North American smart grid market forecasted to shift from hardware to software

25 February 2014 Geoff Zeiss

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance global smart grid investment was up by about 5% in 2013 compared to 2012.

  • 2013 $14.9 billion
  • 2012 $14.2 billion

In 2013 for the first time China was the leader in smart grid investment ahead of the U.S.

  • China $4.3 billion
  • U.S. $3.6 billion

Investment in smart grid is forecasted to remain strong.  Asian and European markets are expected to drive growth through 2020, while in North America spending will shift from hardware to software as utilities look to big data management and analytics to convert increasing volumes of data to actionable information.

Smart meter deployment

Smart metering accounted for just under half of the total smart grid spending worldwide in 2013.  China led in the number of smart meters installed in 2013.  China installed 62 million smart meters in 2013 for a total of 250 million.  Europe has only installed 55 million smart meters but this is expected to increase rapidly over the next few years to reach 180 million by 2020.   Spain has a large scale delopyment underway.  The UK, France and Germany are planning large scale smart meter deployments starting in 2015.  Brazil’s smart meter deployment is being delayed.  Japan is on the verge of a large scale deployment.  In the U.S. smart meter deployment is slowing down as ARRA funding runs out.

Distribution automation

Global spending on distribution automation which includes self-healing networks and conservation voltage regulation (CVR) or Volt/VAR  increased by 23% over 2012.

  • 2013 $5.4 billion
  • 2012 $4.4 billion

Future smart grid investment

Bloomberg New Energy Finance sees the following developments in 2014 and beyond:

  • Smart meter deployment in China will slow down, but investment in distribution automation will increase.
  • Smart grid activity in Japan, Korea, India and South East Asia will ramp up.
  • The US is entering a second major smart grid phase of information integration. This involves  applying “big data” management and analytics to leverage the increasing volumes of data coming from smart meters and other smart devices to reduce non-technical losses and improve outage management.
Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

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