May 28, 2014 – The destruction of electric infrastructure from storms such as Tropical Cyclone Sandy in 2012, triggers customer-driven demand for faster service restoration in the way of fault location, isolation and service restoration (FLISR) systems—a global hardware market that, according to Navigant Research, will grow from $2.4 billion annually in 2014 to nearly $5.4 billion by 2023.

FLISR systems combine hardware, software, telecommunications and grid engineering to decrease the duration of outages as well as the number of customers affected.

“FLISR is one of the more effective applications of distribution automation technology, and can noticeably improve utility performance metrics such as the system average interruption duration index (SAIDI) and the system average interruption frequency index (SAIFI),” explained Bob Lockhart, research director with Navigant. “Improving these indicators can lead directly to improved customer satisfaction…”

In the United States, investment grants funded rollouts of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) systems. Between 2009 and 2012, more than $1 billion was spent on distribution assets, including about $300 million on automated switches that could be used for FLISR. While utilities are genuinely interested in smart metering, according to the report, they also see those AMI deployments as a means to acquire the necessary network for distribution automation applications such as FLISR.

The “Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration” report analyzes the global market opportunity for FLISR applications. It examines the market drivers and barriers that are affecting FLISR deployments worldwide, including government funding, regulatory reforms and standards adoption. An Executive Summary is available for free download on the Navigant Research website.