I blogged recently about a report from Memoori, a UK research firm, called “The Smart Grid Business 2012 to 2017”,
which analyzes global smart grid-related sales. Its research has
identified some interesting trends in the current smart grid market.  In the last 3 years Memoori estimates that the world smart
grid-related sales has more than doubled from $16.2 billion in 2010 to
$36.5 in 2012. 40% of this is smart meters

A recent report from Navigant Research says that the global smart grid technologies market amounted to more than $33 billion in revenue in 2012.   Navigant is projecting that the market for smart grid technologies will reach $73 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2020.  The cumulative total for 2013 to 2020 is projected to reach  totaling $461 billion.

The report identified five segments: transmission upgrades, substation automation, distribution automation, smart grid information and operations technology and smart metering.  According to Navigant the most capital-intensive segment is transmission, which is estimated to contribute nearly $250 billion in revenue from 2013 to 2020, more than half the cumulative total for the smart grid technology market.

According to a report by Innovation Observatory 80 % of the worldwide investment in electricity smart grids by 2030 will be made by 10 countries.  Over the next five years, it is projected that the United States will dominate global capital expenditure, but China is projected to pass the U.S. in 2016.   For the entire period through 2030, the top spending countires will be China (US$99 billion by 2030),  United States (US$60 billion by 2030), India, France, Germany, Brazil, Spain, United Kingdom, Japan and Korea.