Utilities world over have together
spent $13.9 billion on Smart
Grid technologies in 2012, up 7
per cent from 2011, says Bloomberg
New Energy Finance. Further,
Bloomberg expects just over 10 per cent
compound annual growth for the next
five years, nearly doubling the market to
$25.2 billion per annum by 2018.
Roughly half of 2012’s spend (or
$7.1billion) was spent on smart
metering and related infrastructure and
services. The next biggest category was
distribution automation, followed by
integrated demonstration projects in
areas such as demand response, home
energy management and smart electric
vehicle charging.
The largest regional market for Smart
Grid technologies and services remains
the US, where utilities spent $4.3 billion
in 2012, down from $5.1 billion in 2011.
However, China is closing the gap, last
year raising its investment from $2.8
billion to $3.2 billion, largely on the back
of major smart metering procurement
by the national State Grid company.
China is expected to overtake the US as
the largest smart grid market in 2013, as
stimulus funded projects in the US
conclude and Chinese investment
continues to grow. Asia as a whole grew
its investment to $5.6 billion in 2012,
with new digital energy initiatives
getting underway in Japan, India, Korea
and various Southeast Asian nations.
Smart grid spending in Europe was a
relatively modest — $1.4 billion, up
from $1.1 billion in 2011, as progress on
the European smart metering directive
remains mixed at the member state
level. However, investments are
expected to pick up rapidly after 2014 as
a number of countries such as the UK
and France begin major deployments,
and investments in smarter distribution
networks also accelerate.
Latin America remains a nascent
market for Smart Grid technology,
though regulatory progress has been
made in Brazil in the last year.