The smart grid predictions for 2012

Every year IDC Energy Insights predicts the trend for the upcoming year. IDC Energy Insights is one of the top global research firm providing predictive analytical information to the energy industry. At this year webinar the focus was on North American utility and energy industry, where, according to HorizonWatching, the  following top 10 trends were identified. "The industry is entering in post stimulus period. While funding has dried up, there are areas where investment spending is growing, such as solar PV installation, smart grid, smart buildings, electric vehicles, and energy storage", says IDC Energy Insights. 

The Top 10 List

1) Smart Meter: The growth will peak in 2012, which will usher demand response growth

2) Distribution Automation: It will grow at 13% CAGR in 2012

3) Smart Buildings: The investment in this area will gain more traction

4) Electric Vehicles: Around 120,000 EVs will be sold in North America in 2012

5) Lithium Batteries: The  Li-ion batteries price will drop to $600 per KWH by the end of 2012

6) Solar PV Installations: It will grow more than 25% despite the expiring of 1063 treasury grant

7) Commercial PV: Micro-inverters or DC optimizers will be incorporated in > 60 MW plants

8) Security & Risk: It will be the key concern for decision makers,prompting them to invest more

9) Big Data Analytics: Utilities will increase their investment to derive business value out of this

10) IT Spending: The IT spending bu utilities will grow by 4.5% over the next four years

Jesse Burst, the founder of SmartGridNews and one of the foremost expert in Smart Grid, identified 9 trends out of the same IDC Energy Insights webinar. Except following few most of them are similar to the top 10 official prediction listed above.

1) Utilities mergers and acquisition will accelerate

2) Demand will flatten or even fall

3) Municipal and Co-ops will drive new AMI deployments 

4) 2012 will be make or break for Electric Vehicle

India to be third largest smart grid market after China and the US

IEEE- Standards Association (IEEE -SA), the standards development body of IEEE predicts that India is set to become the third largest smart grid market in the world. IEEE-SA is looking forward to collaborate with Indian academics, standards bodies, experts, industry leaders, and government to develop India-specific standards to meets it unique and specific needs. “Without proper standards, the realization of smart grid would be difficult. IEEE-SA is investing in creating awareness and bringing multiple stakeholders together to transfer best practices and knowledge from Smart Grid markets and perspectives,” Mr Srikanth Chandrasekaran, Chairperson of IEEE-SA India SIG (Standards Interest Group), said. “IEEE-SA has taken a lead role in the identification and development of standards for the smart grid.” Earlier this year,IEEE-SA launched Smart Grid Interoperability standards project in India  under the India Standards Interest Group, which will closely work with their global parent group IEEE P2030 to introduce the Interoperability standards enabling faster Smart Grid Implementation.

According to recent ZPRYME report, Indian smart grid market is going to reach $1.9 billion by 2015 growing at CAGR rate of 16.3%. During the initial years, the smart grid growth may be normal, however it is set to explode towards the end of the decade as India plans to invest $900 billion in electrical infrastructure by 2020. During the same period, India plans to install 20,000 MW of solar power. The successful integration of various power sources and efficient utilization of this energy can only happen through smart intelligent grid. To meet these objectives, the country plans to install 130 million smart meters by 2021 providing huge opportunity for smart grid companies.

International Smart Grid Leaders to Gather at GridWeek Asia

Government and Smart Grid industry leaders from both India and the U.S. will gather at GridWeek Asia Jan. 16-18, 2012 in Mumbai, India to cover topics ranging from standards and interoperability to smart meters and consumer engagement in a content-rich agenda featuring keynote addresses, roundtable discussions, and breakout sessions.

No other event in the region will deliver such an esteemed group of international technology companies, standards organizations, government entities, and utilities.

Feathured speakers include:

George Arnold Suresh Prabhu Eric Dresselhuys R.N. Nayak

P Uma Shankar Bernard Delpech Mark Gabriel Reji Kumar

Sam Pitroda Chris Hickman Narendra Singh Sodha Ronald Binz

Share Best Practices - Insights from Robust Agenda and Top Speakers

Only the combination of GridWeek Asia and ELECRAMA 2012 offers the opportunity to learn from, and network with, these global Smart Grid leaders in two days of conference and exhibition.
This content-rich conference will cover critical topics, including:

• Building Smart Grid capabilities in a developing region;
• Supplying electricity to meet rapidly increasing demand;
• Driving efficiency and demand response programs;
• Integrating renewable power;
• Facilitating economic and open trade -- understanding opportunities to export Indian and Asian Smart Grid solutions to other parts of the world;
• And more. 

For more details check the GridWeek Asia webpage

The Smart Meters market to be worth $49 billion in emerging economies

The growth of smart meters is gaining momentum across the world. The developed economies, the USA, Germany, Japan, Canada, the UK, France, and Italy are leading the smart meters growth worldwide, however, the next stage growth is going to come from emerging economies like countries from Eastern Europe, North Africa, Middle East, South Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. The recent report from Northeast group covers 25 such emerging countries where Smart Meters is going to become worth $27 to $49 billion markets in the coming decade. 

"Smart grid offers emerging markets a number of potential benefits. Countries can improve overall electric utility reliability, reduce electricity theft rates, manage surging demand and incorporate new sources of renewable energy. Modernizing the electricity infrastructure will be increasingly important as these economies grow quickly over the next several years. The 25 countries in the study are forecast to see average annual GDP growth of 4.3% over the next five years, compared with 1.7% in the developed world," according to Northeast Group, LLC

The 11 of the 25 countries, which includes Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Mexico, Hungary, Poland Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United Arab Emirates, are well-positioned to implement smart meters deployment in next 1-3 years. Brazil, which is set to implement almost 65 million smart meters over  the next decade will be the biggest growth market among all the studied countries. India and China are not studied in this report. 

Key questions addressed in this report:

• Which emerging market countries have the most developed smart grid regulatory frameworks?
• Which emerging market countries have the potential to reap the most direct benefits from smart meter deployments?
• Which international and local vendors are best placed to take advantage of growth in emerging markets smart grid?
• How will regional bodies such as the EU, ASEAN, and GCC expedite deployments?
• What other smart grid projects such as distribution automation, substation automation and home energy management are also evolving?