EBI

News Release -- San Diego, Calif. -- The U.S. Smart Grid & Energy Management Market represented an estimated $4.1 billion in sales in 2011, according to recently published research by Climate Change Business Journal (CCBJ).

In its new edition, Future of the Grid, Part II, Climate Change Business Journal forecasts market growth at 1-2% in 2012-2013 as sales in the energy management segments compensate for the decline in annual smart meter purchases. Smart meter sales had two breakout years in 2008 and 2009, when Recovery Act funding drove advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). (AMI is the collective term for smart meters plus new communications and IT infrastructure on electric distribution grids.)

Purchase CCBJ Vol. V, No. 04-05: The Future of the Grid - Part II (20 charts, 30,000+ words) for $150

After 2013 CCBJ expects total annual growth in Smart Grid & Energy Management solutions and services to rise again significantly as the energy management segments take hold, leveraging the expansion of AMI nationwide.

"Automated metering infrastructure will be ubiquitous in North America and other developed countries within 10 years, while markets are just emerging in developing countries," noted Jim Hight, CCBJ senior editor. "Consultants and vendors are competing to win business, often joining forces to compete in this multibillion dollar global business."

Defining the Smart Grid and Energy Management Market
Climate Change Business Journal defines and provides market estimates for the U.S. Smart Grid and Energy Management market according to three main categories and eight subcategories:

1. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI): Smart Meters; Systems & Software; and Services (Consulting & Engineering and Construction Management/Project Management, and Installation).
2. Energy Management: Home Energy Management or Home Area Networking (HEM-HAN); Building Energy Management-Building Automation Systems (BEM-BAS); and Microgrids (Consulting & Engineering and Construction Management/Project Management).
3. Demand Response: Services for curtailing or lowering power consumption usually contracted by a DR provider and sold to a utility.

Better Efficiency and Climate Change Benefits-If Utilities Can Crack the Consumer Demand Response Code
"A smart grid enables consumers, utilities and other parties to monitor and manage electricity consumption in real time, among other things," said Hight. For electric distribution utilities this means greater operating efficiencies and profitability, in addition to the prospect of using incentives to get retail customers to curtail consumption during peak periods.

"AMI makes possible what electric utility grid managers have dreamed of for decades-a way to use time-varying prices and other incentives to get retail customers to curtail their consumption during periods of peak demand when wholesale electricity prices are at their highest and power grids are most stressed and vulnerable," said Hight. "This would make grids more efficient and reliable, as well as help with the integration of variable renewable generation resources."

From the climate change perspective, smarter grids will also enable utilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as smart metering and AMI-enabled demand response can provide the flexible, fast-acting capacity that grid operators will need to integrate larger amounts of variable wind and solar power.

"The electric power industry is undergoing profound change as AMI brings new visibility and control to distribution grid," said Hight. "And as electric distribution grids transform from 'dumb' to 'smart' there are enormous implications for players up and down the electric power value chain."

"For many utilities, the internal transformation required to leverage their smarter grids is just getting underway, and strategic blunders have been common," said Hight. "At the same time, some utilities-many of which we highlight in this edition-are showing true leadership, often with the support of electric power consulting firms like Structure and system integrators such as IBM, whose insights were invaluable in preparing this edition."

All the Players
CCBJ examines the roles played by a range of service and solution providers and vendors active in the Smart Grid and Energy Management market - from power providers to investors, regulators, government agencies, research institutions, and standard-setting organizations.

Companies interviewed by CCBJ in Future of the Grid, Part II that are helping utilities and other clients to integrate new smart grid technology into their systems include Chevron Energy Solutions, Itron, ENBALA, CSC, SAIC, and IBM, among others. Also covered in this edition are companies in the metering sector, led by three billion-dollar meter companies: Itron, Elster Group and Landis+Gyr. Other features: investment and acquisition trends related to smart grid, the demand-response business, consumer engagement in the AMI value proposition, the future of dynamic pricing, automation systems, home energy management market, and the boom in microgrids.

Purchase CCBJ Vol. V, No. 04-05: The Future of the Grid - Part II (20 charts, 30,000+ words) for $150

See The Future of the Grid - Part I, Transmission - CCBJ Vol. V, No. 03

For comment and access to research, contact:
Grant Ferrier, President, EBI Inc.
619-295-7685 ext 15
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
About CCBJ | About EBI | More News Releases