Communications and Technology Industry Research

Ever since the first meter was deployed more than 120 years ago, the process of electricity metering has been in a constant state of flux. Several utility companies today utilize advanced metering infrastructure, or “AMI,” which combine bilateral communication modes with energy usage tracking.

 

New age smart grid installations also bring the hope of significant energy savings by altering the channels and timings of energy consumption. In this context, a new report recently released by Pike Research predicts that the global smart meter installations will breach the 250 million mark by 2015. This translates to a penetration rate of 18 percent of all electrical meters active at that time. The corresponding number during 2008 was 46 million.

 

According to Clint Wheelock, managing director of Pike Research, smart meters will set the tone for smart meter installations in the future.

 

“Smart meters are the vanguard of Smart Grid deployments. Current AMI rollouts are breaking the traditional 15-20 year meter replacement cycle, and represent an unprecedented effort to add intelligence and communications to electrical metering,” Wheelock said.

 

Additionally, he added that Europe would emerge as a major center for smart meter deployments. The popularity of smart meters will also be quite significant in North America by 2010. He expects the penetration of smart meters in the North American market to touch 55 percent of all electric meters by 2015.  

 

Pike Research has analysed the smart meter market and split the market into two major categories. While the first category pertains to basic meters which communicate energy usage information over two-way communication networks, the second category includes advanced meters which also incorporates remote disconnect and home area networking (HAN) features in addition to basic features found in category 1. The Cleantech market intelligence firm expects total smart meter shipments to touch 39.5 million units by 2015; this can be quantified as a USD 3.9 billion global market.  

 

The latest research report from Pike Research titled “Smart Meters” seeks to analyze the international and regional Smart Meter trends and attempts to evaluate neighborhood-area and home-area communications technologies and standards.

 

It also outlines the two categories, basic and advanced and illustrates their respective functionalities providing comprehensive market predictions for each segment analysed by technology and world region. The report also profiles important suppliers, standards and installations and thereby gives an extensive view into the expanding smart metering market.