APC 2013 Annual Report Download - page 175

BUSINESS REVIEW
TRENDS IN SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC’S CORE MARKETS
Utilities and Infrastructures
Electrical Utilities
towards more energy efficient consumption practices and
demand-side participation to grid operation.
Strong regional differences have recently emerged in the utility The traditional utility business model where revenues were
space. Europe is in the middle of turbulences during the early predominantly based on electricity volumes is slowly challenged.
steps of the energy transition, primarily affecting the conventional Conventional centralized generation is gradually losing ground to
power generators, while other geographies follow a more stable new distributed generation plants.
path.
Oil and Gas
On the grid side of mature economies, the attention paid to quality
of supply (outages, power quality) is greater than ever, justifying
investments to rejuvenate aging networks, incorporation new smart In 2013, Oil & Gas markets have confirmed the recovery engaged
grid technologies while integrating the increasing number of since 2010.
distributed energy resources.
The global gas market is undergoing significant changes. The US
Utilities must meet these regulatory obligations in a context of became self-sufficient in Energy and is preparing export
weak or even negative consumption growth, as well as societal capabilities, Europe consumption is pausing due to the crisis, and
pressure to maintain competitive electricity prices. In emerging infrastructures are being build-up in Asia (export from Australia,
economies, the need of additional capacities to meet consumption Pipelines into China…).
growth keeps on driving the utility sector.
In the Oil & Gas market, Schneider Electric is positioned to deliver
Those factors will drive sustainable investments in utility networks solutions across all the Oil & Gas value chain, with application
across all geographies. focus on energy management and infrastructure optimization.
The regulatory pressure on electric utilities is increasing, mainly in The Invensys acquisition further reinforces Software and Process
mature markets. In addition to the mandates on renewable Automation capabilities, in particular in downstream and
integration, energy efficiency targets are being implemented, giving petrochemicals.
new obligations to utility operators to stimulate their customers
Data centers and Networks
4
In 2013, the Global IT markets (Information Technologies) were The transactional single phase market experienced a significant
impacted by a weaker economic environment. In particular in the growth in Asia offsetting more difficult situations in North America,
United States, the uncertainty linked to the debt ceiling debate and Western Europe and Russia.
Federal Reserve tapering of bond-buying combined with the The migration to the Cloud, Collocation and growth in larger Data
October Government shutdown created conditions for a slowdown Centers accelerated, needing new customer engagement models
and a volatility of IT investments. as well as faster adaptation of Schneider Electric’s offer.
In Europe, some Western countries remained in recession in 2013, Strong growth of Data-centers market in Asia was offset by softer
but the country which has faced the sharpest decrease of its IT trends in North America and to lower extent in Western Europe.
market is Russia. Capital outflows, restrictive fiscal and monetary
policies in order to fight inflation created adverse economic
conditions for investment.
173
2013 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC