, Geely Automobile, NIO, and CATL.
With rich and comprehensive and widely recognized intelligent service capabilities, Lenovo Group's SSG solution service business based on intelligent transformation services is showing strong growth and profitability, and the financial report shows that in the operating fiscal year ended last year, Lenovo Group's business achieved revenue of 14.6 billion yuan and an operating profit margin of more than 20%. It can be said that the SSG business, which focuses on industry intelligence, has become the engine of high profit and high growth of Lenovo Group, and the key to enhancing Lenovo Group's comprehensive competitiveness.
With the continuous development and widespread application of innovative technologies such as AI, the intelligence and digitalization of various industries such as power will continue to upgrade, and the scale of ICT spending in specific fields will also increase. As one of the few new IT manufacturers in China with a comprehensive layout, Lenovo Group will become a strong support for the intelligent transformation of electric power and other industries with safe, efficient and reliable intelligent products, solutions and service capabilities.