In its 2015 ‘definitive guide to the people driving Europe’s smart grid development’, the editorial board of industry magazine Metering & Smart Energy International named Landis+Gyr CEO, Andreas Umbach, as one of 50 most influential people in Europe’s smart grid industry, and in fact identified him as one of their top 10!
According to the magazine, the individuals on the list are the movers and shakers in Europe’s smart grid sector.
For more than a decade, Andreas Umbach has led Landis+Gyr’s transformation into a global provider of smart metering, and smart grid technology and solutions.
When asked for three key predictions for the power sector in 2015, Andreas Umbach gave the following insight:
1. The digitalization of energy grids will make further headway in Europe 
The smart grid is here already, according to Umbach. This is reflected by the increase in number of players active in the field. ‘Now we are seeing a lot more emphasis on the data side of the industry such as data analytics and smart data.’
2. Convergence of data will link historically separated processes and push smart grid and smart community concepts
IT convergence is a very real trend, not a buzzword. There is a wide range of commercialized technologies that are able to underpin IT convergence in the energy sector. As an example Umbach explains: “Renewables deployment has a major impact on a utility’s network because they were originally designed as one way roads, not for bilateral traffic. If you deploy renewables you then have to monitor frequency and voltage in that area of the network. So there are pockets of the grid where there is a real desire, now, to execute IT convergence technologies on the utilities side.”
3. Energy meters will become the communicating interface at all levels in the energy system
The European energy industry is in constant evolution, and Landis+Gyr strives to adapt to meet each new development. According to Umbach: “Landis+Gyr is already a leader in smart metering solutions and our ambition is to become the leading smart grid solutions provider. We do this by continuing to add functionality and adding technologies and products that fit well into a smart metering network.”
