The European market for PLCs will grow from €1.56bn in 2010 to reach €2.6bn by 2017, according to a new report from Frost & Sullivan. It says that sales of small and medium PLCs will be key to sustaining market growth and expansion in the coming years. The growth will also be helped by the emergence of Eastern European manufacturing hubs that serve the rest of Europe.

However, the report warns that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has created an atmosphere of uncertainty which is likely to hit new projects for the next two years.

Mounting end-user concerns over security are also likely to affect the market. “Cyber-security is expected to be the key parameter in safety regulations and standards that will be introduced in January 2012,” says Frost & Sullivan senior research analyst, Karthik Sundaram. “The growth of the European PLC market will be driven in future by the need for enhanced cyber-security, globalised service support and affordable product models.”

Frost expects intense competition suppliers to lead to “dramatic” improvements in PLC technologies and the emergence of new products with enhanced design and control capabilities.