5 notable electrical industry trends

The last few years in the electrical industry have been dominated by shifts in technology, particularly relating to ‘smart’ buildings and sustainable practices. Some trends have been propelled by the changes in working practices, particularly around remote-working and the use of cloud-based, collaborative automation. 

Here are the latest notable trends we expect to see in the electrical industry for 2024:

1. The continued growth of prefabrication

Within the construction industry as a whole, prefabricated and modular methods built away from the job site is a growing trend and the electrical industry is no exception.

Prefabrication can produce cost savings in terms of materials, labour and estimating. Using standardised processes to assemble offsite can significantly reduce costs and lead times, and it can also mitigate the need to transport materials from place to place. 

It is expected that electrical will continue to join other construction trades with preparing prefabricated components. For example, prefabricated electrical components such as panel builds and lighting packages are being integrated into modular data centre skids, built by construction firms.

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2. Integration of renewable energy

It is expected that the trend toward sustainable materials and building methods will continue to grow in 2024 and this means there will be more demand for energy-saving resources and sustainably made components. 

In the era of environmental consciousness, the electrical industry is playing a crucial role in harnessing the power of renewables, particularly solar and wind energy. The electrical industry is adapting to these by developing grid interconnections that enable surplus renewable energy to be stored or shared, making the power grid more resilient and versatile. 

Electrical engineers are also continuously working to improve battery technology in order to enhance energy, reduce costs and find better ways to store energy.

3. The rise of EVs and new infrastructure

The electrical industry has been undergoing a transformation in recent years, and at the heart of this is the surge of Electric Vehicles (EVs). 

The world is making a collective effort to reduce carbon emissions and embrace a greener future, and the electrical industry is playing a pivotal role in helping to power the future of transportation. 

With more EVs on the road than ever before, there’s a growing need for accessible charging solutions and grids need to become more robust, adaptable and capable of handling the increased demand. Smart grid technologies are being implemented to manage distribution efficiently and electrical contractors are increasingly involved in building EV charging stations, and not to mention home and workplace installations. 

As EV adoption continues to grow, we can anticipate further innovations and developments in the electrical industry to support this. 

4. Smart homes 

There’s no surprise that the smart home and IoT (Internet of Things) trend is expected to continue into 2024 and beyond. The technology is becoming more appealing, cheaper, and accessible to more people and this means there will be an increase in demand for electrical businesses to carry out ‘smart’ installations, in both the private residential and commercial sector. 

From smart appliances such as doorbells, CCTV and alarm systems, to voice recognition integrations and AI, we are all collectively embracing the presence of technology in our homes and we expect to see this continue on a prolific scale in 2024. Electricians will be playing a major role in upgrading homes as well as commercial, leisure and office spaces in the months (and years) to come.

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5. Collaborative, cloud-based tools

Software that helps electrical contractors to manage their projects and work collaboratively is becoming increasingly more advanced. For example, there are a myriad of cloud-based project management tools on the market, and cloud-based end-to-end automated electrical estimating solutions are becoming very popular, helping companies to work smarter and become more efficient.

With the continuing popularity of remote-working, these tools are a game changer for the industry as they help teams to work more flexibly with increased speed, while at the same time enabling collaboration off-site.

Final thoughts

A lot of the trends we are seeing are of course natural progression over the last few years. Issues such as sustainability have been on the record for some time, but as new regulations, awareness and demand come into play, companies will need to adapt to keep ahead of these changes and continue their success.

Smart technology is expanding into every part of life and the electrical industry is having a big part to play in meeting the massive demand. It’s exciting to see how it will play out in 2024 and beyond.