This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the Generation market. This segment comprises Power Generation and Microgeneration.
This is now a mature market focusing on sensors deployed on energy-producing equipment to gain insights into their proper utilisation and function. These solutions will ensure that devices are working at their optimal capacity at all times and provide timely alerts for any maintenance needs to ensure that downtime is reduced. Recent growth has been encouraged by greater demand for clean sources of energy, which has risen to support governments’ attempts to achieve their sustainability targets. These solutions are usually more decentralised than traditional energy generation methods. Consequently, the remote monitoring of these assets requires a greater number of sensors for each unit of energy generated.
Looking ahead, the convergence of IoT with AI, digital twins, and smart grid technologies will further strengthen the ability of energy systems to operate dynamically and sustainably. This will be crucial in supporting global decarbonisation goals while meeting the rising demand for electricity in an increasingly electrified world.
The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used and revenue. A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector break-downs and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.
This section begins with a short description of global climate change across the world. For instance, Global temperatures have risen by 1.44°C above the 1850-1900 average as per the World Meteorological Organisation. It claims that by early 2026, 130+ countries and intergovernmental bodies have proposed carbon-neutral targets by 2050. In a tabular format, it then charts the status of net-zero carbon emissions targets of various countries, around the globe.
It explains that this has led countries to depend more on sustainable energy sources, eventually leading to heavy investment in clean energy projects. For example, in 2024, governments allocated a total of USD370 billion and in 2025, a further USD405 billion was added for clean energy alternatives. It then discusses the economic benefits for operators and stresses the importance of IoT solutions in these clean energy technology solutions.
This section has been further categorised into:
This subsection of the report discusses thermal power plants representing the highest share of global electricity generation as well as contributing the highest amounts of emissions (like 98% of SO2 emissions and 94% of mercury emissions), resulting in the replacement or upgradation of the existing power plants, which increases their efficiencies.
This subsection mostly explains how the rapid depletion of fossil fuels and changing climate have resulted in the adoption of more efficient and cost-effective sources in the last two decades. For instance, 30% of the global energy was produced from renewable sources in 2022 – 10 percentage points higher than in 2010.
It further adds that the growing use of renewables also encourages the adoption of IoT, especially since some of these systems are located in remote areas, and IoT enables both remote diagnostics and smart grid integration.
This subsection argues that there is an urgent need to incorporate more generation capacity is also growing to fulfil this increased demand. It explains that the increasing sales of electric vehicles (EVs) and encouragement by governments towards the adoption of heat pumps will further increase electricity demand. For example, Global EV sales grew to 20 million in 2025, rising by more than 20%, with an additional 3.5 million cars sold in 2025 compared to 2024.
This subsection charts the connectivity technologies currently used for Generation, such as Ethernet. It explains how LPWA will play a crucial role in future, owing to its distinctive advantages like being cheaper and offering long-range coverage and discusses satellite technology being used to connect remote power plants.
It also discusses the success of satellite communications in this space, especially when it is used to connect remote power plants. Case in point, Inmarsat has connected four solar-powered, IoT-enabled hydrological stations to its satellite network, where each station monitors the water levels, precipitation, and air and water temperature in real-time to allow authorities to optimise electricity production, reduce waste, and minimise environmental damage that can be caused by overspills at the plant.
The growing use of connectivity in critical infrastructure will require appropriately strong security measures. Cyber-attacks on generation equipment can have disastrous outcomes, including disruption to the flow of critical data and energy. Cyberattacks on power systems have evolved significantly since the cyberattacks on power systems in 2015-2016 in Ukraine. More advanced threats, such as ‘Industroyer2’ malware, emerged in 2022 targeting Ukraine’s power grid but were successfully mitigated. While large scale disruptions have been mitigated through improved defences, the increasing digitalisation of grids continues to expand the cyber risk surface, necessitating stronger regulatory (such as NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection or CIP standards ) and operational safeguards for real-time monitoring, faster incident response, and supply chain security.
This section gives a few examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application, like Enel X deploying a battery energy storage system and solar panels at Aeroporti di Roma in Italy.
This section first defines the concept of microgeneration, its benefits (like reducing carbon emission resulting from electricity generation), and the connectivity technologies it uses and their benefits (like Short Range to provide updates on the status and operation of the equipment).
This subsection describes how solar panel installations prove to be an economical investment despite their high upfront costs. It also talks about some of the steps taken by various companies to reduce the upfront costs of solar panels. It then focuses on the deployment of IoT sensors that are linked to solar equipment and the benefits of doing so. For instance, smart sensors allow manufacturers and consumers to remotely track and manage the performance of the entire solar system in real-time.
This subsection focuses on the use of IoT in small wind turbines that are used for microgeneration (such as collecting real-time data about wind speed and power output) and the benefits of doing so. It also mentions the challenges of wind power generation like high installation cost and ensuring constant wind supply. For example, a report by A1 SolarStore claims that a 10-kilowatt machine needed to power an average household costs between USD60,000-USD100,000 and will produce about 15,000-30,000kWh worth USD2,648-5,295 at consumer rates per year.
This subsection first defines cogeneration or CHPs (combined heat and power), notes the different kinds of CHP generator systems available in the market (along with their functions), and explains how CHPs address the issues of energy consumption and greenhouse emissions by providing users with efficient and localised thermal energy while generating electricity. It then talks about IoT being implemented in cogeneration equipment and the benefits of doing so, like improved efficiency and reduced downtime.
This subsection focuses on the increasing adoption of heat pumps across the globe (although it mentions that the market has recently experienced some slowdown). It then explains that although most current heat pumps are air-sourced, the usage of ground-source heat pumps has begun to grow as well. It then distinguishes these two types and charts the kind of benefits offered by governments towards their adoption. For example, the British Government is offering a grant of GBP7,500 (USD10,100) to install one air source heat pump, GBP7,500 (USD10,100) for a ground source heat pump, GBP5,000 (USD6735) towards a biomass boiler, and GBP2,500 (USD3,365) towards an air-to-air heat pump that is eligible to homeowners under its Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
It also compares the efficiency of both these systems and adds that the biggest benefit of ground-sourced heat pumps (GHPs) is that they use 25% to 50% less electricity than conventional heating or cooling systems.
This section provides some examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application, including Wold Top Brewery installing Earthmill's E-3120 wind turbine.
The key vendors section lists some of the main providers of products and services related to the market, such as Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited, Siemens Gamesa, Suzlon Energy, NextEra Energy, GE Vernova, TCS, Infosys, Iberdrola, Enel, Ørsted, and Engie. The report provides profiles of the various vendors, including aspects most relevant to this Application Group, such as product offerings, pricing, financial results, and technology.
In the market forecasts section, we provide a summary of the forecasts from the Transforma Insights IoT Forecast Database:
The report charts the growth in the number of devices, which should increase from 48.1 million 2025 to 208.1 million in 2035.
Transforma Insights forecasts are compiled on a country-by-country basis. This report includes a regional summary, showing splits between Australasia, Greater China, North America, Europe, Japan, Latin America, MENA, Russia & Central Asia, South East Asia, South Korea, India & South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Transforma Insights’ IoT forecasts include splits between the various connectivity technologies as follows: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G mMTC, 5G non-mMTC, LPWA (non-mMTC), Satellite, Short Range, and Other.
This section discusses which technologies will be used in the generation application group.
This part of the report discusses the market growth in terms of revenue (module revenue, service wrap revenue, and VAC revenue). Transforma Insights estimates that the revenue in the Generation Application Group will grow at a CAGR of 14.36%.
